CSDE is excited to host Austin Kocher from Syracuse University on Friday, Nov. 17 in 101 HRC and on Zoom. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Population Health Initiative and the Center for Human Rights. One of the most significant barriers to scholarly research on U.S. border enforcement and immigration control is institutional closure. Closed institutions—such as immigrant detention centers, immigration courts, and ports of entry along the border—create added barriers to researcher access and limit the production of knowledges that might critique, reform, or transform these systems. To challenge institutional closure, TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse) at Syracuse University has spent the last 30 years using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and litigation to make large government datasets on immigration enforcement available to researchers and to the wider public. Join us for conversation with Dr. Austin Kocher, immigration researcher and faculty member at TRAC, who will unpack TRAC’s various methodologies, key research findings, and ongoing impact on public policy and popular discourse.

The New Yorker recently quoted Dan Goldhaber (Social Work) in an article on New York’s lawsuit regarding racial disparities in their teacher licensure tests. Goldhaber commented on the tests, saying “There is inequality in society. And one of the ways that manifests is with different educational outcomes.” Goldhaber also pointed out “there’s a lot of options besides have exams or don’t have exams” and weighed in New York’s new approach, to make preparation programs responsible for evaluating whether they’re ready to be in a classroom. Read the full story here.

CSDE Affiliate Dr. Katarina Guttmannova (Psychiatry and Behavioral Science) and colleagues recently published their study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drug Use, titled “Cross-substance associations with transitions in cannabis and nicotine use in a statewide sample of young adults in Washington State“. Understanding transitions in nicotine and cannabis use has implications for prevention and efforts to reduce harmful use. Focusing on cross-substance associations, authors examined how use of one substance was associated with year-to-year transitions in frequency of use of the other among young adults in the context of legalized nonmedical cannabis.

Jerusha Mogaka (PhD candidate, Nursing), Dr. Jillian Pintye (Associate Professor, Nursing) and CSDE Affiliates Dr. Alison Drake (Associate Professor, Global Health), and Dr. Grace John-Stewart (Professor, Global Health, Epidemiology, Medicine, and Pediatrics) recently published their research with co-authors, “Prevalence and predictors of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae among HIV-negative pregnant women in Kenya” in Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) infections in pregnancy contribute to adverse perinatal outcomes. Authors identified predictors of CT and/or NG infection among pregnant Kenyan women.

CSDE Affiliate Bradley H. Wagenaar (Associate Professor, Global Health) and co-authors published their systematic review in Implementation Science, called “Application of the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) compilation of strategies to health intervention implementation in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review“. The Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) project developed a compilation of implementation strategies that are intended to standardize reporting and evaluation. Little is known about the application of ERIC in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Amber Khan (PhD Candidate, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences) with CSDE Affiliates Nicole Errett (Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences), Rebecca Walter (Real Estate), and co-authors released research in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, “Assessing the roles and responsibilities of public housing authorities in state-level disaster plans“. As anthropogenic climate change rapidly increases the intensity and frequency of disasters across the United States (U.S.), low-income renters in the private housing market as well as those in federally assisted housing (through U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)), live in areas that are disproportionately prone to hazards and are at greater risk of housing loss and displacement.

 *This CSDE news story is a corrected repost of a story that ran in the Oct. 30th newsletter. PhD candidate Amber Khan is the lead-author on the featured article, which comes from her dissertation.

(read more)

CSDE Trainee Courtney Hill (Epidemiology) and CSDE Affiliates Donald Chi (Health Systems and Population Health, Oral Health Sciences) and Jessica Jones-Smith (Health Systems and Population Health) recently published their research in Plos One. Christy M. McKinney (Oral Health Sciences) was the principal investigator on the project and secured project funding from ARCORA and the Seattle Children’s Research Institute. The article is titled “Sugar-sweetened beverage intake and convenience store shopping as mediators of the food insecurity–Tooth decay relationship among low-income children in Washington state“. There are oral health disparities in the U.S. and children in food-insecure households have a higher burden of tooth decay. This study examined how sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake and frequent convenience store shopping mediated the food insecurity–tooth decay relationship for lower-income children.

CSDE Affiliate Gregg Colburn (Real Estate) was quoted by the Washington State Standard in an article on how homelessness is a key issue in this year’s Nov. 7 election. Colburn discussed how the stakes in this election are huge for housing policy. Part of addressing homelessness is building more affordable housing to keep people in their homes, and local elected officials have a big say in where projects get built. “Who’s sitting in these seats will matter,” Colburn said.

If you, your colleagues, or your students are active users of any aspect of CSDE’s infrastructure (computing, consultations, seed grants, matching funds, lab facilities, travel funding, or working groups), then please don’t forget to acknowledge CSDE when publishing reports, books, articles, websites, or GitHub repo.  This is an easy and most tangible way to show how our resources are supporting your research. You can find the acknowledgement language here and you can just cut and paste the text into your research products.

