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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

*New* RFAs from NIH on Social Networks and Health (due 11/3/23)

Two new calls seek basic observational or experimental behavioral and/or social science R01 applications that test how intrapersonal and interpersonal mechanisms of behavior change interact with, influence, or are influenced by characteristics of social networks, with implications for health. Research supported through this NOFO will examine at least two levels of analysis: interpersonal processes and social network characteristics. Projects will identify targets for future social network health behavior change interventions across the lifespan, especially in populations in which they are currently largely underdeveloped and untested (e.g., populations in mid- to- late life). Basic research to develop, refine, or optimize measures (i.e., assays) of putative targets (e.g., intra/interpersonal mechanisms of behavior change and/or social network characteristics) is also supported by this NOFO.  Details can be found here:

 

  • RFA-AG-24-025 – Leveraging Social Networks to Promote Widespread Individual Behavior Change (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
  • RFA-AG-24-026 – Leveraging Social Networks to Promote Widespread Individual Behavior Change (R34 Clinical Trial Optional)

Population Health Initiative Temporary Research Scientist

The Population Health Initiative has an outstanding opportunity for a Temporary Research Scientist to join our team. This position is full-time and anticipated to be 11 months in duration. The Research Scientist will be a core member of a mixed-methods study to compare resilient immunization programs in the United States and Canada to reduce racial gaps in vaccination levels. Key activities include measuring and reviewing changes in vaccine equity in Canada over time, identifying which public health interventions or public policies have most effectively improved immunization equity, and comparing findings with a recently completed study of U.S. immunization programs. The Population Health Initiative engages and galvanizes stakeholders from across the UW, the region, and the globe toward achieving the vision of creating a world where all people can live healthier and more fulfilling lives. This position acts as a critical resource to translate that vision into reality by supporting the completion of a key, initiative-led research project.

 

Population Health Initiative is Hiring a Temp Research Scientist for Vaccine Disparities Research

The Population Health Initiative has an outstanding opportunity for a Temporary Research Scientist to join our team. This position is full-time and anticipated to be 11 months in duration. The Research Scientist will be a core member of a mixed-methods study to compare resilient immunization programs in the United States and Canada to reduce racial gaps in vaccination levels. Key activities include measuring and reviewing changes in vaccine equity in Canada over time, identifying which public health interventions or public policies have most effectively improved immunization equity, and comparing findings with a recently completed study of U.S. immunization programs. The Population Health Initiative engages and galvanizes stakeholders from across the UW, the region, and the globe toward achieving the vision of creating a world where all people can live healthier and more fulfilling lives. This position acts as a critical resource to translate that vision into reality by supporting the completion of a key, initiative-led research project.

 

Accomplishments, Awards, A Year’s Worth of Plenty! And, Happy Summer, too!

Last Friday, CSDE hosted its annual end of the year event to celebrate the accomplishments of the wonderful graduate students who comprise a vital aspect of our community. CSDE’s graduate students enroll in the Certificate in Demographic Methods (~50 graduate students), receive travel funding for professional conferences, work as RAs on affiliates’ research projects, and can receive CSDE fellowship support from NICHD or CSDE’s Shanahan Endowment, enabling them to join the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.  They are the future of demography and doing great things!  Big thank you to Jessica Godwin, Jill Fulmore and Mike Renz for organizing and hosting the event so well!  What follows is a quick review, but for more details, please review the end of the year slide show here.

Three Trainees successfully defended their dissertations, including Aja Sutton (Geography – “Modeling the social and political contexts of United States health protective interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic”), Colin Baynes (Global Health – “Bridging Implementation Science and Demography to Understand the Dynamics of Child Survival in Tanzania between 2000-2015”), and Neal Marquez (Sociology – “The Impact of Environmental, Social, and Institutional Factors on Geographic Mobility in the United States”). Each have exciting postdoctoral opportunities. Aja will be a postdoc at Stanford University in the Human Evolutionary Ecology and Health in the Doerr School of Sustainability. Colin will be at the University of North Carolina at the Carolina Population Center. Neal is at Portland State University at their Population Research Center.

 

CSDE Trainees awarded Master’s Degrees included Elizabeth Nova (Sociology), Aryaa Rajouria (Sociology), and Bridget Waters (Epidemiology). There are five continuing fellows in CSDE’s Fellows Program, including: Delaney Glass (Anthropology), David Coomes (Epidemiology), Breon Haskett (Sociology), Lizzy Pelletier (Public Policy), and June Yang (Sociology). Additionally, CSDE sponsored two Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research Fellows – Courtney Allen (UW Sociology) and Esther Denecke (University of Rostock).  Winners of CSDE’s Lightning Talks and Poster Presentations were Rebecca Walcott (Public Policy) and Lizzy Pelletier (Public Policy).

