Young and Disconnected in America
RAND's Jennie Wenger and Stephanie Bonds discuss America's disconnected youth—and what it will take to help them thrive.
Jennie W. Wenger is a senior economist at RAND, where she studies education and training, military compensation, and industrial policy. Over the last 20 years, she has been the principal investigator of a series of studies examining the effectiveness of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program, a DoD-sponsored program for high school dropouts. Wenger has led and contributed to other recent projects examining options for retaining the Army's cyber expertise, how the Post–9/11 GI Bill influences military recruiting and retention, the implications of demographic changes on military recruiting in the United States and abroad, the implications of integrating women into combat arms occupations, balancing quality of life with mission tempo on Coast Guard cutters, and factors that influence the decision to transition to the Reserve Components. Much of her recent research focuses on using economics to improve industrial policy and national security, and on disconnected youth.
Before joining RAND, Wenger was a senior research scientist and project manager at CNA, where she authored a series of reports examining the relationship between body fat and performance in the enlisted military and served as the co-PI on a study documenting many aspects of military dependents' educational experiences. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Education
Ph.D. in economics, University of North Carolina
Selected Work
- Wenger, Jennie W., Stephanie Bonds, Understanding Disconnection Among American Youth, RAND Corporation (PE-A4207-1), 2025
- Bonds, Stephanie, Jennie W. Wenger, What Predicts Disconnection Among American Youth?RAND Corporation (PE-A4207-2), 2025
- Matthew D. Baird, Michael S. Kofoed, Trey Miller, Jennie W. Wenger, "Veteran Educators or For-Profiteers? Tuition Responses to Changes in the Post-9/11 GI Bill," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management , 2022
- Wenger, Jennie W., Maria C. Lytell, Kimberly Curry Hall, and Michael L. Hansen, Balancing Quality of Life with Mission Requirements: An Analysis of Personnel Tempo on U.S. Coast Guard Major Cutters, RAND Corporation (RR-2731-DHS), 2019
- Wenger, Jennie W., Caolionn O'Connell, and Linda Cottrell, Examination of Recent Deployment Experience Across the Services and Components, RAND Corporation (RR-1928-A), 2018
- Wenger, Jennie W., Caolionn O'Connell, and Maria C. Lytell, Retaining the Army's Cyber Expertise, RAND Corporation (RR-1978-A), 2017
- Wenger, Jennie W., Trey Miller, Matthew D. Baird, Peter Buryk, Lindsay Daugherty, Marlon Graf, Simon Hollands, Salar Jahedi, and Douglas Yeung, Are Current Military Education Benefits Efficient and Effective for the Services?RAND Corporation (RR-1766-OSD), 2017
- Jahedi, Salar, Jennie W. Wenger, and Douglas Yeung, Searching for Information Online: Using Big Data to Identify the Concerns of Potential Army Recruits, RAND Corporation (RR-1197-A), 2016
Authored by Jennie W. Wenger
42 Results
