The Department of Environment and Society (EnvS) at Utah State University (USU) invites applications for the tenure-track position of Assistant Professor with expertise in geo-informatics and geospatial modeling of social-environmental systems. This position is part of a cluster of hires focusing on analysis of large data sets across multiple colleges at Utah State University. This is a permanent, full-time (nine-month) position based at the USU main campus in Logan. The relative emphasis for the position is 50% research, 40% teaching/advising, and 10% service. The position will start August 2017.
The successful candidate must have a strong conceptual and theoretical background in geospatial analytics, large data sets, social-environmental science, Geographic Information Systems, and associated quantitative methods. Quantitative, policy-relevant work concerning land use, natural resource management, environmental perceptions and conflict, ecosystem services, global change, energy, or transportation networks would interface well with the collaborative interests of EnvS faculty. Teaching would include up to three courses per academic year. Courses would be taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Topics may include Intro or Advanced GIS, Geovisualization, Geospatial analytics, and land change modeling. Courses may be delivered face-to-face, via distance learning, or in a blended format. Service includes participation in faculty duties on campus as well as professional involvement off-campus.
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) is accepting applications for a highly qualified Statistical Analyst.
The Statistical Analyst will support the research carried out by the Max Planck Research Group: Gender Gaps in Health and Survival (GGHS) by performing statistical programming and by analyzing large datasets, particularly register datasets and population-based survey datasets. The analyst will also be responsible for cleaning and preparing datasets for analysis, and for providing assistance as needed with other data management activities.
The GGHS investigates whether gender differences in health and mortality are universal across countries and the extent to which ethnic background, social position, civil status, and reproduction drive these differences. The research interests of the group also encompass health trends at older ages, determinants of long-term care use, cohort differences in health at older ages, and related topics.
The Statistical Analyst may also be asked to help teach some courses. Knowledge of German is not a requirement. Consult the link below for more information.
The Department of Sociology at Florida State University and FSU’s African American Studies Program invite applications for a tenure track or tenured faculty member, effective August 2017. The position is open with respect to specialization, and the candidate’s doctoral degree may be in Sociology or African American Studies. The department is especially interested in candidates who will build on department strengths in inequalities and social justice, health and aging, and demography. Applications should show evidence of scholarship and teaching with respect to African Americans or the African diaspora. Teaching duties will include at least one course per year in the African American Studies undergraduate curriculum.
Applicants should submit a letter of application indicating their relevant research and teaching interests, a curriculum vitae, and the names and contact information for three references. These materials should be submitted in PDF format to sociology@fsu.edu. Questions about the search may be directed to the Chair of Sociology (jrreynolds@fsu.edu) or the Director of the African American Studies Program (pmason@fsu.edu). Review of applications will begin November 1, 2016, and continue until the position is filled.
The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) will award a limited number of grants for graduate students working with CSSS affiliated faculty to assist in presenting research and attending workshops or courses. Under extraordinary circumstances, undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers may also be supported with an award. Travel between January 1, 2017 and June 30, 2017 is eligible for support. Travel outside this period will be considered with justification.
The purpose of the awards is to support travel that will advance the long-term goals of CSSS: promoting research in social statistics and quantitative methods in the social sciences, and collaborative research between social scientists and statisticians. Applications will be evaluated by the CSSS Executive Committee; priority will be given to proposals that demonstrate sophisticated use of statistical methodology and promise to have significant substantive impact. Among high priority proposals, preference will be given to students for whom other sources of support are not available, and who have not received CSSS funding in the past. Successful applicants should acknowledge the support of CSSS in the course of any presentations, and may be asked to participate in CSSS poster or presentation sessions subsequent to their travel. Questions should be directed to csss@uw.edu.
Join Tyler McCormick, CSDE Affiliate and Associate Professor of Statistics and Sociology, for a lecture on the following.
Relational arrays represent interactions or associations between pairs of actors, often over time or space. We focus on the case where the elements of a relational array are modeled as a linear function of observable covariates. Due to the inherent dependencies among relations involving the same individuals, standard regression methods for quantifying uncertainty for independent data are invalid. Furthermore, existing estimators that recognize relational dependence rely on estimating complex structure with very limited data. By assuming the data are partially exchangeable, we derive parsimonious standard error estimators with substantially better performance than existing estimators. This exchangeability assumption is pervasive in network and array models in the statistics literature, but not typically considered when adjusting for dependence in network regressions. We demonstrate the improvements in inference that result from using our proposed estimator through simulation and a dataset involving international trade.
CSDE is offering a two-hour workshop on the statistical programming language R. It assumes no prior experience with R.
Learn more and sign up
CSDE is offering a series of two, three-hour workshops on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) using esri’s ArcMap software. It assumes no prior experience with GIS, or ArcMap. The workshop will take place across two consecutive Wednesdays, beginning October 12, 2016. Sessions run from 1:00-4:00 PM in Savery 117.
Prerequisite: The workshop assumes no prior knowledge of GIS.
Learn more and sign up
Healthy, wealthy, and wise? Exploring optimism bias in parent predictions about a child’s future health and socioeconomic expectations.
Optimism bias, the tendency to overestimate one’s chances of experiencing unlikely positive events relative to one’s peers, is present in parent predictions of their child’s long-term health outcomes, including their child’s risk for overweight or obesity and obesity-related co-morbidities in adulthood. We sought to understand whether parents are more optimistic about their child’s health outcomes relative to education, labor, and other socioeconomic outcomes. Discussion will focus on the potential impact of parent expectations on future child outcomes, including whether overestimation and over placement of child expectations can impact future child well-being.
Dr. Wright received her Bachelor’s in Polymer and Textile Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2004 and completed her Ph.D. in Health Policy with a concentration in Decision Sciences at Harvard University in 2012. Dr. Wright is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington (UW) and an Investigator in the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Dr. Wright’s current research agenda aims to promote the adoption of interventions, programs, and strategies to treat and prevent childhood obesity. Her methodological interests include economic evaluations, simulation modeling, and risk communication techniques.
While America’s suburbs have long been painted as indicators of affluence and stability, times are changing: more inner-city residents are seeking reprieve from urban challenges in the suburbs. Many such migrants represent low-income and minority communities, and their migration isn’t necessarily improving their condition. CSDE Affiliate and UW Professor of Public Policy Scott Allard discussed some reasons for these rocky transitions. Read the full story below to learn more about these demographic shifts.
This November, Washingtonians will have several important decisions to make on election day. One such decision centers around raising the state’s minimum wage. CSDE Affiliate and UW Professor of Public Policy and Governance Jacob Vigdor, a member of the team tasked with researching the effects of Seattle’s experiments with minimum-wage hikes, was recently interviewed by KOMO News about the possible impact of this statewide expansion. Check out the footage below!