The 2024 Annual Meeting for the Population Association of America (PAA) is happening April 15th-April 20th, 2024. During that time we will have many CSDE affiliates, trainees, staff, former and upcoming seminar speakers, alumni, and friends presenting during the conference. If you would like to support CSDE, please see the links to view schedules of CSDE affiliated presentations by name or date!

Following tradition, we are also hosting a reception for affiliates, trainees, alumni, friends, and more! The reception will conveniently be held at the conference hotel and we will be serving hors d'oeuvres, beer and wine, and there will be a cash-bar for specialty cocktails. Please join us following the President’s Address on Friday, April 19, 2024 from 6:30pm-8:30pm at the Hyatt Regency Columbus, Marion Room. Come enjoy some time with old friends and make some new friends too! See the event flyer here!

CSDE Trainee Hiwot Zewdie (Epidemiology) will co-lead a seminar series during spring quarter titled Global Built Environment and Health. This series is supported by the UW Office of Global Affairs with the goal of creating an intellectual hub focused on built environment and health across country contexts and foster new collaborations. Zewdie has published in journals like Annals of Epidemiology and the American Journal of Epidemiology. Her doctoral research examines urban environments and physical activity in Bogotá, Colombia. Read more and see the full seminar schedule here!

CSDE Affiliates Melissa Knox (Economics), Jessica Jones-Smith (Health Systems & Population Health, Epidemiology), Anirban Basu (Health Economics, Health Services), and CSDE Trainee Tom Lindman (Public Policy & Governance) co-authored an article in Pediatrics, titled “Universal Free School Meals Policy and Childhood Obesity“. The study was lead-authored by PhD student, Anna M. Localio (Health Systems & Population Health), senior-authored by Jones-Smith and funded by an R01 from NICHD. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a universal free school meals policy, increases school meal participation by allowing schools in low-income areas to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students; however, its impact on obesity remains uncertain. The objective of this study is to estimate the association of CEP with child obesity. Using a balanced sample of CEP-eligible public schools in California, the authors used a difference-in-differences approach for staggered policy adoption to compare change in obesity prevalence among participating vs. non-participating schools between 2013 and 2019.

CSDE Affiliate Clayton Page Aldern published a new book, entitled The Weight of Nature. Climate change has had serious impacts on our world, including rising sea levels, extreme weather, and severe heat. Yet its effects on our brains constitute a public-health crisis that has gone largely unreported. In his book, Aldern synthesizes emerging neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics of global warming and brain health. Clayton Aldern is a neuroscientist turned environmental journalist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, The New Republic, Mother Jones, Vox, Newsweek, The Economist, Scientific American, and Grist, where he is a senior data reporter.

CSDE Affiliate Donald Chi released an article with colleagues in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health, entitled “Identifying sources of variation in added sugar intake for Alaska Native children using a hair biomarker“. Sugars from sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are an important risk factor for tooth decay. The study goal was to determine if there was variation in added sugar intake across communities and between and within households. In this cross-sectional study, intakes of total sugar, added sugar, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) were estimated for 282 Alaska Native children ages 0–10 years from 131 households in three Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta communities using biomarker equations based on hair carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios previously developed for the Yup’ik population.

CSDE Affiliate Joan Casey (Enviromental and Occupational Health Sciences) published an article with co-authors in Plos One, entitled “Missing Black males among preterm births in the US, 1995 to 2019“. In the US, non-Hispanic (NH) Black birthing persons show a two-fold greater risk of fetal death relative to NH white birthing persons. Since males more than females show a greater risk of fetal death, such loss in utero may affect the sex composition of live births born preterm (PTB; <37 weeks gestational age). We examine US birth data from 1995 to 2019 to determine whether the ratio of male to female preterm (i.e., PTB sex ratios) among NH Black births falls below that of NH whites and Hispanics.

