CSDE’s seminar series closed out the autumn quarter with an excellent poster session, featuring CSDE Trainees and students Hugo Aguas (PhD student, Sociology), Breon Haskett (PhD student, Sociology), Julie Kim (PhD student, Health Metrics), and Bocheng Zhang (PhD student, Economics)! Julie Kim took home the prize with her work on gender parity in academia, titled “Global Improvements in the Representation of Women in Science Have Stalled”. CSDE extends a special thank you to Liz Nova, Jill Fulmore and Maddie Farris for organizing the event and the CSDE Faculty Affiliate Feedback Panel: Zack Almquist, Rawan Arar, and Anjum Hajat. CSDE wishes everyone a happy holiday and appreciates all who helped make fall's seminar series a success! 

Read the full story to see posters from the event! 

On December 5th, CSDE Affiliate Dr. Ali Mokdad (Epidemiology, Health Metrics Sciences) was quoted in an article by The Hill on how many vulnerable Americans are going into the holidays unprotected against COVID-19. While the U.S. is entering the peak season for respiratory illnesses, few nursing home residents and staff have been vaccinated with the updated booster. Dr. Mokdad commented with two concerns. Those who are vulnerable will be unprotected during the holidays. In addition, new variants may arise. “Right now, we’re not ready and many people may not rush and get the vaccine,” Dr. Mokdad said. Read the full article here.

CSDE Affiliate Dr. Ann Bostrom (Evans School of Public Policy and Governance) recently published two co-authored articles.  The first article, on communicating scientific uncertainty for natural hazards, is published in the International Journal of Risk Reduction and titled “Where does scientific uncertainty come from, and from whom? Mapping perspectives of natural hazards science advice.”  This study of 25 mental model interviews conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand reveals recognition of many sources of uncertainty–from the data to governance and actors involved in managing natural hazards–and of the value of uncertainty for promoting debate and inquiry. The second article, "Trust and trustworthy artificial intelligence: A research agenda for AI in the environmental sciences" is published in Risk Analysis. Applying a risk communication lens, the authors assess research on the trust and trustworthiness of AI in the environmental sciences and identify research needs in three areas: co-development of AI with users; better measurements of trust in AI, especially its dynamics; and calibration and standard setting for trustworthy AI.

CSDE Affiliate Dr. Chiyoung Lee (Nursing) co-authored a study in the Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, entitled “Identification of Relationships Among Resilience Factors Using Network Analysis: A Pilot Study“. Although college life can be fulfilling, it can be stressful, particularly for health professional students. In addition, they may have had Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) that increases their sensitivity to academic stress. Yet, students need to overcome challenges to become successful professionals. This study sought to identify the relationships among factors associated with resilience using network analysis.  The Network analysis revealed positive associations between (1) mental health and sense of coherence (SOC); (2) mental health and resources; (3) mental health and social support; (4) SOC and reappraisal of emotion regulation; (5) resources and reappraisal of emotion regulation; and (6) resources and social support. In addition, SOC and academic stress were negatively associated. Furthermore, the short variant of 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 was associated with stronger suppression of emotion regulation and fewer resources compared with the long variant.  Lee and colleagues conclude that Resilience may be influenced by biopsychosocial factors, notably SOC and 5-HTTLPR/rs25531. However, they also recommend that further longitudinal research is needed with a larger sample size to better understand how these and other factors may affect resilience.

CSDE Affiliate Dr. David Huh (Social Work) published research with co-authors in Alcohol Clinical & Experimental Research, titled “The selection of statistical models for reporting count outcomes and intervention effects in brief alcohol intervention trials: A review and recommendations”. Understanding the efficacy and relative effectiveness of a brief alcohol intervention (BAI) relies on obtaining a credible intervention effect estimate. Outcomes in BAI trials are often count variables, such as the number of drinks consumed, which may be overdispersed and zero-inflated. Ignoring such distribution characteristics can lead to biased estimates and invalid statistical conclusions. In this critical review, the authors identified and reviewed 64 papers that reported count outcomes from a systematic review of BAI trials for adolescents and young adults from 2013 to 2018. 

