The Department of Sociology at University of Louisville invites applications for a visiting assistant professor position (one-year term from August 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019). The classes taught will primarily consist of core sociology courses such as Diversity & Inequality, Social Theory, and Social Problems. Other courses to be taught may include Introduction to Sociology, Introduction to Social Statistics, or Research Methods. Previous teaching experience is required, and the candidate must have already earned or be near completion of a PhD in sociology. The Sociology Department at the University of Louisville offers a BA, BS, and MA in sociology, and a PhD in applied sociology.

The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand junior researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas. We recognize that early-career researchers are rarely given incentives or support to take such risks, so this award includes a mentoring component, as well as an emphasis on community and collaboration.

Scholars Program applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. Proposed research plans must address questions of policy and practice that are relevant to the Foundation’s focus areas.

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The online application will open on April 23. All applications must be received by July 5, 2018 at 3:00 PM EST.

• Download the Scholars Program Application Guide (Updated January 2018)

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Focus Areas

We fund research that increases understanding in one of our two focus areas:

• programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality in youth outcomes, and
• strategies to improve the use of research evidence in ways that benefit youth.

We seek research that builds stronger theory and empirical evidence in these two areas. We intend for the research we support to inform change. While we do not expect that any one study will create that change, the research should contribute to a body of useful knowledge to improve the lives of young people.

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Awards

Award recipients are designated as William T. Grant Scholars. Each year, four to six Scholars are selected and each receives up to $350,000, distributed over five years.

Awards begin July 1 and are made to the applicant’s institution. The award must not replace the institution’s current support of the applicant’s research.

Capacity-Building

The Foundation holds annual meetings during the summer to support the Scholars’ professional development. These summer retreats are designed to foster a supportive environment in which Scholars can improve their skills and work. Scholars discuss works-in-progress and receive constructive feedback on the challenges they face in conducting their projects. The retreat consists of workshops centered on Scholars’ projects, research design and methods issues, and professional development. The meeting is attended by Scholars, Scholars Selection Committee members, and Foundation staff and Board members. Scholars are also invited to attend other Foundation-sponsored workshops on topics relevant to their work, such as mixed methods and the use of research evidence in policy and practice.

In years one through three of their awards, Scholars may apply for additional awards to mentor junior researchers of color. The announcement and criteria for funding are distributed annually to Scholars. Our goals for these two-year awards are to build Scholars’ mentoring skills and understanding of the career development issues faced by junior colleagues of color. We also seek to expand their mentees’ research assets and increase the number of strong, well-networked researchers of color doing work on the Foundation’s research interests. The Foundation convenes annual workshops to strengthen these mentoring relationships and support career development.

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Eligibility Requirements

• Applicant received his/her terminal degree (e.g., PhD, MD) within seven years of submitting the application. For PhDs this is the date the doctoral degree was conferred. In medicine, the seven-year maximum is dated from the completion of the first residency.
• Project advances the Foundation’s interest in understanding programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality or improving the use of research evidence.
• Applicant is employed at a tax-exempt organization.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), Avar Consulting is pleased to announce the 2018–19 DOL Scholars Program. The purpose of the DOL Scholars Program is to promote and expand labor research that directly relates to DOL policies and programs. The program expects to fund researchers, with individual awards ranging from $20,000–$50,000.

Please use the documents that follow to learn more about the program and how to apply.

Applications are due by 5:00pm EDT, April 6, 2018; late or incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Funding decisions are expected in May, 2018.

• Announcement describing the program

• Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs)

• Application

The Chief Evaluation Office coordinates, manages, and implements the Department of Labor’s evaluation program. CEO works closely with all offices and agencies in DOL to develop and implement research and evaluation projects that address Department priorities. For more information about CEO, see: https://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/.

For additional information regarding the application process or the program in general, please contact Avar Consulting at scholars@avarconsulting.com.

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), begun in 1968, is the world’s longest-running multigenerational household panel study. It is used widely in behavioral, social, and health sciences to investigate scientific and policy questions about life course trajectories in health and well-being, intergenerational social and economic mobility, income and wealth inequality, family investments in children, neighborhood effects on opportunity and achievement, and many other topics.

This five-day workshop will orient participants to the content and structure of the core PSID interview, its special topics modules, and its supplemental studies, including the 1997-2007 and 2014 Child Development Supplements (CDS I-III and CDS-2014), the Transition into Adulthood Supplement (TAS), the Disability and Use of Time Supplement (DUST), and the Childhood Retrospective Circumstances Study (CRCS).

Morning sessions will include lectures on topics such as study design, changes to content and sample composition over time, rules for following sample members into new households, and weighting. Classroom demonstrations using PSID data extracts will illustrate key concepts. In afternoon lab sessions, participants will develop their own analytic data files under the guidance of project staff.

Eligibility: The workshop is designed for faculty, research professionals, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students.

Software: Participants should be familiar with Stata or SAS, but all examples used in the workshop will be in Stata.

Application: Enrollment is limited to 25 participants. Apply using the Summer Program Portal (by clicking on the “Registration” tab at the top of this page) to provide your information and select the course. Also, upload the following documents via the Portal:

• Current curriculum vita.
• Cover letter summarizing research interest in this course and in PSID data.
• Indicate how the workshop will help you meet your research or your educational goals.

