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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) – Wave 6 (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications for the next 5-year cycle of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to include a sixth wave of data collection (Wave VI). Add Health is a nationally representative, longitudinal study of individuals primarily born from 1976 through 1982 who were first interviewed as adolescents in grades 7-12 (ages 12-19) in 1994-1995. Add Health respondents are now entering middle age. The goals for Add Health Wave VI are to:

  1. Re-interview Add Health cohort members in a combination of web-based and in-person modes, including aggressive non-response follow-up and oversamples of race/ethnic-minority and low-socioeconomic-status individuals.
  2. Re-visit cohort members for an in-home health exam that includes venous blood collection.
  3. Assay biological specimens for biomarkers of disease.
  4. Enrich measures in domains that may elucidate mid- and later-life health and disparities therein (e.g., cumulative stress, discrimination, work-life balance, caregiving).
  5. Clean, document, disseminate, archive (including storage of biological specimens for future study), and promote the Wave VI data to the scientific community for aging research.

Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2020

The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) to support medical research projects of clear scientific merit and direct relevance to military health. As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

Goodreau and Halloran Lend Their Expertise in the News on Coronavirus and Social Dynamics

CSDE Affiliate and Director of CSDE’s Development Core Steve Goodreau reflected in a recent Crosscut article on the lessons learned from earlier plagues and infectious disease outbreaks. In this Crosscut article, Goodreau makes connections between current stigmas associated with having an Asian identity to similar identity stigmas in past outbreaks. For example, during the initial AIDS epidemic, there were stigmas against gay men and Haitians. Affiliate Elizabeth Halloran was also quoted in yesterday’s New York Times about the crucial need for nation-wide testing. In the article, Halloran states how “it’s important to develop inexpensive tests so people can get tested whenever they need to be.”

Demographers and Survey Exports

Viewpoint Consulting is seeking a scholar (or team of scholars) to support a peer learning project focused on helping foundations and other philanthropic organizations effectively collect, analyze and use demographic data on the groups they support and the communities they impact through their grantmaking.  The project needs support around best practice with respect to survey design and analysis for capturing race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age and other key demographic factors.  The support will be delivered through

1)    Presentations to groups of foundation staff thru webinars and possibly in-person meetings on basic issues related to demographic data collection

2)    Preparation of FAQs sheets on good practice around demographic data collection in general and on hard to see populations

3)    One-on-one coaching with smaller cohorts of individual foundation staff

The project will ultimately produce a guide and potential training curriculum on demographic data issues that reflect the unique processes, systems and cultures of foundations.

*Required experience*

·      Expertise with demographic survey design

·      Familiarity with current issues and concerns related to demographic data on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity and their intersection

·      Presenting to lay (non-academic) audiences on demographics

*Preferred experience*

·      Familiarity with nonprofit and/or foundations

·      Experience with using demographic data in applied settings

Initial Contract would be time and materials for

·      Three presentations over six months

·      1 FAQ fact sheet

·      8-10 hrs of one on one or small group coaching

If you are interested in being considered, please contact Kelly Brown at Kelly@viewptconsulting.com.

Research Assistant Professors

The Center for Data Science for Enterprise & Society at Cornell University announces a new program to recruit multiple candidates to be hired as Research Assistant Professors; these are 3-year non-tenure-track positions that are funded in part by the Center and in part by a cooperating unit at Cornell University, either at the Ithaca campus or at Cornell Tech in New York City. The first cohort recruited for this program will start in academic year 2020-2021.

This new Center aims to unify programs and curricula in data science with an initial emphasis on questions grounded in data that are generated by human activity, including computational social science (e.g., sociology and government), the economics/computer science interface, the aspects of digital agriculture in the production and management of agriculture, digital platforms supporting urban infrastructure (e.g., the sharing economy), and as a theme that is cross-cutting in many of these areas, the corresponding issues of privacy, security, and fairness. The areas highlighted are meant to serve only as illustrative; candidates for these Research Assistant Professorships are sought from all areas of research that either advance the state of the art in data science, or extend the reach of data-driven research into novel application domains.

Applicants should submit their curriculum vitae (CV) and a research statement summarizing their accomplishments to date, as well as a diversity statement; they must also submit a two-page description of proposed research for the period to be spent at the Center, including a proposed primary Cornell faculty member to mentor the candidate (and potentially a secondary mentor to span both some relevant area from the application domain as well as someone from a core data science domain);  two letters of recommendation and a reference letter of support from the Cornell faculty mentor(s). Candidates are expected to have completed their Ph.D. prior to the start of this position, and to have already done substantial research in areas relevant to the Center. Applications should be submitted by February 15, 2020 for full consideration, but applications will continue to be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the positions are filled.