CSDE Affiliates Dr. Engi Attia (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) and Dr. Joseph Delaney (Epidemiology) released their research in JAIDS, “Venous thromboembolism among people with HIV: Design, implementation, and findings of a centralized adjudication system in clinical care sites across the United States“. People with HIV (PWH) are at increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). The authors conducted this study to characterize VTE including provoking factors among PWH in the current treatment era. Their robust adjudication process demonstrated the benefits of multiple ascertainment approaches followed by adjudication. Provoked VTEs were more common than unprovoked events. Non-traditional and modifiable potential predisposing factors such as viremia and smoking were common. 

CSDE Affiliate Dr. Anjum Hajat (Epidemiology) recently released research with co-authors in the Annual Review of Public Health, titled “Ramifications of Precarious Employment for Health and Health Inequity: Emerging Trends from the Americas“. Precarious employment (PE), which encompasses the power relations between workers and employers, is a well-established social determinant of health that has strong ramifications for health and health inequity. In this review, the authors discuss advances in the measurement of this multidimensional construct and provide recommendations for overcoming continued measurement challenges.

CSDE Affiliate Dr. Grace John-Stewart (Global Health, Epidemiology, Medicine, and Pediatrics) published research with co-authors in JAIDS, “Cofactors of partner HIV self-testing and Oral PrEP acceptance among pregnant women at high risk of HIV in Kenya“. The study was led by Dr. Nancy Ngumbau from Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya. Oral PrEP and male partner HIV self-testing (HIVST) is being scaled up within antenatal clinics (ANC). Few data are available on how co-distribution influences acceptance of both interventions. The authors utilized data from the PrIMA (NCT03070600) trial in Kenya. Their study found that among women accepting HIVST, partner HIV testing increased from 20% to 82% and awareness of partner HIV status increased from 4.7% to 82.0% between pregnancy and 9-months postpartum. The authors conclude that understanding factors associated with accepting HIVST and PrEP can valuably inform HIV prevention programs for pregnant women.

In the upcoming quarter, CSDE will be hosting four workshops and one 'lunch and learn' event to facilitate researchers’ adoption of new methods and data to accelerate research programs. These workshops include an overview of portable biomarker data collection in the field, accessing federal statistical data, developing online surveys using REDCap, conducting statistical analysis with R, and an introduction to data options for research on older adults.  

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 course of the academic year, CSDE will offer a diverse and exciting set of workshops, some of which will be offered in person and others remotely via Zoom. Students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to register for our workshops and we welcome registrants from outside the University of Washington for our remote workshops as well.

You can find our workshop website and register for our Winter 2024 workshops in the links below. We will be filling in our schedule for Spring workshops soon, so stay tuned!

Please reach out to CSDE’s Training Director, Jessica Godwin (jlg0003@uw.edu), if you have additional workshops you would like to see offered in the future and we will do our best to accommodate those requests.

Winter Workshops

• Portable Methods for Biomarker Data Collection in the Field
  • Date: Thursday, Jan 18th @ 2:00PM-3:30PM
  • Location: Raitt 223/230
  • Instructor: Tiffany Pan
• The Northwest Federal Statistical Research Data Center: Enabling Access to Confidential, Unpublished Data from the Federal Statistical System
  • Date: Wednesday, Jan 24th @ 12:30PM-1:30PM
  • Location: Zoom
  • Instructors: Sofia Ayala & Carlos Becerra
• Survey Methods I: Online Survey Design & Administration with REDCap
  • Date & Time: Thursday, Feb. 1 @ 2:00PM–4:00PM
  • Location: HRC 101/Zoom
  • Instructors: Matt Dunbar & Phil Litwin
• Survey Methods II: Statistical Analysis of Surveys in R
  • Date & Time: Wednesday, Feb. 7 @ 1:30PM–3:00PM
  • Location: HRC 101/Zoom
  • Instructor: Jessica Godwin
• Lunch & Learn: Data to Support Research on Older Adults
  • Date & Time: Thursday, Feb 29th @ 12:00PM-1:00PM
  • Location: Raitt 223
  • Instructors: Sofia Ayala & Stipica Mudrazija

Please join us for the kickoff of the Biomarker Working Group! We are building a community with diverse expertise, connected by an interest in using biomarkers for population research. This will be a space for learning about and discussing current topics and methods in biomarker research and drawing on our collective knowledge to work through challenges in our own projects.

