When Sheri Meland finishes her dissertation, it’s almost certain to garner lots of media attention. The topic is the impact of a person’s looks on their success – or lack thereof – in life.
She used 3,000 of the more than 10,000 people in the famed Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The WLS subjects, all graduates of Wisconsin high schools in 1957, are among the most studied people in history, with researchers checking back with them in 1975, 1992 and 2002.
Meland has completed all of her research, but only a little bit of her analysis; with two young children and a booming business, finding time has been a challenge.