In her dissertation, Michelle O’Brien—a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and former CSDE Fellow and Trainee—aims to examine the long-term consequences of the Tajik Civil War on population change and migration. The Tajik civil war raged from 1992-1997, killing an estimated 60,000 and displacing a million residents to northern Tajikistan or Afghanistan. Most of the violence was concentrated in 1992 and 1993, but the experience of violence and uncertainty still emerges in discussions of daily life in Tajikistan today. To inform her research, O’Brien decided to spend the summer in Tajikistan in order to try to ‘get under the skin’ of the country. During her time there, she conducted interviews with key informants at non-government organizations that helped her understand the development strategies after the war, presented some of her preliminary quantitative findings to the United Nations Development Programme, traveled as much as she could, and made friends across the country. You can read more about O’Brien’s research and travels at the link below.
The Next Generation Researchers Initiative at NIH
Within the past couple of decades, academia has experienced not only an increase in competition for a decreasing amount of funding, but also the aging of the research workforce. Furthermore, senior researchers are more likely to be awarded funding than are those in the beginnings, and perhaps even the middle, of their research careers. So while newer researchers may face difficulties in securing opportunities that will enable them to get their careers off the ground, relatively more experienced researchers may not be able to continue their career trajectory due to challenges in renewing or obtaining new grants. To combat these issues, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has created the “Next Generation Researchers Initiative,” which seeks to augment opportunities for early and mid-career researchers to secure funding. You can read more about the initiative and the issues driving it below.
Webinar: All About Data Sharing for Demographic Research at ICPSR
Join us for “All About DSDR (Data Sharing for Demographic Research at ICPSR),” on Nov. 28, 2017, from 1:oo-2:00 PM EST
DSDR facilitates secondary research by providing access to public-use and restricted-use data that are relevant to population studies. This webinar will show attendees how to navigate the DSDR website to obtain access to data and how to deposit data to make them available to other researchers. The session will demonstrate DSDR tools that support analysis, including variable comparison, data guides, and the bibliography. The restricted-use data application process and Virtual Data Enclave (VDE) will also be covered.
This webinar is free and open to the public.
Penn CSERI Post-Doctoral Fellowship on Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Penn CSERI Post-Doctoral Fellowship
2018-2019 Academic Year
Application Deadline: January 5, 2018
The Penn Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Immigration (CSERI) invites applications for a one-year postdoctoral research fellowship in the social sciences, starting August 1, 2018.
The Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Immigration is a new center initiative supported by the University of Pennsylvania and the School of Arts and Sciences which, in addition to this post-doctoral fellowship, will host visiting scholars and graduate students, help organize workshops initiated by the center’s Faculty Advisory Council, and support graduate and undergraduate student social science research at Penn.
The 2018-2019 CSERI Postdoctoral Research Fellow will collaborate with CSERI faculty affiliates on research projects; help organize and participate in faculty/graduate student workshops; and aid in evaluating the progress of graduate students and undergraduates receiving research grants. In addition, the Fellow will have the opportunity to pursue their own research and participate more generally in the intellectual life of the Penn community. There are no mandatory teaching responsibilities, but the post-doc is expected to be in residence.
The stipend for the postdoctoral fellowship is $52,000 plus relevant fees and health insurance. The position also provides $2,000 in research support.
Qualifications
Applications are welcome from scholars who have received their PhD or equivalent degrees in the last two years (not earlier than 2015), or who expect to complete their degree by June 2018. Applications will be reviewed starting January 5, 2018. To receive full consideration, applications and letters of recommendation should be received by that date.
Skills with statistical analysis, qualitative software, GIS, experimental and other approaches are highly desirable.
Application Instructions
Review of applications will begin January 5, 2018, and final notifications are expected to go out by March 2018. This one-year Postdoctoral Research Fellow appointment will be effective August 1, 2018.
Documents to be uploaded
- Cover Letter
- Title and Description of Proposed Research—No more than 1,000 words.
- CV –Indicate experience with both qualitative and quantitative research, experience with qualitative and statistical research software (e.g. R, STATA, ATLAS/TI, Dedoose, etc.) List other fellowships, funding and scholarships received, and all publications (please note refereed publications).
