The University of Washington eScience Institute is partnering with Microsoft on the new UW Azure GenAI for Science Hub. Through this Hub we are offering cloud computing credits to UW researchers (faculty, postdocs, research staff) from all 3 UW campuses for projects where utilization of generative AI is central to accomplishing their research goals. Grants of up to $15,000 in Azure credits will enable access to AI Studio, Azure OpenAI Services, and GPUs as well as other standard Azure services. Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis, with priority given to applications submitted by Friday, January 10th. Learn more here.

The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) is inviting applications from qualified and highly-motivated students for a Summer Research Visit. The goal of the Population and Social Data Science Summer Incubator Program is to enable discovery by bringing together data scientists and population scientists to work on focused, intensive and collaborative projects of broad societal relevance.

For a period of 3 months (June 2^nd – August 22^nd, 2025) participating students will work in small teams, with support from experienced mentors, towards a common research goal. For the summer of 2025, the focus of the program will be on three main research areas:

1)    “Climate Change and Mobility” mentored by Risto Conte Keivabu, Ebru Sanlitürk, and Monica Alexander (University of Toronto);

2)    “Machine Learning for Life Course Trajectories” mentored by Linda Vecgaile, Bruno Arpino (University of Padova) and Emilio Zagheni;

3)    “Mortality in War Settings” mentored by Yvette Young, Diego Alburez-Gutierrez, Enrique Acosta (Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics -CED) and Irena Chen.

Learn more about this opportunity here. Applications are due by January 8th, 2025.

In a study just released in Natural Hazards and Earth Systems Sciences, CSDE Affiliate Tzu-Hsin Karen Chen (Urban Planning and Design, Environmental and Occupational Health) and colleagues present a novel analysis of the theorized relationship between migration and fatalities during major earthquakes. The paper, lead-authored by Chen, highlights the role of migration in vulnerability to natural hazards and provides an innovative geospatial method to capture migration flows from tribal areas and low-income neighborhoods. This work is also the product of a cross-campus collaboration with Diana Ceballos from the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. Read the full study here.

Welcome to the New Year! We’re looking forward to a winter quarter filled with excellent speakers and population research presentations. Click here for a link to the pdf of our poster (or, if you’re on campus, please send an email to csde@uw.edu, if you want a hardcopy).

We’ll be launching the quarter’s speakers series with a talk by Professor Hilary Schwandt (Western Washington University) who will be reporting results from a six year study of a Rwandan family planning program.  In the next week (1/17/24), we shift our focus to migration and a presentation by Professors Irene Bloemraad (University of British Columbia) and Jenny Van Hook (Pennsylvania State University).  On January 24, Dr. Mark Henderson (Northeastern University) will discuss his recent, historical research about regional variation in famine outcomes during China’s Great Leap Forward.  Professor Patrick Greiner (Sociology, University of Washington) will present population research on energy consumption patterns as indicative of a convergence around behavioral and technical change on January 31.  We’ll host a panel presentation on demographic responses to California wildfires by a team of interdisciplinary scholars – Professor Sameer Shah (SEFS, UW), Professor Ethan Sharygin (Portland State University), Dr. Mary Angelica Painter (University of Colorado) – on February 7.  For the rest of the quarter, CSDE’s seminars will focus on a population health questions in a number of domains.  First, on February 14, Professor Amy Bailey (University of Illinois, Chicago) will present her research on “History as a Fundamental Cause of Disease.”  Then, on February 21, we’ll host Professor Brea Perry (Indiana University) during her presentation on “Aging and the Social Brain” which examines the role of social networks in Alzheimer’s disease progression. On February 28, Professor Sasha Johfre (Sociology, UW) will present on “Conceptualizing Age, Predicting Inequality.”  And, then on March 7, Professor Jason Kerwin (Economics, UW) and Divya Pandey (University of Minnesota) will present on “Navigating Ambiguity: Imprecise of Probabilities and Updating of Disease Risk Beliefs.”  We’ll close out the quarter speaker series with lightning talks and poster presentations by CSDE Trainees on March 14.  Refreshments provided!