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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Mudrazija and Ayala Publish Research Article in The Gerontologist

CSDE UW Affiliate Stipica Mudrazija (Health Systems and Population Health) and CSDE Research Scientist Sofia Ayala recently published a research article in The Gerontologist titled, “Do older Hispanic immigrants receive more from public assistance?.” Research shows that foreign-born adults, including those of Hispanic origin, are less likely than the U.S.-born population to access public benefits. Dr. Mudrazija and Dr. Ayala use 1998–2020 data from the Health and Retirement Study and apply structural equation models (SEM) to account for the direct and indirect impact of nativity and Hispanic ethnicity on the receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, and Supplemental Security Income and welfare benefits. To read the full article, visit this link. 

Webinar: Opportunities for Doing Social-Environmental Research with Little to No Funding (09/22/25)

WEBINAR: Opportunities for Doing Social-Environmental Research with Little to No Funding (Virtual Event)

When: Monday, September 22nd (9:00AM – 12:00PM ET / 6:00AM – 9:00AM PT)

Graduate students, post-docs, and early-career faculty engaged in social-environmental research face an unprecedented research landscape. Decreased federal research funding will constrain their ability to continue their personal research programs, from dissertations to faculty research plans. Low-cost primary data collection, re-analysis of secondary data, creative use of available datasets, meta-analysis of existing studies, and localized field work can all be potential solutions.

The Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN), the Board on Environmental Change and Society (BECS), and the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will host a webinar that showcases practical, low-cost methods to sustain meaningful environmental and societal research during times of limited financial support. The webinar is aimed at supporting graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career faculty in environmental, social science, and associated disciplines.

Register Here

Swanson Co-Authors Research Article in Demografie on Probabilistic Intervals Around Population Forecasts

CSDE External Affiliate David Swanson (UC Riverside) and co-author Jeff Tayman (UC San Diego) recently published a research article in Demografie titled, “Probabilistic Intervals around Population Forecasts: A New Approach with a Subnational Example Using Washington State Counties.” Population forecasts produced by governments at all levels are used in the public sector, the private sector, and by researchers. In this paper, Dr. Swanson and Dr. Tayman detail how a method for producing measures of uncertainty can be applied to existing subnational population forecasts while meeting several important criteria. The paper also includes an assessment of the efficacy of the method by: (1) examining the change in uncertainty intervals it produces by population size and population growth rate; and (2) comparing the width and temporal change of the uncertainty intervals it produces to the width and temporal change of uncertainty intervals produced by a Bayesian approach. To read the full article visit this link or download this pdf.

*New* APDU Webinar – The State of Data Access II Presented by mySidewalk (09/25/25)

The State of Data Access II presented by mySidewalk

Thursday, September 25
2:00-3:00 pm ET / 1:00-2:00 pm CT)

Public data is foundational for good decisions—but that foundation is shifting.

From disappearing datasets to growing access gaps, communities are facing real challenges in finding timely, reliable information. But even in uncertainty, communities are finding ways to move forward.

Join public sector leaders and data experts for The State of Data Access II, a conversation about how we adapt, protect vital information, and build stronger systems for the future. In the conversation, we’ll explore:

  • What’s driving today’s public data challenges.
  • How communities are navigating uncertainty in collaborative, creative ways.
  • Advice for strengthening resiliency in your own work and community.

Whether you’re working to improve access, responding to data gaps, or simply rely on public data to make informed decisions—this conversation is for you.

Register here

Office on Violence Against Women Funding for the Research & Evaluation Initiative – Now Accepting Applications! (Due 09/25/25)

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 R&E Initiative NOFO is open!

 

On behalf of the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), we are reaching out with information you and your organization may be interested in regarding OVW’s Research and Evaluation (R&E) Initiative.

 

OVW’s R&E Initiative is designed to study approaches to addressing and preventing domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. By studying the efficacy of strategies for serving victims and holding offenders accountable, the R&E Initiative helps communities assess their current programs and adopt proven strategies. The initiative is designed to support researcher-practitioner partnerships and a broad range of research and evaluation methods, including qualitative, mixed-method, quasi-experimental, and experimental designs.

