Thank you to everyone who attended CSDE Seminars this quarter! We had very engaging conversations and an exciting lineup of population scientists. Special shout-out to CSDE’s Science Core Director Matt Hall and Administrator Scott Kelly for coordinating the effort. There is no seminar this week, but keep an eye out for an equally exciting Spring 2019 Seminar Schedule coming soon.

Last Friday the CSDE community gathered to celebrate our graduate students, their insightful research, and the end of the Winter quarter. Five CSDE trainees from Sociology, Geography, Anthropology, and Public Policy presented research on topics ranging from tenant eligibility discourse to relationship duration. Lee Fiorio, Geography doctoral student and former CSDE Fellow, won the best poster award for his poster titled “Measuring U.S. Interstate Mobility Using State of Birth Stocks: 1850 to 2010.” 

CSDE thanks all those who presented, attended, and contributed to the event. In particular, panelists Rachel Berney, Clara Berridge, KC Gary Chan, Karin Frey, William Lavely, Adrian Raftery and Jon Wakefield, the Center for Social Science Computation and Research, and Madeline Mundt's team. A special thanks to our student organizer Yuan Hsiao, CSDE Training Director Jon Wakefield, Training Coordinator Aimée Dechter, Administrator Scott Kelly, and Information Specialist Luiza Barbato Montesanti.

Migration is an important social determinant of health for immigrants in the United States. In an article published in the March 2019 issue of Journal of Social Policy, CSDE Affiliate Jane Lee, Assistant Professor of Social Work, investigates potential mechanisms that link the sociopolitical context and health among Latino immigrants. Specifically, she explores how perceptions of the sociopolitical context are implicated in this relationship. While prior research has assessed the potential health impact of specific immigration policies, there is limited understanding of how the overall sociopolitical context shapes the health of Latino immigrants.

In two recent articles, CSDE Affiliate Clara Berridge, Assistant Professor of Social Work, examines the implications of web-enabled video cameras adopted by families to protect elders in residential care from the possibility of harm, often with insufficient attention to ethical implications and privacy vulnerabilities for residents, care workers, and roommates. Considering the ethical implications of how we use technology to keep older adults safe has become urgent, with seven state laws now regulating camera monitoring and more on the way.

Last week, NPR featured a Proceedings of the National Academy of Science study revealing that air pollution is disproportionately caused by white Americans’ consumption of goods and services, but disproportionately inhaled by black and Hispanic Americans. The study was first-authored by Christopher Tessum, a UW postdoctoral researcher. NPR quoted CSDE Affiliate Anjum Hajat, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, who says “This paper is exciting and really quite novel…Inequity in exposure to air pollution is well documented, but this study brings in the consumption angle." According to Hajat, the study reveals an inherent unfairness: "If you're contributing less to the problem, why do you have to suffer more from it?"

CSDE and the UW Population Health Initiative are seeking applications from advanced UW graduate and undergraduate students for a funded Summer Population Health Applied Research Fellowship, a collaboration between CSDE and the UW Population Health Initiative. Over the course of 10-weeks (6/24-8/30/2019), Fellows will receive training in applied research and deliver a product to the Community Health Services Division of Public Health – Seattle & King County, which will inform plans for redesigning delivery of prevention-based services for pregnant and parenting families. Applications are due April 3, 2019.