Introducing the Editors and the Special Issue

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Notes on contributors

Rafael J. Engel

Rafael J. Engel, PhD, is Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his PhD (1988) from the University of Wisconsin, his MSW (1979) from the University of Michigan, and his BA (1978) from the University of Pennsylvania. He coordinates the graduate certificate program in aging and is the principal investigator for the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education. He is the past School of Social Work Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. He has written The Practice of Research in Social Work (with Russell Schutt), Fundamentals of Social Work Research (with Russell Schutt), and Measuring Race and Ethnicity (with Larry E. Davis). He is a member of the editorial board of Race and Social Problems. He has authored journal articles on such topics as poverty in later life, welfare benefits, depressive symptomatology, and gambling, and has written a variety of monographs reporting agency-based evaluations. His funded research includes studies on older adults working in child care, gambling and faith-based organizations, as well as funded evaluation research studies on welfare-to-work programs and drug and alcohol prevention programs. His most recent research involves older adults and gambling prevention.

Leng Leng Thang

Leng Leng Thang, PhD, is Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore. She received her PhD (1997) in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, MA (1992) and BA (Honors) (1988) in Japanese Studies from the National University of Singapore. She is former head of the Department of Japanese Studies (2005–2010). She is also active in community services and serves as chair of Fei Yue Family Service Centre in Singapore, a nonprofit agency focusing on serving the needs of people across the life course, and she is on the committee of Families for Life Council, Ministry of Social and Family Development. Among her works relating to aging are Generations in Touch: Linking the Old and Young in a Tokyo Neighborhood, Ageing in Singapore: Service Needs and the State (with Peggy Teo, Kalyani Mehta, and Angelique Chan), and Experiencing Grandparenthood: An Asian Perspective (co-edited with Kalyani Mehta). She has published various book chapters and journal articles on topics including intergenerational relationships in Asian families, senior volunteers, women and migration, older people living alone, and intergenerational spaces and environment. Her current and recently completed funded research includes an ethnography of a senior group home, intergenerational dynamics in informal caregiving, seniors living alone, and psychological well-being of care providers in Singapore.