Stipends: Admitted graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, and junior faculty or researchers can request to be considered for a stipend to help with travel and housing costs. To be considered, applicants must include in their application:

• A one-page or shorter statement that describes why attending the PSID workshop is important to your success, what you hope to gain from the workshop, and any sources of funding you expect to receive to cover the costs of attending the workshop.
• Letter of recommendation from faculty adviser, project manager, or Department Chair. Your letter writer should directly submit their recommendation to the ICPSR Summer Program at sumprog@icpsr.umich.edu and include your name and “PSID Workshop” in the subject line or body of the email.
  • Letter writer’s contact information (email address or telephone number) to be included in the letter of recommendation.
• Stipend requests must be received no later than April 13, 2018.

Deadline: April 13, 2018.

Sponsor: Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)

Fee: $100 — to be assessed only after applicants have been accepted into the workshop.

Fannie Mae and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) are together organizing a symposium that examines the evolving relationship between housing tenure choice, financial security, and residential stability. We invite article-length research papers on topics including wealth, foreclosures, tenure choice, financing, taxes, innovation, socioeconomics, and aging. Authors should submit a two-page abstract of their proposed paper to jchs@harvard.edu by April 13, 2018. The symposium will be held at Harvard in Spring 2019 with presented papers subject to a peer review process for inclusion in a special issue of Cityscape. For more information, visit the link below.

Purpose

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to invite comments and suggestions on the first National Institutes of Health (NIH) Strategic Plan for Data Science. The NIH is publishing this Notice to solicit input on topics under consideration for the strategic plan from its stakeholders, including members of the scientific community, academic institutions, the private sector, health professionals, professional societies, advocacy groups, patient communities, as well as other interested members of the public.

Background

Data science is an integral component of modern biomedical research. It is the interdisciplinary field of inquiry in which quantitative and analytical approaches, processes, and systems are developed and used to extract knowledge and insights from increasingly large and/or complex sets of data. Data science has increased in importance for biomedical research over the past decade and NIH expects that trend to continue. In order to capitalize on the opportunities presented by advances in data science, and overcome key challenges, the NIH is developing a Strategic Plan for Data Science. This plan describes NIH’s overarching goals, strategic objectives, and implementation tactics for promoting the modernization of the NIH-funded biomedical data science ecosystem. The complete draft plan is available at: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/rfi/NIH-Strategic-Plan-for-Data-Science.pdf.

Information Requested

This RFI seeks input from stakeholders throughout the scientific research community and the general public regarding the above draft NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science.

The NIH seeks comments on any of the following topics:

• The appropriateness of the goals of the plan and of the strategies and implementation tactics proposed to achieve them;
• Opportunities for NIH to partner in achieving these goals;
• Additional concepts that should be included in the plan;
• Performance measures and milestones that could be used to gauge the success of elements of the plan and inform course corrections;
• Any other topic the respondent feels is relevant for NIH to consider in developing this strategic plan.

How to Submit a Response

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/rfi/rfi.cfm?ID=73 .

Responses must be received by April 2, 2018.

Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Do not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, trade secret, or sensitive information in your response. The responses will be reviewed by NIH staff, and individual feedback will not be provided to any responder. The Government will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion. The Government reserves the right to use any submitted information on public NIH websites, in reports, in summaries of the state of the science, in any possible resultant solicitation(s), grant(s), or cooperative agreement(s), or in the development of future funding opportunity announcements.

This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, grant, or cooperative agreement, or as an obligation on the part of the Federal Government, the NIH, or individual NIH Institutes and Centers to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. The Government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the Government’s use of such information. No basis for claims against the U.S. Government shall arise as a result of a response to this request for information or from the Government’s use of such information.

NIH looks forward to your input and we hope that you will share this RFI document with your colleagues.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Cindy Caughman. M.P.H.
Scientific Data Council
Telephone: 301-496-8190
Email: DataScienceRFI@mail.nih.gov

About

The U.S. Census Bureau is interested in meeting with qualified U.S. citizens with education and expertise in demography, sociology, economics, geography, and related social sciences.  Training in demographic analysis, survey research, geographic information systems, and/or quantitative data analysis of large datasets is preferred.  U.S. Census Bureau employees work on topics such as: population distribution; population estimates and projections; race and ethnicity; international technical assistance; housing; socio-economic characteristics; employment; disability; health insurance coverage; and migration.

Representatives will meet with those interested in careers at the U.S. Census Bureau during the Population Association of America (PAA) annual meeting in Denver, CO.  We will conduct half hour informational sessions on April 26 and April 27 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in Tower Court B.  Please email David Zaslow (David.C.Zaslow@census.gov) to sign up prior to the conference or visit the Census Bureau’s exhibition booth during the conference for any remaining time slots.  Please share this invitation with all interested individuals.

Applicants should apply for employment opportunities at www.usajobs.gov.  It is helpful to set up an account on the site, then to create a saved search on the word “Census”, to receive an email notification the day after a job opportunity appears.

Two job announcements on USAJobs.gov will coincide with the conference.  A job announcement will appear for Recent Graduates (who graduated in the last two years).  Those with whom we meet in Tower Court B will be able to apply with assistance from Census representatives.  Others will be able to apply on USAJobs.gov on the following Monday and Tuesday, April 30 and May 1.  There also will be a job announcement for career-conditional job opportunities that will appear on USAJobs.gov in late April.

The Department of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau are Equal Opportunity Employers and encourage applicants from all sources.