Each quarter, CSDE offers 3-5 workshops on data sources, statistical and biomarker methodology, introductions to analysis programs, and more, all given by CSDE staff and faculty affiliates. These workshops can include hands-on training in novel methods and programming, lectures on innovative data sources, and discussions of important issues in research and data collection. Over the coming academic year, CSDE will offer a diverse and exciting set of workshops, some of which will be offered in a hybrid format and others remotely via Zoom.

Remaining Autumn Workshops

• Biomarker Data Analysis
  • Data & Time: Thursday, Nov. 30 @ 11:00AM-12:00PM
  • Location: HRC 101 & Zoom (Link provided upon registration)
  • Instructor: Tiffany Pan

On November 8th from 3:30-4:30 pm Austin Gross, a Principal Data Scientist with Microsoft, will join CDWG in person to discuss his experience of working at Microsoft. CDWG Will be Hybrid in Fall Quarter 2023. The discussion will take place in Raitt 223 (The Demography Lab) and on Zoom (register here). Austin achieved his PhD in Econ from UW and also worked during the degree program. He started at Zillow in year three of grad school and moved to Microsoft in year five. During his time at Microsoft, he has used his background as an economist to look at Bing auctions, Azure demand forecasting, how product changes impact customer usage, and generally to consult on causal analysis using both observational and experimental data. He lives in West Seattle with his wife and three children (13, 10, 7 years old). They generally enjoy playing outside at the beach or in the mountains, skiing, watching the Mandalorian, and playing with Legos.

CSDE is looking for a program coordinator! The Program Coordinator will contribute to the critical missions of CSDE to 1) Provide well-managed growth and sustained excellence in sponsored population research, 2) Promote CSDE faculty, staff, and capacities and build a community of scholars, 3) Ensure operation of a smoothly running Center team and its multiple, interdependent programs 4) Ensure fiscal and business compliance with UW/State/Federal guidelines, and 5) Support a thriving workplace through active human capital management. Learn more about the position here!

On November 1st from 3:30 – 4:30 pm Yigit Okar, UW Econ PhD Candidate, will join CSDE to discuss his experience with running online experiments during his internships at Amazon. CDWG will be Hybrid in the Fall Quarter 2023. Register on Zoom here  or attend in person in 223 Raitt (Demography Lab). Yigit Okar is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the University of Washington, Seattle, with prior degrees in Economics and Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul. During his internships at Amazon in the summers of 2021, 2022, and 2023, he worked on projects delved into A/B testing and causal inference with machine learning. His academic endeavors include text regression research using transformer-based encodings and choice modeling with high dimensions. He also contributes as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at his university. Yigit has been honored with the Diversity Scholarship by NABE in 2021 and the Jeff and Perri Roe Term Fellowship in 2020. Yigit extends his interests to scientific blogging and guitar playing beyond the academic sphere.

CSDE Matching Support includes in-kind or monetary support to accompany a submission to other on-campus funding mechanism, such as PHI, EarthLab, or Urban@UW. All projects must have a CSDE affiliate who is UW faculty and is listed as a PI or co-PI, with any number of other collaborators. Note that we require (PRPGs) or strongly suggest (matching funds) contacting either Development Core Director (Steven Goodreau) or CSDE Director (Sara Curran) to discuss possibilities for your specific proposal before submission.

Population Research Planning Grants (PRPGs) are designed to provide in-kind support and/or funds of up to $25k* to support a wide array of activity types throughout the development of a research project. As part of our mission to complement rather than duplicate other campus opportunities such as the Population Health Initiative seed grants, we will consider funding things activities such as:

• Use of CSDE services beyond the standard allotments for affiliates. This could include statistical or computational consultations, administrative and logistical support, computer accounts, software purchases that contribute to the general good, virtual server capacity that contributes to the general good, communication or webinar support, etc.
• Convening a group of scholars for a grant writing retreat or to brainstorm a possible new research collaboration
• Hiring an RA to analyze data for discussion in the Preliminary Data section of a grant application
• Small pilot research, when relationship to future funding requests are clearly laid out. Note that research that is well suited to an existing pilot research mechanism on campus should be submitted to that mechanism, with an optional request of matching support from CSDE (see below).
• Publication-related fees (when no other funding is available). NEW THIS YEAR: requests for publication fees will only be considered for publications that involve at least one CSDE affiliate and at least one CSDE trainee, and which are targeted to a demography-oriented journal or comparable outlet.
• Travel (when specifically enhancing research project development)
• Many others; just ask!

Check out the wide variety of new cancer data science training resources from the National Cancer Institute (NCI)! Whether you are new to the field or a seasoned researcher looking to expand your data science skills, you’ll find basic resources, free courses, tips, and more in the new section. Learn more here.

CSSS is delighted to offer a limited number of grants for graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers working with CSSS faculty affiliates to cover expenses associated with presenting research at conferences and attending workshops or courses. Travel must occur between January 1, 2024 and June 30, 2024 to be eligible for support. Travel outside this time period will be considered with justification. See flyer here.