- Writing Sample – An article or an excerpt of a book or dissertations chapter (20 page limit).
- Confidential Letters of Recommendation (two) – Referees should be asked both to comment on your proposed project and to discuss your qualifications and experience as a researcher.
For more information on the Penn Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Immigration, contact CSERI center director at mjonescorrea@sas.upenn.edu or Matthew Roth, administrator, at maroth@sas.upenn.edu
PAA Affairs Newsletter, Winter Edition
Publish a Book? New Data? Share it with Us! Publish a Book? New Data? Share it with Us!
The deadline for the Winter edition of PAA Affairs is December 5!
The PAA Affairs newsletter critically requires additional material from you–the PAA membership. Tell us about book releases, new positions, or upcoming conferences. We’d like to hear about the release of new data, interesting training/courses, jobs, and short essays about how your research was utilized. Also, please limit your submissions to about 250 words and include a URL, if relevant, so everyone can learn more.
We are also interested in these features:
1. Research to Policy: we solicit items of up to 750 words on how research was used to inform or design policy.
2. Thought pieces of fields, trends, or innovations in population studies, of up to 750 words.
3. Data points: An interesting chart (jpeg or gif) with 250 words of explanation.
Due to space constraints and the incredible scientific productivity of our community, we have chosen not to publish simple lists of journal articles published. If you are not sure if your news is newsworthy, just ask.
Please send your materials to editor Emily Merchant by December 5, 2017.
Please note:
1. It would help us tremendously if you put “PAA Affairs” in the subject heading when communicating about the newsletter.
2. If you do NOT receive a ‘thanks’ or some other kind of confirmation, please assume your email got caught by some spam filter and resend.
All submissions undergo editorial review for content and fit.The Editors reserve the right to select for inclusion among the items received, and to edit items for publication. Material that is published elsewhere cannot be published in PAA Affairs for copyright reasons. Original work that was not included in the publication is acceptable.
Fragile Families Summer Data Workshop
The Columbia Population Research Center will soon be accepting applications for the Fragile Families Summer Data Workshop to be held July 11-13, 2018, at Columbia University in New York City.
The workshop is designed to familiarize participants with the data available in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national study following a birth cohort of (mostly) unmarried parents and their children, providing information about the capabilities, circumstances, and relationships of unwed parents, the wellbeing of their children, and the role of public policy in family and child wellbeing.
The 2018 workshop will include special sections on the 15 year follow-up data which will become publicly available in summer 2018. The workshop is targeted toward early-career scholars from social science disciplines. We particularly encourage applications from junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students using the Fragile Families data in their doctoral dissertations. Underrepresented scholars are strongly encouraged to apply.
Applicants must possess basic quantitative data analysis skills. About 25-30 applicants will be selected. Travel support will be available for out-of-town participants.
The Fragile Families Summer Data Workshop is made possible by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R25HD074544).
More information about the workshop, including application submission details, will be posted as it becomes available at the link below.
No CSDE Seminar due to Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at CSDE! As a reminder, there will be no seminar this week due to the holiday.
CSDE’s Seminar Series will resume on Friday, December 1 with the Demography Student Poster Session & Lightning Talks, featuring the work of CSDE graduate students.
National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis Tutorial: The Search for Selection
Description: Biologists are obsessed (indeed, seduced) by the search for signatures of selection in organismal features of interest, ranging from specific traits to genome-wide signatures. A vast number of approaches have been suggested in this search for selection, including genomic-based signatures of recent or ongoing selection, tests based on either excessive amounts or nonrandom patterns of divergence (in both fossil sequences and functional genomics data) and the more classical Lande-Arnold fitness estimates (direct association of phenotypic values with fitness estimates) and their modern extensions (such as aster models). Given the breadth of such searches, a large amount of machinery has been developed, but is rarely presented in a unified fashion. This tutorial presents an integrated overview of all these approaches, highlighting common themes and divergent assumptions. (see Draft Agenda for a list of lectures).
The goal of this tutorial is to expose investigators from all branches of biology to this rich menagerie of tests. It is applicable for population geneticists, genome biologists, evolutionary ecologists, paleontologists, functional morphologists, and just about any biologist who ponders on how to formally demonstrate that a feature (or features) of interest might have been shaped by selection.
