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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Call for Nominations: 2020 NIH Matilda White Riley Honors Distinguished Lecture

Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) invites you to nominate outstanding social-behavioral scientists for the MWR Selection Committee to consider for giving the keynote address at the 13th NIH Matilda White Riley Behavioral and Social Science Honors. The person(s) you nominate should have a research career that has advanced behavioral and social scientific knowledge in areas within NIH’s mission and Dr. White Riley’s vision including,

  • An expanded conceptualization of health and wellbeing that includes effective cognitive, affective and social functioning; and quality of life
  • Behavioral and social sciences research results that improve the lives of people and society
  • Illuminate the complex and dynamic interplay among processes at multiple levels (e.g. interactions between genes and the built, natural, and social environment)
  • Influence of social and behavioral factors on physical health and the utility of this knowledge for clinical practice and health policy
  • Life course perspective on development, health, and wellbeing of individuals and societies
  • Research approaches that build theory and methods in the advancement of knowledge on health and wellbeing

Event Date and Location: Monday, June 8, 2020 — NIH Campus, Wilson Hall (Bldg. 1)

OBSSR has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusiveness– including women, minorities, and persons with disabilities– in speaker selection and agenda development of its scientific meetings and events.  Nominees need not have NIH funding.

Please save your nominee information as a PDF file and send it to Erica Spotts via email, spottse@mail.nih.gov, by COB November 15, 2019. Nominee information should include:

  • Page 1: Nominee’s full contact information, including link to their webpage(s)
  • Page 2: A one-page statement demonstrating how the nominee’s research results and practice correspond with Dr. White Riley’s vision
  • Page 3: Nominee’s CV and/or NIH bio sketch

If you have any questions, please contact Erica Spotts, spottse@mail.nih.gov.

2019 NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival (12/06/2019)

The Annual NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival will be hosted by OBSSR and the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee. The purpose of the festival is to highlight recently funded behavioral and social sciences research that the NIH supports; bring together behavioral and social scientists within the NIH extramural and intramural communities to network with each other and share scientific ideas; and explore ways to advance behavioral and social sciences research. The festival is open to the public. 

Event Date and Location: Friday, December 6, 2019 — NIH Campus, Natcher Conference Center (Bldg. 45)

Register and View Agenda

Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS) PhD Fellowships/Assistantships

Fellowships/assistantships are available for self-motivated PhD students to conduct innovative and high-impact research at the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS) at Michigan State University.

Research topics may include telecoupling (socioeconomic- environmental interactions over distances, through means such as flows of ecosystem services, trade of goods and services, globalization, migration, species invasion, disease spread, and tourism, telecoupling.org),  sustainability science, UN Sustainable Development Goals, coupled human and natural systems, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, human well-being, forest and landscape ecology, global change, systems integration (e.g., integration of ecology with social sciences and policy; food-energy-water nexus), wildlife ecology and conservation (e.g., giant pandas in China), land change science, and systems modeling and simulation (e.g., agent-based modeling). Studies on these topics by faculty and students at CSIS have been published in journals such as Science, Nature, and PNAS. With flexible start dates (e.g., spring, summer or fall of 2020), successful candidates can build on previous studies and explore new frontiers.

Application materials include: (1) letter of application, (2) CV or resume, (3) academic statement, (4) personal statement, (5) transcripts, (6) GRE scores, (7) TOEFL scores (for non-native English speakers only), (8) list of 3-4 references (names and contact information), and (9) up to three representative publications if any. Unofficial copies of GRE, TOEFL and transcripts are OK initially.  Applicants are encouraged to submit their application materials as soon as possible.  Applications and questions about these opportunities should be emailed to Professor Jianguo (Jack) Liu at liuji@msu.edu (email)

Assistant Professor of Sociology

The Department of Social Sciences at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) seeks an Assistant Professor of Sociology (tenure-track, 9-month position) to begin Fall 2020. Duties include teaching of undergraduate and graduate courses. A reduced load (2-2 for the first year) is provided to allow for other duties, such as publishing research in Sociology or closely related areas, and serving on departmental, University, and professional committees. We desire candidates who: demonstrate strong research skills, have a strong record of or potential for sustained publication in peer-reviewed journals (commensurate with experience), have the potential for or prior experience with seeking and/or securing external grant funding, work with diverse student populations, and have the ability to teach in areas that complement or strengthen our undergraduate and graduate programs.

For more information, contact Search Committee Chairs: Dr. Andrew Hilburn (ahilburn@tamiu.edu and 956-326-2662) and Dr. Pamela Neumann (pamela.neumann@tamiu.edu and 956-326-2686).

Postdoctoral Scholar-Natural Resource Economics

The University of California, Berkeley invites applications for the 2020‐2021 S.V. Ciriacy‐Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellowships awarded by the College of Natural Resources.

The S.V. Ciriacy‐Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellowships in Natural Resource Economics and Political Economy will be awarded for the 2020‐21 academic year to support advanced research at the University of California, Berkeley. For the purposes of this fellowship, natural resources are defined broadly to include environmental resources. The fellowship encourages, but is not limited to, policy‐oriented research.