The NSF and the NIH have partnered on a call for proposals to advance research in the area of smart health and biomedical research deploying data science and AI tools. The purpose of this interagency program solicitation is to support the development of transformative high-risk, high-reward advances in computer and information science, engineering, mathematics, statistics, behavioral and/or cognitive research to address pressing questions in the biomedical and public health communities.

Join the American Institute for Boys and Men and the University of Washington’s Center for Education Data & Research on November 14th, 2023, from 5pm to 6pm at the Seattle Public Library. Delve into the often-overlooked crisis facing boys and men, with pre-eminent scholar on the subject, Richard Reeves. Richard will be joined in discussion by UW Tacoma Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange, exploring the data and how Washington can lead the national response to the issue. The event will spotlight the education gender gaps in the state, enriched by brand new educational analysis shared by U of W researchers Stephanie Liddle and CSDE Affiliate Dan Goldhaber. Learn more and RSVP!

The Environmental Politics and Governance network has launched a new initiative, Deep Climate Conversations. This will be an online structured roundtable (i.e., questions circulated in advance to speakers) on a specific issue. The objective is to explore climate issues at a deeper, theoretical level. The event focused on climate migration will take place on Thursday, Nov. 16th from 9:00-10:15 PST. It will be held online (register in advance here).

The University of Washington Behavioral Research Center for HIV (UW BIRCH) invites pilot study applications for the Methodology Pilot AIDS Research Center (M-PARC) Award. It’s a one-year pilot award for methods research related to mental health and HIV. The maximum amount is $25K. Proposals are relatively short (2 pages of science) and due Nov. 19. Please reference the announcement on the BIRCH website. The purpose of the UW BIRCH M-PARC awards is to advance new methods in research related to mental health and HIV. 

There is an active Federal Register Notice for the American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey regarding plans to text questions on sexual orientation and gender identity.  The comment period closes November 20.  Click here to leave your comments.

The East-West Center is pleased to announce the following opportunities for study and scholarships at the Center starting in August 2024. For more than sixty years, East-West Center students have developed lifelong relationships and a powerful sense of community with others who share a commitment to the US-Indo-Pacific region. 

Applications are open for EarthLab’s Innovation Grants Program! EarthLab is an institute at the UW College of the Environment taking equitable action on climate change. The Innovation Grants Program invests in collaborations that span academic disciplines, engage multiple sectors and center community questions at the intersection of climate change and social justice. This program is an excellent opportunity for community-engaged research. Learn more about the grant here! An information session will also be held in-person on 11/14.

The purpose of this tier of grants is to support faculty and PI-eligible staff to develop preliminary data or proof-of-concept needed to pursue follow-on funding to scale one’s efforts. Awards of up to $50,000 per project – or $65,000 per project for teams proposing meaningful partnerships with community-based organizations – will be available with a project period of up to 12 months. One award during the winter 2024 cycle will be reserved specifically for an internationally-focused project through our partnership with the UW Office of Global Affairs.

The Friends of the Market (FOM) has initiated the Fall 2023-2024 round of the Steinbrueck-Thonn Award for Pike Place Market Research, an academic research award available to current college students and recent graduates. The Steinbrueck-Thonn Award is intended to encourage a broad range of cross-disciplinary and community-engaged scholarship related to the Pike Place Market; research that will serve as a catalyst for greater understanding of and appreciation for this treasured public resource.

The Dissertation Research Grants program supports innovative and high-quality dissertation research that addresses questions relevant to any of RSF’s priority areas: Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context; Future of Work; Race, Ethnicity and Immigration; Immigration and Immigrant Integration; and Social, Political, and Economic Inequality. 

The NIH is encouraging grant applications to support the evaluation of the utility and validity of digital health and artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies in epidemiological, clinical, and intervention research. The intent is to support the addition of new measurement modalities to evaluate existing and recently developed but not yet validated digital health and AI tools such as sensor technologies, smartphone applications, software as a medical device (SaMD), and AI algorithms.

The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) will be recognizing its 25th anniversary this academic year. In addition to highlighting special themes during the seminar series, CSSS will hold a celebratory event on campus on May 16th & 17th, 2024 that will bring alums, friends, and campus partners together with workshops, poster sessions, scientific sessions, and ample opportunities for socializing. Please note these dates in your calendar and keep your eyes posted for more details. 

This funding opportunity announcement invites research projects that seek to explain the underlying mechanisms, processes, and trajectories of social relationships and how these factors affect outcomes in human health, illness, recovery, and overall wellbeing. Types of projects submitted under this FOA include studies that prospectively assign human participants to conditions (i.e., experimentally manipulate independent variables) and that assess biomedical and/or behavioral outcomes in humans to understand fundamental aspects of phenomena related to social connectedness and isolation.