Social Science Training Program in Population Studies

Project Summary/Abstract
The Population Studies Center (PSC) requests a five-year renewal of its predoctoral and postdoctoral Social
Science Training Program in Population Studies, funded by NICHD since 1986, to build on a strong record of
producing innovative, ethical, and productive researchers, including those from backgrounds underrepresented
in these disciplines. Predoctoral trainees are drawn from Michigan's highly ranked doctoral programs in
sociology, economics, public health, and public policy. They will combine the specific doctoral requirements of
their disciplines with additional specialized training in demography through a combination of formal
coursework, informal seminars, and a research apprenticeship program grounded in PSC's rich
interdisciplinary environment. Postdoctoral scholars are researchers from a variety of social and health
sciences who benefit from focused exposure to demographic theories and methods for studying population
health. Most postdoctoral trainees are recruited from other universities, and benefit from matches with a new
mentor or mentors, participation in a range of substantive, methodological, and professionalization seminars,
and collaborative research. Michigan trainees are mentored by investigators on some of the most central data
collection projects for studying population dynamics, such as the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. They gain
expertise in the foundations of healthy pregnancies, child and young adult health, and lifelong wellness, with
particular attention to the social and economic determinants of health disparities therein. Our goal is to cultivate
the next generation of health scientists for careers spent integrating knowledge, theory, and tools from
economics, public health, public policy, and sociology to collect and analyze the data needed to address policy
and health-relevant trends in population processes. Leadership: The program will be co-led by Dr. Sarah
Burgard, director of the PSC and NIH-funded sociologist and epidemiologist focused on the social
determinants of socioeconomic, gender and racial/ethnic health disparities, and Dr. Paula Fomby, associate
director and training director of the PSC since 2017 and NIH-funded family demographer. The MPIs are
supported by a training committee of field coordinators from Economics/Public Policy (Dr. Dean Yang), Health
Behavior and Health Education (Dr. Arline Geronimus) and Sociology/Public Policy (Dr. Jeff Morenoff, former
PSC Center Director) all full professors and experienced mentors. Trainees will be mentored by diverse
training faculty from these and related disciplinary departments, researchers with well-funded projects and a
strong record of mentoring and placing trainees in leading academic and governmental research positions. The
training program will be stewarded by the PSC, one of the oldest population centers in the United States, with
a distinguished 60-year record of domestic and international research and training in population dynamics.

Grant Number: 5T32HD007339-39
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Sarah Burgard