• When: Friday, Nov 17, 2023 (12:30-1:30PM)
• Where: 101 Hans Rosling Center and on Zoom (register here)
• 1-1 meetings: 223 Raitt Hall (sign up here)

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. There are opportunities to meet 1-1 with Dr. Kocher throughout the day. Sign up here! 

After the seminar, CSDE Trainee María Vignau-Loría will facilitate a graduate student discussion with Dr. Kocher. Students will have the opportunity to discuss research collaborations, professional development, academic publishing, and interdisciplinary research, among other topics. The discussion will be held from 1:30-2:30PM in 221 Raitt Hall. RSVP to María Vignau-Loría (mvl4@uw.edu) to join the student discussion.

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.

Sai Win Kyaw Htet Aung and CSDE Affiliates Carey Farquhar (Global Health, Medicine, and Epidemiology), Brandon Guthrie (Global Health), published their work with co-authors in Harm Reduction Journal, titled “Prevalence and correlates of violence among sexual and injecting partners of people who inject drugs living with HIV in Kenya: a cross-sectional study“. This article was led by Sai Win Kyaw Htet Aung, who completed his MPH in the Department of Global Health as an international student from Myanmar. In Kenya, violence is common among people who inject drugs (PWID) living with HIV and their sexual and injecting partners and may lead to decreased uptake of HIV services, increased HIV risk behaviors, and increased HIV transmission. 

CSDE Affiliate Alison Fohner (Epidemiology) and co-authors released two articles related to the cognitive health of older adults. The first, released in Communications Biology is titled “Identification of circulating proteins associated with general cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults“. Identifying circulating proteins associated with cognitive function may point to biomarkers and molecular process of cognitive impairment. Few studies have investigated the association between circulating proteins and cognitive function. Authors identify 246 protein measures quantified by the SomaScan assay as associated with cognitive function (p < 4.9E-5, n up to 7289). The second article was released in BMC Neurology, titled "The association of upper airway anatomy with cognitive test performance: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis". Numerous upper airway anatomy characteristics are risk factors for sleep apnea, which affects 26% of older Americans, and more severe sleep apnea is associated with cognitive impairment. This study explores the pathophysiology and links between upper airway anatomy, sleep, and cognition.

CSDE Affiliate Gregg Colburn recently presented his talk, “Homeless is a Housing Problem” on Nov. 3rd at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. While homelessness is a consistent and growing problem throughout the US, rates of homelessness vary around the country. What explains these variations? Why, for example, are rates are so much higher in Seattle than in Chicago? In this talk, Gregg Colburn, an Associate Professor of Real Estate in the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments, discussed findings from Homelessness Is a Housing Problem, a book he co-authored that tests a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a city, and what types of policies could address the problem. Watch the recorded talk here.

CSDE Affiliate Chiyoung Lee (Nursing) recently released three new article with co-authors on the health of older adults. The first article is published in the Journal of Aging and Health, titled “Racial Differences in Older Adult’s Mental Health and Cognitive Symptomatology: Identifying Subgroups Using Multiple-Group Latent Class Analysis“. Little is known on the potential racial differences in latent subgroup membership based on mental health and cognitive symptomatology among older adults. Authors performed a secondary data analysis of Wave 2 data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 1819). The second article was published in Geroscience, "A network-based approach to explore comorbidity patterns among community-dwelling older adults living alone". The detailed comorbidity patterns of community-dwelling older adults have not yet been explored. This study employed a network-based approach to investigate the comorbidity patterns of community-dwelling older adults living alone. The third article is published in Clinical Nursing Research, titled "Comorbidity Patterns in Older Patients Undergoing Hip Fracture Surgery: A Comorbidity Network Analysis Study". Comorbidity network analysis (CNA) is a technique in which mathematical graphs encode correlations (edges) among diseases (nodes) inferred from the disease co-occurrence data of a patient group. The present study applied this network-based approach to identifying comorbidity patterns in older patients undergoing hip fracture surgery.

CSDE Affiliates Avanti Adhia (Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing), Betty Bekemeier (Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing), and co-authors recently published their work in the Journal of School Health, titled “Improving School Environments for Preventing Sexual Violence Among LGBTQ+ Youth“. Sexual violence (SV) is a serious public health concern, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth report higher rates than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This qualitative study aimed to understand LGBTQ+ students' perspectives on how middle and high school environments can better prevent and address SV.

NPR quoted CSDE Affiliate Scott Allard (Evans School of Public Policy & Governance) on a study he authored, which found that that Washington ballots by Asian and Hispanic voters had were rejected at higher rates, compared to White Voters. Allard discussed how ballots are often rejected based on signatures – “We know that people with complex surnames, multiple middle or multiple last names may often shorten those names in everyday signatures … And if they do that, it may be that the signature that they put on their ballot is what they use every day, but it may not be what's on their driver's license." Read the full story here.