CSDE Affiliate Jade D’Alpoim Guedes (Anthropology) released a study with co-authors in Quaternary Science Reviews, entitled “Changes in prehistoric wood procurement strategies in Northern China from 6500 – 2000 BP. Evidence for human preferential harvesting in the face of climatic change“. The article was lead-authored by Liu Fengwen from Yunnan University in China. In the past, humans have adapted their strategies of wood collection to shifts in the surrounding environment. Shifts in wood procurement strategies have been assumed to have been heavily influenced by changes in biomes due to shifts in climate. In these models, wood found on archaeological sites is interpreted as being representative of the surrounding environment. Around the world there is an increasing recognition that human preferences and management strategies impacted forest composition and species harvesting. Authors evaluated charcoal data gathered from 92 archaeological sites in northern China, with chronologies spanning the period from 6500 BP to 2000 BP. By combining the results of the analysis with published paleoenvironment records and archaeological evidence, we aimed to determine when and how there was an anthropogenic impact on wood procurement strategies.

CSDE Affiliate Rachel Berney (Urban Design and Planning) published new research with colleagues in Landscape and Urban Planning, entitled “Building equity into public park and recreation service investment: A review of public agency approaches”. In recent decades, academic and professional research has increased understanding of the importance of city and landscape planners engaging with social and environmental justice issues, including contemporary inequities inherent in the planning, distribution, use, and access of public green and open spaces. However, there is a gap between this research centering equity and the planning, development, and implementation rate demonstrated by public agencies. In this article, authors examine examples of emerging practice in the public park and recreation sector to understand the strategies and approaches public agencies are taking to provide equitable park and recreation systems.

The AI2ES and CSDE invite you to the 2024 D4 Hack Week: Disasters, Demography, Disparities and Decisions to be hosted in-person, with a remote participation option, at the University of Washington (Seattle campus), in September, 2024. This is a hands-on workshop intended to integrate environmental, demographic, health, and other societal impacts data and develop innovative new approaches and tools for analysis. We will provide funding support, including travel, lodging, and related expenses. Space will be limited.

Applications are now open for this program, which assists scholars in preparing applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). More info here, and application page here. Past participants report great success, and lots of support and even fun along the way. Applying to the GWSP is open to CSDE affiliates (UW and external) as well as to local post-docs writing K awards with one or more CSDE affiliates on their mentoring team. If accepted, the program is free for applicants in these groups. Other researchers in the Seattle area are also eligible to apply and may be accepted if space is available. The program fee is $7,500 for these applicants. (Current graduate students are not eligible to apply, sorry). Applications are due May 10th.

The NIH announced that the deadline for the funding opportunity, Time-Sensitive Opportunities for Health Research (PAR-22-233), has been extended for an additional year. Please note that the OBSSR contact has changed to Rosalind King, PhD, Chief, Scientific Development and Coordination Section. This funding opportunity aims to expedite the review and award process to support research focused on understanding health outcomes related to unexpected or time-sensitive events, such as emergent environmental threats and pandemics or changes in local, state, or national policies, as well as natural disasters. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until March 2, 2025.

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), begun in 1968, is the world’s longest-running multigenerational household panel study. This five-day, in-person only, workshop will orient participants to the content and structure of the core PSID interview, its special topics modules, and its supplemental studies, including the Child Development Supplement (CDS), the Transition into Adulthood Supplement (TAS), and new COVID-19 modules. They will also discuss topics including the recently-released genomics data collected from children and primary caregivers in CDS as well as new data files which explain family relationships and demographic characteristics over time. Learn more here. Apply by April 15th with a CV and cover letter.

This workshop on November 5 to 6, 2024 at the Max Planck Intsitute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany, clarifies the goals, techniques, and applications of machine learning methods for population research. The main focus of this workshop is on ML techniques using quantitative population data and research questions, not on ML language models. The workshop consists of keynotes, contributed sessions, and a tutorial. Learn more here and apply by April 30th.

As the National Research Center on Poverty and Economic Mobility, the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison invites applications from continuing Ph.D. and master’s degree students who are from groups that are underrepresented in academia for its 2024–2025 Professional Development Training Series on Poverty and Economic Mobility Research. IRP is offering this virtual quarterly training series from fall 2024 through spring 2025 to 10 students. The training is virtual and will take place from Fall 2024 to Spring 2025.

You are invited to submit proposals for presentations and posters for the British Society for Population Studies’ 51st Conference, to take place at the University of Bath, 9-11 September 2024. The conference promises rich opportunities to share knowledge and meet fellow demographers working in university, government and other practical settings, as well as space for early-career researchers to develop networks in the field. Submissions are due by April 30th.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF) has an open call for funding proposals, or Letters of Inquiry (LOIs), from January 16, 2024 through April 30, 2024. They are offering two types of funding opportunities: grants and program-related investments (PRIs). Both grant and PRI proposals must align with NCF’s interconnected goals of racial justice, economic justice, and/or environmental justice. Awards are for $250,000 and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until April 30th. All applicants will be notified about the status of their application within eight weeks of submission.