 

CSDE Trainees are actively engaged in their academic professional communities and especially at the Population Association of America. This year 18 trainees participated in PAA with oral presentations, flash talks, or posters including: Courtney Allen, Esther Denecke, Callie Freitag, Neal Marquez, Elizabeth Nova, Zoe Pleasure, Taylor Riley, Lauren Woczynski, Nick Irons, Ihsan Kaveci, Tom Lindman, Aasli Abdi Nur, Larisa Ozeryansky, Aryaa Rajouria, Aja Aja Sutton, Ellyn Terry, Maria Vignau Loria, June Yang, and Crystal Yu. June Yang (and colleagues Zack Almquist and James Holland Jones) won a PAA Best Poster Award for their work: Political and Educational Dynamics in Religious Group’s Mask Resistance Under COVID-19.

 

CSDE Trainees are also successful grant recipients! Larisa Ozeryanski (Interdisciplinary Individual PhD) received a Fulbright Fellowship to study the health experiences of refugees from Ukraine at the Global Health Department, University of Oslo. Delaney Glass (Anthropology) received a Wenner-Gren Dissertation Grant for “Rethinking Evolutionary and Proximate Drivers of Pubertal Timing Among Jordanian Non-Refugee and Syrian Refugee Adolescents.”

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL! Best wishes for a happy and productive summer – from all of us at CSDE!

McCormick Receives New NICHD Grant for Improving Age- and Cause-Specific Under-Five Mortality Rates

CSDE Affiliate Tyler McCormick has been awarded a R01 grant from NICHD for his project, “Improving Age- and Cause-Specific Under-Five Mortality Rates (ACSU5MR) by Systematically Accounting Measurement Errors to Inform Child Survival Decision Making in Low Income Countries.” The project involves collaboration with Li Liu in Maternal/Child Health at Johns Hopkins University and builds on work started by McCormick as part of his earlier K01 award from NICHD. Congratulations, Tyler!

 

CSDE Computational Demography Working Group Hosts Jessica Godwin on how to Get Involved with the Population Dynamics Lab! (6/7/23 @3pm)

On June 7 from 3-4pm, Jessica Godwin, CSDE Research Scientist and Training Program Director will be discussing ways to get involved with the Population Dynamics Lab.

The Population Dynamics Lab is a new collaborative platform where researchers, interdisciplinary scholars, and applied demographers can share and computational methods and empirical tools for population research. PDL is committed to open science, reproducibility, and providing peer-feedback and community engagement in methodological and theoretical advancements in demographic and population research.

PDL offers a place for researchers to share short, innovative methodological and computational developments in population research. Publish meaningful applied insights, teaching materials, and smaller components of methodological solutions that deserve more attention than they can receive in a full length scientific manuscript, through a high-level summary (The Download), an in-depth technical discussion (The Denominator), and a code Repository. Receive a unique DOI for ea4ch of these components for easy, specific citation and access.

CSDE Computational Demography Working Group Hosts Jessica Godwin on how to Get Involved with the Population Dynamics Lab! (6/7/23 @3pm)

On June 7 from 3-4pm, Jessica Godwin, CSDE Research Scientist and Training Program Director will be discussing ways to get involved with the Population Dynamics Lab.

The Population Dynamics Lab is a new collaborative platform where researchers, interdisciplinary scholars, and applied demographers can share and computational methods and empirical tools for population research. PDL is committed to open science, reproducibility, and providing peer-feedback and community engagement in methodological and theoretical advancements in demographic and population research.

PDL offers a place for researchers to share short, innovative methodological and computational developments in population research. Publish meaningful applied insights, teaching materials, and smaller components of methodological solutions that deserve more attention than they can receive in a full length scientific manuscript, through a high-level summary (The Download), an in-depth technical discussion (The Denominator), and a code Repository. Receive a unique DOI for ea4ch of these components for easy, specific citation and access.

Swanson Publishes New Article on Small-Area Population Forecasting

New research by CSDE External Affiliate David Swanson entitled, “Boosted Regression Trees for Small-Area Population Forecasting” has been published in Population Research and Policy Review. Swanson and co-authors point to some issues within Small-Area Populatin forecasting and the lack of current research utilizing machine learning techniques. Using 1990 and 2000 census data, the authors develop 10-year age/gender-structured 2010 population forecasts for 50,965 census tracts in the U.S. using a well-known machine learning technique: boosted regression trees.