History and Background
CSDE is distinguished both by a long institutional tradition at this University, and by recent changes that have consolidated its strengths and established a basis for innovative future research. Demography and population studies began at the University of Washington in the 1920's, when Roderick McKenzie and William F. Ogburn served on the faculty. The first center for regional population studies was established by Calvin Schmid in 1947 as the Office of Population Research in the Department of Sociology. This became the CSDE in 1967 under the leadership of Stanley Lieberson. CSDE prospered over the next thirty years with a series of distinguished directors: Samuel Preston, Thomas Pullum, Charles Hirschman and Avery Guest. The development of CSDE has been marked by research of increasingly national and international scope, a growing multi-disciplinary focus, and increased external funding for research, center support, and training. Under the direction of Robert Plotnick (1997-2002), CSDE became an independent unit within the College of Arts and Sciences in July 2000. In 2002, CSDE first received federal funding under the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD (EKSNICHD) population infrastructure program. Martina Morris, director from 2002 to 2006, was responsible for overseeing the increase in staffing and the dramatic expansion of CSDE’s core research support services that followed. The past five years have brought both consolidation of these gains and continued growth, as new senior affiliates have taken on leadership roles in CSDE and the UW, junior recruits have received tenure and built mature research careers, and more recent hiring initiatives have brought additional affiliates. Moving forward, our vision for the next 5 years encompasses improved mentoring for a new generation of junior scholars, expansion in our technical services to support the implementation of conceptual advances in population research, and a major new program to stimulate interdisciplinary projects. Together the UW affiliates hold over 75 research grants, more than half of which are from NIH or NSF. These represent more than $16.4 million in annual research support. The Center also provides predoctoral fellowship, some funded by an EKSNICHD training grant. Affiliates at Battelle, the University of Victoria, and Western Washington University hold another 28 grants, of which 12 are from NIH, representing an additional $8 million in annual research support. In addition, CSDE receives institutional matching funds from the University of Washington for its mission. |
The Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE) provides core support for population research and training at the University of Washington.
CSDE is currently directed by 
