Thank you to everyone who attended CSDE Seminars this quarter! We had very engaging conversations and an exciting lineup of population scientists. Special shout-out to CSDE Seminar Series Chair and Affiliate Amy Bailey for coordinating the effort. There is no seminar this week, however, please keep an eye out for an equally exciting Spring 2020 Seminar Schedule! Updates regarding the format of the next seminar series, given public health safety measures, are on the way. CSDE wishes everyone stays safe and healthy for the upcoming spring break and quarter.
Call for Papers: PSID User Conference 2020
The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) announces a call for papers for the 2020 PSID Annual User Conference. The conference welcomes submissions on any topic, from researchers in any field, that use data from PSID or its supplements—the Child Development Supplement, the Transition into Adulthood Supplement, the Disability and Use of Time Supplement, the Childhood Retrospective Circumstances Study, or the Wellbeing and Daily Life Supplement.
The submission deadline is 1 June 2020. A total of 20 to 25 papers will be accepted for the conference, either for presentation or as posters. The conference will be held at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 10–11 September 2020. Travel and lodging expenses will be available for one author per accepted paper. Meals will be provided to all conference participants.
The goals of the PSID Annual User Conference are to provide new and experienced researchers with a forum to present preliminary results, to obtain comments and feedback from experienced PSID data users and PSID study staff, to facilitate future collaborations including NIH and NSF proposal submissions, to learn about new PSID data, and to provide feedback to PSID about study content and future data collections.
Research Assistant Professor Positions
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.
FLO Analytics Demographer
FLO Analytics (FLO) is seeking a full-time Demographer to work at either our Portland, Oregon or Seattle, Washington offices; or possibly remotely wherever you are located. As Demographer, you will serve as a key member of the FLO team, working on FLO projects for clients throughout the country. You will be charged with demographic analysis to support our clients’ objectives, project management, marketing, and business development. This position requires strong interpersonal skills, exceptional organization skills, and experience working in a fast-paced and deadline-driven environment. Additionally, you must be able to think outside the box, take initiative in a variety of situations, and effectively communicate verbally and in writing.
Call for Papers: Rostock Retreat on Uncertainty Visualization
Interested in participating in the Rostock Retreat on uncertainty visualization? Please upload your application via www.demogr.mpg.de/go/rostockretreatsubmission
The application should be a single PDF-file including (1) a paragraph describing a problem you want to advance by participating in the Retreat (related to visualizing uncertainty) and (optionally) (2) a visualization of your own that contains an aspect of uncertainty, with a paragraph describing it (or critiquing it). Applicants should have received a PhD, or should be enrolled in a PhD program. Please get in touch if this does not apply to you but you are interested in participating. Participants will verbally present their research with the aid of a poster.
For students or junior scientists with financial limitations there will be a limited number of travel stipends, covering travel and accommodation. Please state in your application if you also want to apply for a travel stipend.
A course on visualization in R will take place directly before the Retreat at the Max Planck Institute. If you also plan to apply to this course, please mention so in your Retreat application.
Questions or Suggestions? Feel free to contact the organizing committee by rostockretreat@demogr.mpg.de – anytime from anywhere.
Bo Zhao’s Dynamic Mapping Visualization of Coronavirus Providing Up-to-date Insights
CSDE Affiliate Bo Zhao produced a dynamic visualization of the spread of the Coronavirus. The online interactive map enables users to track both the global and local trends of the Novel Coronavirus infection since Jan 21st, 2020. The country-level data is collected from the WHO, while the data for each province in China is collected from multiple sources such as China’s NHC and Baidu. Notably, Zhao and his team also reference CDC to verify the virus status in the U.S. To provide timely map updates, they collect data every 4 hours and verify the data quality daily.
The computational resources to support the map were provided by CSDE. Zhao’s team members include Fengyu Xu, Lola Kang, Joshua Ji, and Steven Bao.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Opportunities
The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation is inviting grant proposals for the following Grand Challenges and Grand Challenges Explorations initiatives. The Grand Challenges family of initiatives fosters innovation to solve key global health and development problems. The application deadline is April 22, 2020.