Postdoctoral Researcher Positions

Two postdoctoral appointments are offered for social scientists with excellent analytical and writing skills that have recently completed their PhD or will complete it by the summer of 2020. The candidates will join the project “Healthy lifespan inequality: Measurement, trends and determinants”, funded by the European Research Council as a Consolidator Grant to Dr. Iñaki Permanyer and hosted by the Center for Demographic Studies (CED) in Barcelona. HEALIN is a 5-year project that will start in June 2020.

NSF ADVANCE: Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions

The NSF ADVANCE program contributes to the National Science Foundation’s goal of a more diverse and capable science and engineering workforce.1 In this solicitation, the NSF ADVANCE program seeks to build on prior NSF ADVANCE work and other research and literature concerning gender, racial, and ethnic equity. The NSF ADVANCE program goal is to broaden the implementation of evidence-based systemic change strategies that promote equity for STEM2 faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession. The NSF ADVANCE program provides grants to enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and to mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession and workplaces. Systemic (or organizational) inequities may exist in areas such as policy and practice as well as in organizational culture and climate. For example, practices in academic departments that result in the inequitable allocation of service or teaching assignments may impede research productivity, delay advancement, and create a culture of differential treatment and rewards. Similarly, policies and procedures that do not mitigate implicit bias in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions could lead to women and racial and ethnic minorities being evaluated less favorably, perpetuating historical under-participation in STEM academic careers and contributing to an academic climate that is not inclusive.

Amy Bailey Discusses Anti-Lynching Legislation on NPR’s All Things Considered

120 years ago, Rep. George Henry White’s anti-lynching bill failed to pass through Congress. Now, such legislation could soon land on the president’s desk. CSDE Affiliate Amy Bailey provides her expertise on lynching and the history of racial violence in the U.S. for a recent feature on such legislation in NPR’s All Things Considered. In the feature, Bailey explains how the U.S. has consistently underplayed racial violence in its history, even when there were close to 5,000 lynching incidents. “We still have instances…where there were people who lost their lives…based on racial dynamics and racial inequality. If we are trying to say that we are beyond this moment in our nation’s history, we’re fooling ourselves,” Bailey states.

Amy Bailey is a CSDE visiting affiliate whose research examines race and inequality. One of her areas of research focuses on historical patterns of racial violence in the American South, also known as lynching. You can read and listen to the full NPR All Things Considered feature here or by clicking the link below.

Provost Bridge Funding Program: Bridge Applications Due May 1, 2020

Calling all Center Directors, Research Scientists and Faculty! The application for the Provost Bridge Funding Program is now available and due by May 1, 2020. The Provost’s Office provides bridge funding to support faculty to span the gap in critical research programs. Bridge Funding awards are typically used to support on-going research programs that have lost funding, although these funds may also be used to support new research directions, at the discretion of the recipient. A maximum of $50,000 may be applied for through the Provost and all funding requests must be matched 1:1 by the applicant’s college/school. If you have any questions, please contact Linda Gamman at lmkelley@uw.edu or visit their web site for guidance and FAQs.

Mitigating Impacts to Research Activities due to COVID-19: Ongoing Updates

The University is closely monitoring COVID-19 and extensive emergency procedures are in place. Be sure to read UW’s coronavirus FAQ page, as it contains important information for everyone in the UW community. Researchers should be prepared, too. Below are continual research updates from NIH, NSF, UW Office of Research, and more. 

UW Human Subjects Division (HSD) Updates:

NOTICE: Temporary Halt to Some UW Human Subjects Research (Effective Monday, March 23, 2020)

Which studies or study procedures must be paused? This mandatory temporary halt applies to all ongoing and new studies (or study procedures) that involve in-person interactions with participants except those that involve: 

  • A significant likelihood of direct and meaningful benefit for individual participants. This means that study participation has a probability of directly having a meaningful positive impact on the serious medical or serious psychological condition of individual subjects for one or more of the study groups, OR
  • A necessary safety monitoring procedure for already-enrolled participants that cannot be done in an alternative manner. However, new participants should not be enrolled unless the study meets one of the other criteria listed here. OR
  • Clinical trials where all in-person interactions can occur solely in the context of a needed clinical care visit, OR
  • Diagnosis, treatment, interventions, or other research activities directly focused on COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2, OR
  • Studies involving in-person interactions that can be modified to appropriate remote interactions (e.g., phone calls, emails) that don’t compromise participant safety or the scientific integrity of the research.

This restriction is aligned with the recent actions of many peer institutions, such as the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University, as well as NIH Guidance and FDA Guidance. Many research teams have already implemented some or all of the appropriate actions – i.e., halting new enrollment and/or modifying in-person procedures to remotely-conducted procedures. 

