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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Postdoctoral Researchers/Research Scientists – Laboratory of Digital and Computational Demography

The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) is recruiting 2-3 highly quali ed Post-Docs / Research Scientists to join the newly established Laboratory of Digital and Computational Demography.

The MPIDR is one of the leading demographic centers in the world. It is part of the
Max Planck Society, a network of over 80 institutes that form Germany’s premier basic- research organization. Max Planck Institutes have an established record of world-class, foundational research in the sciences, technology, and the humanities, and they o er a unique environment that combines the best aspects of an academic setting and a research laboratory.

The Laboratory of Digital and Computational Demography, headed by MPIDR Director Emilio Zagheni, is looking for candidates with a background in Demography, Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Economics, Sociology, Geography, Applied Mathematics, or related disciplines.

The successful candidate must have a PhD (or receive it soon) and is expected to conduct cutting-edge research in the eld of Digital and Computational Demography. Priority areas for the Laboratory include:

  1. Using Web and Social Media data to study demographic processes, like migration, fertility, health indicators, intergenerational relationships, and gender disparities.
  2. Developing innovative forms of data collection for demographic research (e.g., surveys via Web and Social Media advertisement platforms or data collected via sensors, tracking devices, or Web Apps).
  3. Leveraging agent-based models and microsimulation to understand individual- and population-level processes.
  4. Evaluating the impact of the digitalization of our lives on demographic behavior and population processes.

Depending on interest and fit, the successful candidate would have the opportunity to participate in ongoing collaborative initiatives with leading scholars in digital and computational demography based at other institutions. These include Ingmar Weber (Qatar Computing Research Institute) and Francesco Billari (Bocconi University).

Applications have to be submitted in English online via https://www.demogr.mpg.de/go/ apply-dcdrs/and include the following documents:

  1. A Curriculum Vitae
  2. A letter of interest (Max 1 page)
    Briefly state why you are interested in joining the MPIDR, how the MPIDR could foster your professional development and career trajectory, and in which ways your interests t the research strengths of the MPIDR.
  3. A Research Statement (Max 2 pages)
    Briefly describe your research accomplishments as well as ongoing and future research plans. Please also describe your technical skills, areas of expertise, as well as the type of advanced training that you would like to receive as a research scientist.
  4. The names and contact information for 3 academic references
  5. One or two writing samples or copies of publications

To receive full consideration, applications should be received by April 8, 2018. The starting date is flexible but no later than Fall 2018. Successful applicants will be offered a 3-year contract, with remuneration commensurate to experience (starting from approx. 50,000 EUR gross per year) and based on the salary structure of the German public sector (Öffentlicher Dienst, TVöD Bund). For inquiries about the positions, please contact sekzagheni@demogr.mpg.de.

The Institute values diversity and is committed to increasing the representation of minorities, women, and people with physical disabilities. Individuals from minorities thus are especially welcome to apply. The Institute and the Max Planck Society also seek to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourage women to apply. The MPIDR and the Max Planck Society are committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourage applications from such qualified individuals.

Chair – Department of Public Policy

The Department of Public Policy at Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW)1 is seeking an energetic and engaged Chair to begin July 1, 2018. The successful candidate will be an accomplished scholar with the administrative experience and skills to lead a department that emphasizes quality undergraduate and graduate instruction, research, and community engagement.

The mission of the Department is to improve the quality of public service through teaching current and prospective public servants, through research on public issues, and through service to organizations with public policy interests. The Department awards bachelor and master degrees. Undergraduate concentrations are Criminal Justice, Health Care Management, Law and Public Policy, and Nonprofit Management and Leadership. Graduate concentrations are Health Systems Administration and Policy, Public Administration and Policy, and Nonprofit Management.

The ideal candidate will have a PhD in criminal justice, health administration, public or nonprofit management, political science, sociology, or a related field and must have qualifications to be a tenured associate or full professor. Experience in government, criminal justice, health, nonprofit administration, or other related field is required. The candidate will be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses, maintain an active research agenda, and manage the day-to-day operations of the Department in collaboration with the faculty in the Department. Salary and rank are commensurate with qualifications and experience.