 

For FY 2025, OVW encourages R&E Initiative applicants to address one or more of the following topics, which are described in full in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO): evaluations of VAWA-funded interventions; evaluations or systematic reviews of trainings, strategies, policies, practices, tools, and other means of fostering trauma-informed law enforcement and prosecutorial responses to sexual assault, domestic/dating violence, and stalking; evaluation of the effectiveness of training curricula, tools, and other technical assistance (TA) resources developed and implemented with OVW grant funds; evaluations of emerging innovations for serving victims and holding offenders accountable; secondary data analyses related to domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, and/or stalking; and research, evaluation, and data analysis related to domestic violence homicide prevention. This year’s R&E Initiative topic areas include a $5 million funding opportunity to evaluate Abby Honold Act-funded programs.

 

Important Dates and Information

  • Letter of Intent: September 1, 2025, by 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) to OVW.Research@usdoj.gov.
  • Application deadline for Grants.gov: September 23, 2025 – 11:59 p.m. ET
  • Application deadline for JustGrants: September 25, 2025 – 8:59 p.m. ET

If you have questions, please reach out to the OVW Performance, Assessment, Research, and Evaluation (PARE) Unit at OVW.Research@usdoj.gov or R&E Program Analyst, Caitlyn Largent at Caitlyn.Largent@usdoj.gov. We also invite you to stay up to date with all OVW announcements by signing up for our emails here, and following us on social media: we’re on X/Twitter and LinkedIn.

Virtual Lecture: Stefanie DeLuca on “Creating Moves to Opportunity: Mixed Methods Evidence on Barriers to Neighborhood Choice” (09/25/25)

Creating Moves to Opportunity: Mixed Methods Evidence on Barriers to Neighborhood Choice
A talk by: Stefanie DeLuca, Johns Hopkins University

Thursday, September 25, 2025

3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern, via Zoom

Low-income families often live in neighborhoods with fewer opportunities to get ahead, even when they have housing vouchers that would allow them to move to neighborhoods with more potential for upward mobility. In this SSRC lecture, Johns Hopkins sociologist Stefanie DeLuca will explore why through two randomized interventions. In these experiments, housing voucher recipients were given varying levels of information, financial support, and customized search assistance to move to higher-opportunity neighborhoods. The treatment increased the share of those moving to high-upward-mobility areas from 15% to 53%. Qualitative interviews with participants in the program showed that the intervention increased families’ optimism about new neighborhoods and housing, eased demands on families’ time and attention and addressed their specific needs. The combination of the two experiments and the qualitative data reveal that the customized support and search assistance provided by the program navigator staff was the necessary driver of the experimental impacts, not financial assistance or information alone. These findings imply that many low-income families do not necessarily prefer to stay in low-opportunity areas and that barriers to housing searches significantly increase residential segregation by income.

Register Here

*New* Spotlight Speaker Series with Tyler Bruefach, PhD: Actionable Data Science & Creative Solutions in Public Health (September 26th at 2 PM EDT)

Speaker: Tyler Bruefach, PhD (Data Scientist, Knowli Data Science)

Moderator: Rachael Dominguez, MS (PhD Candidate, Florida State University)

 

Tyler Bruefach, PhD, is a Data Scientist at Knowli Data Science, where his central goal is to improve how we use data to better inform organizational and policy decisions. Using a diverse array of quantitative methodologies, he has worked with administrative data from three state agencies across three different states to support their decision-making processes. At Knowli, he engages in a variety of approaches tailored to clients’ needs, including developing descriptive and weighted algorithms from large-scale datasets, dynamic dashboard development, mixed-method program evaluations, inferential analyses using multivariable regression models, and development to quasi-experimental designs to evaluate the health and cost savings of public health interventions. He has collaborated with a diverse set of organizations, including government agencies on the local and state level, hospital systems, and local nonprofits.

 

Register for the session here:  https://american.zoom.us/meeting/register/SqL_ODrMQvWDHcJQ6j7sAw