Questions. The Human Subjects Division COVID-19 webpage has more detailed information, and HSD staff are available to answer questions. Contact your HSD Team or hsdinfo@uw.edu. We will answer your questions as quickly as possible, but we anticipate that the volume of inquiries may slow our response somewhat in the first few days after this announcement. 

NIH Updates:

NIH announced flexibilities for applicants and recipients affected by COVID-19 as well as accompanying FAQs.

NSF Updates:

NSF has issued an advisory FAQ about their grants and grant policies. For information about both please click the link below.

Further, NSF announced March deadline date extensions for some solicitations and Dear Colleague Letters (DCLs). Please click this link for a list of the solicitations or Dear Colleague Letters (DCLs) with extended deadline dates. Additionally, NSF strongly encourages that you check the NSF Coronavirus Website regularly for critical updates.

UW’s Office of Research Updates:

The UW’s Office of Research has also provided additional guidance for researchers (click for continual UW Research updates). For convenience, there is a checklist included at the bottom of this message. 

Emergency personnel. At this time, there are no plans to restrict access to University research spaces, but it is wise for every research group to plan ahead in the event that full access is not possible for some time period. In the case of campus suspended operations, the usual policies would apply. This includes the need for emergency personnel to carry out specified duties.  The suspended operations link above includes the definition of emergency personnel, and below are the general categories:

The position is necessary to support or maintain:

·       Human health, welfare and/or safety.

·       Information technology services or security.

·       Building or property security, safety, and integrity.

·       Research animals, specimens, or equipment.

·       Critical infrastructure (power, water, heat, roads, etc.).

·       Critical business, contractual, or legal obligations including employee payroll.

In each unit, emergency personnel should be already designated. If you are unsure of who in your research project is designated emergency personnel, work with your department administrator or an equivalent administrator to identify such personnel.

Precautions. Remember, all personnel should stay home if they experience any symptoms including fever, cough, or difficulty breathing. It is also advisable to encourage limiting physical contact with others, such as hand-shaking (substitute elbow bumps or bows) and sharing of food.  Finally, the most effective prevention measure is frequent, thorough hand-washing.

Communications. If a communications plan for your research group is not already in place, designate points of contact so everyone receives timely information.

Plan for researcher time. Principal investigators and research group leads should discuss approaches now, in the event that some personnel are unable to come to work. Such advanced planning will make future decisions straightforward and minimize disruption to research activities.

Remote access. All students, post-docs, staff, and faculty involved in research projects should ensure that they have access to information they need to carry out work remotely.  This might include, for example, access to literature, access to existing datasets and research-related files, and access to meeting software (such as Zoom).  Principal investigators should prepare to carry out meetings remotely, using similar approaches as for remote teaching of classes. If you are unsure about whether you have access to such tools, it is wise to test them now.  Examples of the types of research work that can be done remotely are: data analysis, literature reviews, writing proposals, reviews, or research papers, writing the background sections of theses, computational work, meetings, discussions, etc.

Prioritization. Depending upon the nature of your research, you might consider prioritizing work that can only be carried out in your research facility, and put off work amenable to remote support, such as data analysis. Stockpiling results and data now that could be analyzed remotely in the future is a potential option that might create future flexibility. 

Save samples along the way. If you are carrying out a long-term experiment and if it is feasible to freeze samples at specific steps, you might consider doing this more often.

Proposal deadlines.  In general we expect that OSP will be able to submit proposals, even if personnel are working remotely.  Our experience is that federal agencies are very flexible about deadlines under difficult circumstances beyond our control.  However, if agencies are officially closed, proposals will most likely remain in a queue, pending resumption of agency operations – as has been the case during federal budget-related shutdowns.  Information will be posted on the OSP website, if necessary.  

Travel. Should you cancel planned research-related travel such as to a conference, site visit, or other laboratory?  Not necessarily. Be sure to access the list of travel restrictions – which will apply to everyone who travels on UW funds, including research grants or contracts — and use caution in considering travel to a country with restricted access to specific locations. As always, you should use your own judgement based on the circumstances. 

 Advance planning will allow everyone in your research group to focus on their own efforts and work together as a team, rather than wondering how they and their team members are to proceed.  Even if such plans are not needed for the current situation, they are still a good learning experience for the future.  

Checklist:            

ð  Identify emergency personnel and ensure they know what to do in the event of suspended operations

ð  Remind lab personnel of your communication plan or create one if not in place

ð  Identify priorities in case of restricted access

ð  Ensure remote access to files, data, servers, etc.

ð  Prioritize experiments

ð  Plan for remote proposal submission

ð  Check travel restrictions before making travel plans.