(read more)

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College announced two funding opportunities to study retirement and disability policy. The first is a Dissertation Fellowship Program, which will award one doctoral candidate with a fellowship of $28,000. The second is Sandell Grant Program, which will award one junior or non-tenured scholar with a one-year grant of $50,000. The deadline for both programs is April 30th, 2024.

Submissions for the 2024 IAPHS (Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science) Pre-Conference Workshops to be held on September 10, 2024 are now open! Workshops are often led by diverse interdisciplinary scholars and should seek to engage audiences in important population health topics using a focused skill-oriented interactive experience. Workshops will be 2 hour or 4-hour time blocks. Prior workshops have addressed topics such as advancing health equity methods, network policy mapping, and best practices for communicating race/ethnicity in public health.

Each year, the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies awards over $50,000 in scholarships and fellowships to students at UW. The awards are available to students at multiple stages of education and experience, from incoming freshman to senior graduate students. Individual award amounts range from $1,000 to $10,000. Students at any of the three University of Washington campuses are eligible to apply. The deadline to apply for scholarships is Monday, May 6th.

In spring quarter, CSDE will be hosting a workshop series and several working groups. Students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to register and we welcome registrants from outside the University of Washington for our remote workshops as well.

Please reach out to CSDE’s Training Director, Jessica Godwin (jlg0003@uw.edu), if you have additional workshops you would like to see offered in the future and we will do our best to accommodate those requests. View the schedule as a pdf here.

Spring Workshop Series

• Introduction to Bayesian Statistics: Inference (*Revised*)
  • Monday, April 15th @ 9:30AM-11:30AM
• The NorthwestFederal Statistical Research Data Center: Enabling Access to Confidential, Unpublished Data from theFederal Statistical System
  • Tuesday, April 9th @ 12:30PM-1:30PM
• Survey Methods 1: Online Survey Design & Administration with REDCap
  • Mondays April 22nd and 29th @1:30PM-3:30PM
• Agent Based Modeling in R
  • Tuesday, April 23rd @ 10:00AM-11:30AM
• Introduction to Actigraphy in Population Research
  • Thursday, April 25th @ 2:00PM-3:30PM

CSDE Working Groups

• Computational Demography Working Group
  • Date: Wednesdays @ 9AM-10AM
  • Location: Raitt 223/Zoom
  • Contact: June Yang (jyang32@uw.edu) and Ihsan Kahveci (ikahveci@uw.edu)
• Biomarker Working Group
  • Date: 1st Thursdaysof each month (4/4, 5/2, 6/6) @ 12:30PM-1:30PM
  • Location: Raitt 223
  • Contact: Tiffany Pan (tpan@uw.edu)
• Migration & Settlements Working Group
  • Date: Every other Friday @ 9:00AM starting March 29th
  • Location: Raitt 114/Zoom (meeting link)
  • Contact: Aryaa Rajouria (rajouria@uw.edu)

The NICHD has listed many grant opportunities that should be of interest to CSDE affiliates. Check out the list here. If you are interested, CSDE can help you with providing ‘eyes’ for feedback on the narrative, contacting a program officer, more formalized mock review panel of experts to provide feedback on a penultimate draft, a summer grant writing program, or scientific methods consultations. We’re happy to support your science! Just ask!

Population Research Planning Grants (PRPGs) are designed to provide in-kind support and/or funds of up to $25k* to support a wide array of activity types throughout the development of a research project. As part of our mission to complement rather than duplicate other campus opportunities such as the Population Health Initiative seed grants, we will consider funding a variety of activities. See a list of example activities in the full story!    

CSDE Matching Support includes in-kind or monetary support to accompany a submission to other on-campus funding mechanism, such as PHI, EarthLab, or Urban@UW. All projects must have a CSDE affiliate who is UW faculty and is listed as a PI or co-PI, with any number of other collaborators. Note that we require (PRPGs) or strongly suggest (matching funds) contacting either Development Core Director (Steven Goodreau) or CSDE Director (Sara Curran) to discuss possibilities for your specific proposal before submission.