The Board of Directors of the Community Associations Institute Research Foundation has awarded the Byron Hanke Fellowship to Sarna Salzman, a graduate student in the Community Development Program at the University of California, Davis, and Sean Wheeler, a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin.

"Mr. Wheeler and Ms. Salzman conduct research that will impact and assist the people who live in the more than 205,000 community associations across the country," said Erin Fuller, Executive Director of the CAI Research Foundation. "We are thrilled to support this advanced research and the resulting programs." In his recent paper, "Communities, Organizations, and Chaos: New Development Paradigms and Models," Wheeler seeks to add to the knowledge base concerning the social structure of neighborhoods, communities and organizations, in light of technological advances, rapid access to information and other innovations. Salzman, who previously interned with the CAI Research Foundation, is concentrating her studies on the key elements of effective evaluation design and implementation for programs and projects, both structural and cultural.

Named for one of CAI's founders, the Byron Hanke Fellowship has been awarded annually since 1993 to graduate students working on topics related to community associations. Hanke Fellowship recipients must be enrolled in an accredited master's, doctoral, or law program, and their studies should relate to community associations generally and to the topic of the candidate's proposed community association research project.

The Community Associations Institute Research Foundation, a 501(c)(3) corporation, was founded in 1975 to serve as a catalyst for positive change in the community association industry. The Foundation promotes community association research, development and scholarship by illuminating future trends and opportunities, supporting and conducting research and mobilizing resources. The Community Associations Institute is a nonprofit association created in 1973 to educate and represent the nation's 205,000 community associations—condominium associations, homeowner associations and cooperatives. CAI members include homeowners, associations and related professionals and service providers.