The faculty in the Public Policy have backgrounds in Political Science, Sociology, Criminal Justice, Public Management, and Public Health. The Department currently has approximately 210 undergraduate and graduate students. PFW1 (see www.ipfw.edu) is the largest institution of higher learning in northeast Indiana, offering more than 200 degrees and certificates to a student body of more than 8,000. PFW’s commitment to community engagement makes it an economic, cultural, and societal leader in the region. PFW is located in Indiana’s second-largest city, Fort Wayne, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 425,000. PFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The review of applications will begin March 26th and will continue until the position is filled. All candidates who are interviewed should prepare a 45-60 minute instructional presentation. Please submit a letter of application explaining how you would contribute to our program and teaching needs; a curriculum vitae; evidence of teaching effectiveness; unofficial transcripts; and the names, addresses, emails, and telephone numbers of three professional references to:

Andrew Downs, Search Committee Chair
Department of Public Policy
Purdue University Fort Wayne
2101 E. Coliseum Blvd., Room Neff Hall 260
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
Telephone: 260-481-6691
Fax: 260-481-6985
E-mail: downsa@ipfw.edu

Lecturer in Geography

Old Dominion University’s Department of Political Science and Geography invites applications for a lecturer position in its geography program to begin in August 2018. Preference will be given to candidates who can teach a variety of undergraduate courses in human geography and geographic techniques. Approximately one-quarter of the position entails GIS lab management. GIS lab management duties include coordinating with technology services for software installation and related issues, equipment inventory, coordinating lab schedule, and facilitating campus and external GIS activities. Other duties include advising undergraduate students in the major and other contributions of service to the department and college as needed.

A Masters or PhD in geography or closely related field and proficiency in the use of geospatial technologies are required.

To apply, submit a cover letter outlining your teaching interests and knowledge of geospatial technologies, CV, statement of teaching philosophy, evidence of teaching effectiveness, unofficial graduate transcripts, and contact information for three professional references to https://jobs.odu.edu/   Review of applications will begin April 2, 2018 and continue until the position is filled. Inquiries regarding the position should be directed to the search committee chair, Dr. Thomas Chapman (techapma@odu.edu). More information about the geography program can be found at https://www.odu.edu/pols-geog/geography

Modelling Within-Household Associations in Household Panel Studies (Fiona Steele presents in CSSS Seminar Series, 3/28/28)

Household panel data provide valuable information about the extent of similarity in coresidents’ attitudes and behaviours. However, existing analysis approaches do not allow for the complex association structures that arise due to changes in household composition over time. We propose a flexible marginal modelling approach where the changing correlation structure between individuals is modelled directly and the parameters estimated using second-order generalized estimating equations (GEE2). A key component of our correlation model specification is the “superhousehold”, a form of social network in which pairs of observations from different individuals are connected (directly or indirectly) by coresidence. These superhouseholds partition observations into clusters with nonstandard and highly variable correlation structures. We thus conduct a simulation study to evaluate the accuracy and stability of GEE2 for these models. Our approach is then applied in an analysis of individuals’ attitudes towards gender roles using British Household Panel Survey data. We find strong evidence of between-individual correlation before, during and after coresidence, with large differences among spouses, parent-child, other family, and unrelated pairs. Our results suggest that these dependencies are due to a combination of non-random sorting and causal effects of coresidence.

Dan Eisenberg Explores Whether Paternal Age Impacts Offspring’s Lifespan

In a pioneering experimental study on the effect that paternal age has on offspring’s lifespan and telomere length, Affiliate Dan Eisenberg, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and a team of researchers found that zebra finch embryos with older fathers had shorter telomeres than counterparts sired by younger fathers and the same mother. The telomeres from embryos fathered by older finches were about 10 percent shorter than those with a younger father.

Of the zebra finch findings, Eisenberg noted: “The experimental design of this study looking at the effect of paternal age on telomere length of [zebra finch] embryos is particularly strong, allowing for confidence in these results.” Eisenberg researches the impact that paternal age has on telomere length in offspring, with a focus on humans and chimpanzees.

The research team bred 44 pairs of birds and followed their lives from 2012 through 2017. Although older age of both mothers and fathers shortened longevity of their offspring’s lifespan, the impact was more marked among older fathers. Just 5 percent of offspring with an older father survived to a year, while 80 percent with a younger father survived to that age.

