On Wednesday April 15, from 10 – 11:30 AM, CSDE will host a workshop that provides a basic introduction to Agent-Based Modeling (ABM). The workshop will be divided into three sections. During the first third of the course we will review and discuss the basic elements of ABMs and their applications in a variety of fields including demography, sociology, anthropology, political science and public health. In the second section of the course we will work through one or two seminal examples of ABMs and reproduce the models in base R. Due to the limited time available, the R code to build these models will be provided to participants in advance. Finally, we will walk through an example of a complex ABM using the statnet and EpiModel R packages. Students will not need these packages to complete the workshop.
By the end of the workshop participants will be able to describe the unique features of ABM that make them distinct from other modeling approaches, write R functions to produce a simple ABM, and be familiar with additional R packages that provide functionality for ABMs
The Emergence of Ownership Opacity in Landed Capitalism: Consolidation, Adaptation, Evasion
Declining sole proprietorship rates among landlords are viewed as indicators of growing corporate control of rental housing. However, declines in sole proprietorship may reflect the popularization of investment vehicles across amateur landlords, causing studies to overestimate the ownership share of firms. Moving beyond political economy, this presentation conceptualizes landed capitalism as a complex and adaptive housing system, and proposes declines in sole proprietorship reflect the emergence of ownership opacity across the landlord population. Evaluating this perspective through an enumeration of landownership in Austin, Texas, results from longitudinal analysis show that the ownership share of small landlords is stable, but that processes of portfolio consolidation, investor adaptation, and regulatory evasion are encouraging opaque ownership structures across landlords of nearly all sizes. These findings suggest ownership opacity is a form of emergent complexity created by population evolution among landlords, and demonstrate the utility of housing systems theory for both the field of comparative landownership studies and policies that aim to address disparities in housing ownership and tenure.
Join CSDE on Wednesday, April 22 from 12:30 – 1:30 PM for a Workshop on the Northwest Federal Statistical Research Data Center (NWFSRDC) network is comprised by Census-managed secure computing labs within top educational and research institutions across the country where qualified researchers conduct approved statistical analysis on non-public data. These data are collected by various government agencies (Census Bureau, NCHS, BEA, BLS, SSA, etc.) and made available to local researchers through agreements with federal statistical agencies.
This workshop will give a general introduction to- the data available in the University of Washington’s Northwest FSRDC, some examples of work done with different kinds of data, and the process of requesting access to this data. The workshop will be online only, and a Zoom link for online attendance will be provided upon registration. Click Sign Up on the Trumba event page to register.
CSDE is hosting three sets of office hours to help you prepare data visualizations for PAA! Join CSDE Training Core PI Audrey Dorélien, 2026-2027 CSDE Seminar Chair Min Cha, and CSDE Training Director Jessica Godwin to get feedback and consultation on figures for your PAA oral presentations or posters. Both faculty and students are welcome!! Please sign up for a consultation slot here on 4/15/26, 4/22/26, or 4/29/26 between 12 and 1 PM.
CSDE is pleased to announce the availability of 12-month fellowships supported by the NIH Training in Advanced Data Analytics (TADA) T32 fellowship program. These Data Science and Demography Training (DSDT) fellowships begin mid-September 2026. There are three openings for the DSDT fellowship program this year. The fellowship program is available to U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents. The goal of the training grant is to provide rigorous training in advanced data science methodologies for the next generation of behavioral, social science and population health researchers or to
provide advanced demographic training for data scientists. More information is available here. Applications are due Friday, April 24, 2026, by 5:00 PM PT.
The CSDE Development Core is once again hosting its annual Grant Writing Summer Program (GWSP) to assist scholars (UW postdocs, researchers, and professors affiliated or planning to affiliate with CSDE, as well as other researchers in the Seattle area) in preparing applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Applications are now open and due May 15! More info here, and application page here. Note that the program is in person and meets once every two weeks, late June – mid Sep, on the UW Seattle campus. Final schedule is set based on the schedules of the selected participants.
Make sure to read all the FAQ’s. Past participants report great success, and lots of support and even fun along the way. Applications are due May 15. Additional questions? Contact goodreau@uw.edu.
Program eligibility and costs (including one change from previous years):
- Free: CSDE affiliates (UW and external)
- Free: UW Faculty and research scientists (planning to affiliate with CSDE)
- Free: UW-based post-docs writing K awards with one or more CSDE affiliates on their mentoring team
- $7,500: Other researchers in the Seattle area
- $7,500: Post-docs who are based outside UW, writing K awards with one or more CSDE affiliates on their mentoring team
- Current graduate students are not eligible to apply.
CSDE collaborates with the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in a doctoral training program called the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science (IMPRS-PHDS). This program is based in Rostock, Germany, but includes 12 doctoral programs in the U.S. and Europe. CSDE has one IMPRS-PHDS fellowship application slot available to current CSDE Trainees. The fellowship funding will support a one quarter research stay at the MPIDR any time between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027. Information about the program, the faculty, and partner institutions can be found here. Applications are due to CSDE by Tuesday, May 26. Apply here.