In this first of monthly meetings, gather with other population researchers using biomarkers and learn about the resources available through CSDE’s Biodemography Lab. Lunch will be provided for those who register here by December 30.

Event Details:

• Date: Thursday, January 4, 2024
• Time: 12:30 – 1:30PM
• Location: Raitt Hall 223

With support from the Population Health Initiative, CSDE officially launched its Lunch & Learn series on Wednesday with a successful first event! The first event was facilitated by CSDE Science Core PI Dan Eisenberg and focused on uusing “Telomere Length as a Measure of Environmental Exposures”. Participants included faculty, postdocs and graduate students from Geography, Global Health, Statistics, and School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. The Eisenberg provided an overview about how telomere length is an important determinant of senescence and can be a potential cumulative biomarker of environmental exposures. In particular, Eisenberg shared how and why telomere length predicts morbidity and mortality, especially from infectious diseases. Additionally, Eisenberg demonstrated how environmental factors such as psychosocial stressors and infections influence telomere length. 

Stay tuned for details on our next Lunch & Learn event in Winter 2024 which will be led by NWFSRDC & UWDC Director Sofia Ayala!

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!

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.

IPUMs is excited to announce the release of the 2022 1-year data from the American Community Survey (ACS) through IPUMS USA and IPUMS NHGIS. There are also new data from IPUMS MTUS, IPUMS CPS, and IPUMS USA. Links to all new data are in the full story!

Are you interested in using publicly available City data to design a data dashboard that tells a story or highlights an issue? Please join the City of Seattle for a friendly half-day hackathon at Tableau’s Fremont office, hosted by Salesforce. The event will take place on Thursday December 14, 2023 with a kickoff at 10:00 and presentation and awards at 2:00 PM. Teams will design and build a new dashboard or visualization that tells a story using a dataset assigned from Seattle Open Data (https://data.seattle.gov).

(read more)

The Open Scholarship Commons Community Fellows Workshop Series is a paid fellowship opportunity for  graduate students underrepresented in the field of open scholarship. The goal of this Fellowship is to lift up students as experts in this field and create opportunities for peer to peer learning by offering student-led workshops. Equity is a core value of the UW Libraries Open Scholarship Commons, and this Fellowship, funded by the UW Diversity Council, aims to support the expertise and leadership of underrepresented students in the field of open scholarship.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Environmental Justice Working Group invites feedback on the approaches NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices can take to support research and capacity building efforts to advance environmental justice in the U.S. and globally. Additionally, Request for Information (RFI) responses will enable the NIH Environmental Justice Working Group to be responsive to Executive Order 14096 on Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, and to synergize NIH efforts with other Federal Agencies in a whole-of-government approach to advance environmental justice.

UW aging scholars are invited to present their work to Gerontological Society of America (GSA) leadership on upcoming visit to UW, fill out survey (here) by Dec. 20th if interested in presenting. The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) will be hosting its Annual Scientific Meeting in Seattle from November 13-16, 2024. In anticipation of the conference being held in Seattle, the GSA CEO James Appleby, and President Judy Howe, have asked to meet UW faculty and colleagues, graduate students, and post-doctoral trainees across the campus who are conducting research in aging. They will be on the UW Seattle campus on Thursday, February 8, 2024. Aging scholars at UW are organizing a morning forum on campus. We invite you to share your work with GSA leaders and your UW colleagues doing aging research.

Applications are now open for the 2023-24 Latinx Scholars Graduate School Fellowship (LSGF). LSGF awards are hosted by the Office of Graduate Student Equity & Excellence (GSEE) (formerly GO-MAP). In 2013, a group of engaged, committed UW faculty, civic, and business leaders joined together to establish the Latinx Scholars Graduate School Fellowship to provide financial assistance to UW graduate students (master’s and doctoral) who have a demonstrated commitment to Latinx communities.

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.