Intended Audience: The intended audience is advanced graduate students, postdocs, and faculty with an interest in searching for targets of selection, be they particular genomic sequences or particular traits. Given the breadth of this topic, we expect students from functional genomics, population and evolutionary genetics, ecology, paleobiology, functional morphology, and statistics (as well as other fields). The background required is some basic introduction to population and/or quantitative genetics.
Application Deadline: February 1, 2018
To apply, you must complete an application on our online registration system:
- Click here to access the system
- Login or register
- Complete your user profile (if you haven’t already)
- Find this tutorial event under Current Events Open for Application and click on Apply
Participation in NIMBioS tutorials is by application only. Individuals with a strong interest in the topic are encouraged to apply, and successful applicants will be notified within several weeks after the application deadline. NIMBioS will cover lodging (5 nights) and provide breakfast and lunch each day at NIMBioS. If needed, limited financial support for travel expenses is available.
Assistant Professor of Statistics
Responsibilities: Teaching, Research, and Service. Candidates will teach undergraduate and graduate level courses in statistics/applied statistics, business analytics, or econometrics, given proficiency with software packages (e.g., SAS and R) and background in data science. The candidate is expected to engage in research and be able to publish in peer reviewed journals. Successful candidates will demonstrate the ability to meet all requirements for tenure and promotion in a program accredited by AACSB. Engagement in service activities on the departmental, college, and univeristy committee levels is also expected. Website: http://www.wiu.edu/eds.
Required Qualifications: Two tenure track positions are available requiring a PhD in Statistics/Applied Statistics, Economics with concentration in econometrics, or closely related field; with specializations in business analytics, computational statistics, data-mining, or big data analytics. While preference is given to candidates with a completed PhD by the time of appointment start date, ABDs will be considered. ABDs who have not completed the PhD within one year from their start date will receive a terminal contract.
Preferred Qualifications: Preferred candidates will have a background in statistics/applied statistics, data science, business statistics, predictive analytics, or econometrices (either through extensive study or research). Candidates should have an interest in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in business analytics, and a willingness to support curriculum in our new Business Analytics major, the Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Decision Analytics, as well as in Economics. Priority consideration will be given to those with evidence of teaching effectiveness and independent teaching experience, particularly in the online/hybrid format.
For a degree to be considered, it must be conferred from a regionally accredited degree-granting institution of higher education (or equivalent from an international accrediting body).
Appointment: August 16, 2018
Application: Complete applications include:
1) a letter of application
2) current curriculum vita or resume
3) the names, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses of three current professional references
4) current representative sample of research (e.g. job market paper)
5) copies of unofficial academic transcripts and any certifications/licenses required, official copies will be requested of selected candidate
6) evidence of teaching effectiveness
7) a statement detailing your teaching approach/mindset
8) a statement regarding your research agenda (maximum 500-words)
Please upload the requested documents by clicking APPLY NOW or by navigating to the WIU Employment page at the following URL http://www.wiu.edu/employment/
**Note** In order to upload Individual documents must be under 2 MB in size.
Screening will begin on December 13, 2017 and continue until the position is filled.
Assistant Professor of Geography and Asian Studies
The Pennsylvania State University invites applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position: a co-hire between the Department of Geography and Department of Asian Studies. The departments are seeking a human geography scholar with specialization in transnational history; Japanese cultures; media studies; and/or rights, politics, and policy. Expertise in archival research, ethnography, and cultural studies methods is expected. A successful candidate will have completed a PhD in geography, history, religious studies, or a similar field. The candidate will also contribute to extending the dual-title PhD degree in Asian Studies to the Geography doctoral program. Excellence in teaching, research, and service is expected, as is the development of an externally funded research program. To apply please upload: a letter describing your cross-discipline vision and plans for research and teaching, curriculum vitae, up to four reprints, and the names, addresses, and contact information of four potential referees. Review of applications will begin December 4, 2017, but applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Questions about the position should be directed to the search committee chair: Dr. Cynthia Brewer: cbrewer@psu.edu, 814-865-5072. Please do not email documents or completed applications to this address as they will not be considered.