As we close out the 2018-19 academic year, we’re thrilled to celebrate another successful year and recognize the achievements of CSDE Fellows and Trainees. Please join us in learning more about their accomplishments and celebrating our community. Students will also receive their certificates for completing the Graduate Certificate in Demographic Methods. CSDE Affiliates, Trainees, Staff, and anyone interested in joining the CSDE community are welcome to attend! There will be refreshments and a brief program.

Congratulations to Christine Leibbrand, CSDE Fellow and Sociology PhD Candidate, on receiving the Dean’s Medal for Outstanding Graduate Student in the Social Sciences! This honor is given to students in each division of the College of Arts and Sciences for their outstanding record of academic achievement. 

Christine intends to complete her PhD in August 2019. Her dissertation examines whether the economic returns to migration and the economic well-being of migrants and non-migrants have changed within the context of declining internal U.S. migration rates. She has recently published or has articles in press at the American Journal of Sociology, Social Science Research, Social Science History, and The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

CSDE Visiting Affiliate Amy Bailey and her co-author, University of Illinois-Chicago doctoral candidate Allison Helmuth, invite beta testers for a new ZIP Code crosswalk covering the entire US between 1990-2010. Bailey and Helmuth used a biweekly US Postal Service publication to identify changes in spatial boundaries of ZIP Codes, and created spatial cluster codes to reference the smallest indivisible geographic unit that remained constant.

The beta test crosswalk is available via a Stata .do file and an Excel spreadsheet. You can request access here. In exchange for accessing the Crosswalk, the authors ask that you provide feedback about your experience, which will help them finalize the data tool for public distribution.

CSDE is co-sponsoring a conference that explores the historical, political, and social aspects of the US Census. The Keynote lecture (tomorrow, 6/5/2019, 6:30 PM) will feature G. Cristina Mora, Kim Williams, and Nazita Lajevardi on the historical and political impacts of the Census. On Thursday (6/6/2019, 4:30 PM), a number of panels will speak to specific challenges of the 2020 Census. CSDE Affiliate Kate Stovel, Sociology, is moderating a roundtable on “The Importance of Census Data” (10:30 AM), in which CSDE Director Sara Curran, Sociology and International Studies, will speak about differential privacy.

To all students – Please complete the short end-of-year survey on accomplishments and future plans asap! This may include graduation plans, defending your dissertation, awards, jobs, etc. We hope to share your accomplishments with the CSDE community (including at this Friday’s end-of-year reception) and need it for our reporting.

To students who qualify for the Demographic Methods Certificate – It’s not too late to submit your documentation and get a framed certificate at the end-of-year reception! Please follow the instructions and upload your documentation no later than June 5 by noon. If you will complete requirements at the end of the quarter and will graduate before the Fall, you can submit preliminary documentation now and update it later. Contact Aimée Dechter with any questions.