Maria Krysan and Kyle Crowder Examine How Social Forces Impact Patterns of Segregation

When it’s time to look for a new home or apartment, most people turn to the familiar: they seek to move to known neighborhoods, they ask friends or family for leads, and they focus on areas that are part of their daily routine.  In a recently co-authored book, Cycle of Segregation, Maria Krysan and Affiliate Kyle Crowder contend that these behaviors reinforce patterns of residential segregation. Although economic and political impacts on segregation have been widely studied, the social element is less understood. Crowder underscores the importance that social behavior has on shaping – and maintaining – patterns of segregation, noting: “People’s daily rounds are really shaped by residential segregation: where we go to work and shop, where we go to church, and where our kids go to school… Those daily activities mean we all have exposure to different sets of neighborhoods, and when it comes time to search for housing, we tend to search for housing in places that we know.”

Although the research highlighted in Cycle of Segregation focuses on Chicago neighborhoods, Crowder notes that these patterns are also visible in Seattle. Click on the link below to read the full interview.

CSDE Affiliates Awarded UW Population Health Initiative Pilot Research Grants

CSDE Affiliates Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, Karen Fredricksen-Goldsen, and Marieka Klawitter were members of teams recently awarded Population Health Initiative grants. The Rowhani-Rahbar project examines lethal means assessment for suicide prevention.  The team led by Fredricksen-Goldsen examines health disparities in Washington State and the role of social and economic inequities in intersectional marginalized populations. CSDE also provided matching support to the Fredriksen-Goldsen and Klawitter project proposal.

These faculty-led teams have been awarded $50,000 to address the critical components of population health. Affiliate Ali Mokdad, Professor of Global Health and Vice Chair of the Population Health Initiative, said of the awardees: “We believe each of these projects has the potential to make significant progress towards reducing disparities and improving population health at the local, national and international levels.” Other team members include:

  • Lethal Means Assessment in Psychiatric Emergency Services for Suicide Prevention
    – Affiliate Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, Epidemiology
    – Paul Borghesani, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
    – Jennifer Stuber, Social Work
    – Anna Ratzliff, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
    – Frederick Rivara, Pediatrics
  • Addressing Health Disparities in Washington State: The Role of Social and Economic Inequities in Intersectional Marginalized Populations
    – Affiliate Karen I. Fredriksen-Goldsen, Social Work
    – Barbara Cochrane, Family and Child Nursing
    – Corinne S. Heinen, Family Medicine
    – Affiliate Marieka Klawitter, Public Policy & Governance
    – Charles A. Emlet, UW Tacoma
    – Hyun-Jun Kim, Social Work

The Population Health Initiative seeks to expand University of Washington’s capacity to address challenges to the health and well-being of of populations through collaborative and interdisciplinary research. Learn more about the Initiative and its pilot research grant awardees below.

Highlights & Awards from Winter CSDE Lightning Talks & Poster Session

Last Friday, five population scientists in training shared their work at CSDE’s Winter Lightning Talks and Poster Session, held in the Research Commons at Allen Library.

The talented pool of graduate students from the Departments of Economics, Global Health, Sociology, Health Services, and Statistics presented unique research that contributes to the field of population science. The presentations covered a number of timely topics in demography, from methods for estimating child mortality and forecasting fertility, to studies of trust, Internet and vaccines, reports of sexual assault and labor market outcomes in Bangladesh, and determinants of vigilante justice in Chile.

At the conclusion of the event, CSDE Trainee Nikki Eller received an award for best poster. Eller, a student in the Department of Health Services was recognized for her poster “Trust, Epidemiology, and Vaccines”. Eller’s project tested the following hypotheses: 1) mothers with lower levels of trust in their child’s health care provider will list more vaccine information sources compared to mothers with higher levels of trust, and 2) mothers’ level of trust in their child’s health care provider will be associated with the type of vaccine information sources, with low trust associated with non-provider vaccine information sources as a main source. In support of hypothesis 1, Eller found that that trusting mothers report fewer average information sources than less trusting mothers. Meanwhile, only 61% of less trusting mothers reported their child’s pediatrician as their main source of vaccine information, and these mothers were more likely to rely on the internet, other parents, parents of vaccine-injured children, other friends and family, and practitioners of alternative medicine as information sources. Overall, Eller’s findings indicate that while most mothers seek out information on vaccines, the level of trust they place in individual information sources may affect their prioritization of these sources.