CSDE Affiliate Dr. Grace John-Stewart (Global Health, Epidemiology, Medicine, and Pediatrics) and co-authors published their research in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, titled “Neurodevelopment of children who are HIV-exposed and uninfected in Kenya“. Dr. Michelle Bulterys was the lead author on the study and conducted this research during her PhD in epidemiology at UW. Dr. Irene Njuguna was the project director and is an assistant professor in the Department of Global Health. Predictors of neurodevelopment among children who are HIV-exposed uninfected (CHEU) are poorly understood. Mothers with and without HIV and their children were enrolled during 6-week postnatal care visits across seven sites in Kenya between March 2021 and June 2022. Infant neurodevelopment was assessed using the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool, including social, language, fine motor and gross motor domains.

The Washington State Standard quoted CSDE Affiliate Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research on findings from their recent report that Washington’s rent prices are stabilizing. Bourassa said that while it is tough to identify the exact cause, growth may be slowing due to new apartments that were built in the last three to four years. At the same time, demand for rental housing is not necessarily growing. Bourassa discussed how this combination of rising vacancies and low demand means that  “The market is saturated at the moment”. Read the full story here.

Jaime White has recently joined CSDE and the UW as our new Grants Manager, providing pre-award and post-award support to our faculty. Prior to joining CSDE, she worked in social services, affordable housing, and the Arts nonprofits as a grant writer and development professional. She completed an MA from the Jackson School with a focus on Comparative Religion in 2018 and has a BA in Religious Studies from Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt). She also completed a graduate certificate from the Evans School in Nonprofit Management in 2018. In her personal time, she enjoys swimming, circus arts, happy hour, and snuggling with her 2 cats, Plum and Veggie.

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.

• Biomarker Data Analysis
  • Date & Time: Thursday, Nov. 30 @ 11:00AM-12:00PM
  • Location: HRC 101 & Zoom (Link provided upon registration)
  • Instructor: Tiffany Pan
  • Summary: This workshop is an introduction to general biomarker measurement methods, how to assess biomarker data quality, and examples of available biomarker secondary data.

• Lunch & Learn: Telomere Length as a Measure of Environmental Exposures
  • Date & Time: Wednesday, Dec. 6 @ 12:30-1:30PM
  • Location 223 Raitt Hall
  • Instructor: Dan Eisenberg
  • Co-sponsor: Population Health Initiative
  • Summary: Telomere length is frequently considered as a biomarker of stress and aging. Join us for lunch and a presentation that will critically review mechanisms and findings linking telomere length with environmentally stressors. Please register by Dec. 1st.

• Biomarker working group (Coming soon!)   
  • Stay tuned for information about the kickoff meeting return of the CSDE Biomarkers Working Group in Winter Quarter 2024! This will be the first of monthly meetings for population researchers using biomarkers to connect, bring our collective expertise to work through challenges in our research, and discuss pertinent topics in biodemography.

•  (read more)

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.

On November 29 from 3:30-4:30 pm, CSDE Trainee Breon Haskett will join CDWG to discuss his research. CDWG Will be Hybrid in Fall Quarter 2023. It will take place in 223 Raitt hall (The Demography Lab) on Zoom (register here). Breon Haskett is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at UW and a T32 Fellow at CSDE. His work focuses on the intersection of industry and population processes to understand how people get by in the U.S..

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!

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.

On Wednesday, Nov. 15th, CSSS will host Dr. Navideh Noori (Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM), at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). The seminar will take place in 409 Savery Hall and on Zoom (register here). The bidirectional interaction between undernutrition and infection can be devastating to child health. Nutritional deficiencies impair immunity and increase susceptibility to infection. Simultaneously, infections compound undernutrition by increasing metabolic demand, and impairing nutrient absorption. Treatment of acute malnutrition (wasting) can reverse some of its deleterious effects and reduce susceptibility to infectious diseases.

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.

On Wednesday, Nov. 29th from 12-30-1:30, CS&SS will host Dr. Elizabeth Sanders (Associate Professor, Measurement and Statistics) in 409 Savery Hall and on Zoom (register here). In this presentation Dr. Sanders will discuss the major ways clustered data can be analyzed, especially when we only care about lower-level research questions, along with results from my own work showing how to avoid lower-level fixed effect coefficient (slope) bias, and why it’s especially important for multilevel modeling alternatives.

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. 

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) and the University of California, Davis’s Center for Poverty & Inequality Research (CPIR) invite applications for the 2024 National Research Center on Poverty and Economic Mobility Early-Career Mentoring Institute (ECMI). This weeklong convening between June 3-7, held in Davis, California, will provide valuable mentoring and career development opportunities to poverty and social mobility scholars who are in the early stages of their research careers and who have the potential for leadership in supporting members of populations that are underrepresented among academic researchers.

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 International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program supports international research and research-related activities for U.S. science and engineering students. The IRES program contributes to development of a diverse, globally engaged workforce with world-class skills. IRES focuses on active research participation by undergraduate and/or graduate students in high quality international research, education and professional development experiences in NSF-funded research areas. 

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.