Recruitment Period Open September 26th, 2019 through Monday, Dec 2, 2019 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Description

For more information, please visit: http://nature.berkeley.edu/site/ciriacy.php

Please visit https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF02299
Specific questions regarding this recruitment can be directed to Ruxin Liu at ruxinl@berkeley.edu.

Lee Fiorio and Yuan Hsiao Awarded Graduate School Presidential Dissertation Fellowships

CSDE Fellow Lee Fiorio and CSDE Trainee Yuan Hsiao were both awarded 2019-20 Graduate School Presidential Dissertation Fellowship awards. These prestigious fellowship awards support outstanding students pursuing PhD degrees in the arts, humanities, social sciences and social professions by providing them with a quarter of fellowship support.

Fiorio’s research examines geographic and temporal flows of people, inequality between groups of people, and the study of relationality. Fiorio’s most recent publication explores societal questions using digital data from social media posts and cellphone records.

Hsiao’s research examines the relationship between media and political behavior and the role of networks in various settings. Yuan was also the 2018 recipient of the Sociology Department’s Costner Award for his paper, “Understanding digital natives in contentious politics: Explaining the effect of social media on protest participation through psychological incentives.”

Additionally, both Fiorio and Hsiao were organizers and on the program of the August 2019 American Sociological Association (ASA) Meeting Pre-conference Workshop through the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP).

Congratulations, Lee Fiorio and Yuan Hsiao!

CSDE Trainee Accepted at International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science

CSDE trainee Neal Marquez just received a fellowship from the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science (IMPRS-PHDS). Congratulations, Neal!

The IMPRS-PHDS is a prestigious three-year program for doctoral students at collaborating institutions in the U.S. and Europe.  The program provides supplemental training for students seeking to integrate skills and knowledge at the intersection of demography, epidemiology and data science. The PHDS school equips students not only with advanced knowledge of the theory and methods of demography and epidemiology, but also with strong technical skills in statistics, mathematical modeling, and computational and data management methods.  Neal Marquez is PhD student in UW’s Department of Sociology and is working with UW Professors and CSDE Affiliates Sara Curran and Jon Wakefield.

CSDE Affiliates Evaluate How Employment Quality Determines Health Outcomes

Employment and its implications on public health have not been adequately explored by academics and scientists—this is why first author and key organizer of the Employment and Health Working Group Trevor Peckham (PhD Candidate in UW’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences) and CSDE affiliates Brian P. Flahtery, Anjum Hajat, and Noah Seixas evaluate how employment quality (EQ) can affect an individual’s health in their newly co-authored published paper.

In the paper, published in The Russel Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences (RSF) Issue 4, the authors examine employment quality within different forms of employment against three different health outcomes: self-rated health, mental health, and occupational injury. The authors use data from the General Social Survey (GSS) for regression analyses to determine the association of employment quality on health outcomes.

Flahtery, Hajat, Peckham, and Seixas find that employment quality and three different health outcomes were significantly associated with each other—the results from the paper demonstrate the need for labor policies that promote the safety and well-being for workers across employment sectors.

Check out this link for a press release on the paper and the link below for the entire paper.

CSDE Is Here to Help For Your RSF Pipeline Grants Competition Proposals

RSF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are soliciting applications for innovative research on economic mobility and access to opportunity in the United States, with particular focus on projects that diagnose and address structural barriers to economic mobility.

This call aligns well with CSDE affiliates’ research interests.  Do you fit this call, or know someone who does? If so, CSDE senior mentors, research staff and grants administrators are happy to provide applicants with timely feedback and input on proposals.
In order for us to help, please let us know by October 21, 2019 if you plan to submit an application for this grant.  CSDE can help with identifying a senior mentor to provide you with substantive feedback on the narrative, one or more research consultants for your research plans, and/or a budgeting consulting for other dimensions. And if you know someone else this call is relevant to, please forward to them.
Make sure to read the additional preferences listed below, as they align well with the strengths of both CSDE and many of our affiliates. To get started in requesting CSDE help, please email Steve Goodreau (CSDE Development Core Director) at goodreau@uw.edu and Sara Curran at scurran@uw.edu

Topics of Interest: Broad topic areas include Income & Wealth, Neighborhood Characteristics and Place-Based Interventions, Gentrification, Segregation, and Housing Policy, Education, Social Capital, Youth and Young Adults of Color, Criminal Justice & the Legal System, Accessing the Safety Net, Labor Markets. Research at the intersection of demographic characteristics or intersectional analyses that include race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, immigration status, socio-economic status, and/or others, is encouraged.

Eligibility: This funding program is for early- and mid-career scholars. Full Professors are ineligible. Associate Professors who have held their positions for more than 7 years are ineligible. Professors who have received funding from RSF before are also ineligible. Non-tenure-track professors, researchers, and postdocs are eligible to apply as Co-PIs. The deadline for proposals is December 3, 2019, for funding starting by June 1, 2020.