Accelerating Discovery for Non-Hormonal Contraceptives: Grand Challenges seeks new approaches and concepts for the characterization of contraceptive drug targets, the identification of active contraceptive compounds, and the development of novel and impactful research tools with the potential to revolutionize the field of contraceptive R&D.
Improving Access to and Use of Safe and Appropriate Cesarean Section: Grand Challenges seeks ideas for interventions to address challenges related to cesarean section: increasing access to cesarean section where it is currently inadequate, increasing quality and safety of cesarean section to reduce iatrogenic harm to both mothers and newborns, and reducing rates of non-medically indicated cesarean section.
Innovations in Materials Science for a Transformative Menstrual Health and Hygiene Product: Grand Challenges Explorations seeks transformative and innovative ideas to support the design and development of a new menstrual health and hygiene product that meets key criteria of being responsive to user needs, focusing on discreetness, affordability, and sustainability.
Innovations for Improving the Impact of Health Campaigns: Grand Challenges Explorations seeks innovative solutions that accelerate the improvement of coverage, reach, efficiency, and effectiveness of campaign-based delivery of health interventions.
We invite you to read summaries of the grants funded to date across the Grand Challenges family of initiatives and to explore an interactive world map of projects across the global Grand Challenges funding partner network. We look forward to receiving innovative ideas from around the world. If you have a great idea, please apply. If you know someone else who has a great idea, please forward this message so they can apply and sign up for email updates with the latest opportunities.
ICPSR Diversity Scholarships
The ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research is excited to announce the 2020 Diversity Scholarships. These scholarships provide funds to support training in statistics and quantitative methods for graduate students from underrepresented groups in any academic discipline, with the objective of improving their academic performance and optimizing their professional advancement. Applicants must be enrolled in universities based in the United States. The Diversity Scholarship is a waiver of registration fees to attend one or both of the Summer Program’s 2020 four-week sessions. Held on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, the four-week sessions provide an immersive learning experience in methodological techniques. Participants in the First Session (June 22-July 17) and Second Session (July 20-August 14) can choose from more than 40 courses, including regression analysis, Bayesian analysis, longitudinal analysis, game theory, MLE, SEM, causal inference, machine learning, multilevel models, race/ethnicity and quantitative methods, data visualization, and more. Recipients of the Diversity Scholarship will also receive a stipend for travel, lodging, and living expenses. Applications are due March 31, 2020. Please refer to the Diversity Scholarship application page, https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/sumprog/scholarships/diversity.html, for more information and to apply, or contact sumprog@icpsr.umich.edu or (734) 763-7400.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Project on Southeast Asian Family Dynamic Study
We are seeking an enthusiastic and capable full-time Postdoctoral Fellow for the above project at the Centre for Family and Population Research, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore. The candidate should have expertise in the family and population issues in East Asia or Southeast Asia regions. The appointment will be tenable for a period of 1 year at thefirst instance, with the possibility of renewal. The Centre for Family and Population Research in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), NUS, is dedicated to scientific advancement of researchand training in the study of trends, determinants, and consequences of family and population changes, particularly changes in Asia.
This project is led by Professor Wei-Jun Jean Yeung to investigate the trends and patterns of family change in East Asia or Southeast Asia. Candidate will collaborate with the PI to publish relevant research in international journals.
Postdoctoral fellow on gender differences in education and health
Application deadline: March 23, 2020.
The position will be established at the Centre for Fertility and Health, a Centre of Excellence funded by the Research Council of Norway and hosted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. The scientific goal of the Centre for Fertility and Health is to greatly advance the understanding how changes in patterns of fertility and family structure influence child and adult health through social and biological pathways. As a postdoctoral fellow at the centre, you will be part of an interdisciplinary and international team. The centre has a strong academic and social environment and has recently hired several postdoctoral and doctoral fellows.