GIS Training Program for Population Scientists

描述（由申请人提供）：人口科学GIS培训计划有两个主要目标。主要目标是在当前的年轻人口科学家群体中快速启动空间方法在人口研究中的采用和使用，次要目标是在我们提议的人口科学和地理信息系统系列研讨会于2006年完成期间和之后为这些方法的持续传播提供基础设施。为了实现主要目标，我们建议在两年内（2004年9月至2006年8月）通过四个为期两周的讲习班（每个讲习班20-25名参与者），为80-100名年轻人口统计学家提供标准化的、密集的人口地理信息系统课程培训。讲习班的主要对象是在联合国人口与发展中心支助的人口培训中心和更广泛的人口中心协会学习人口统计学的跨学科博士预科学生。我们也希望吸引其他人口学相关学科的研究生（包括农业经济学、人类学、经济学、地理学、公共卫生、农村社会学、社会学），以及在人口机构工作的年轻教师和研究人员。人口科学和地理信息系统讲习班将提供：(i)基本介绍地理信息系统、空间分析、空间统计、制图和可视化；高度重视人口研究方面的应用；（iii）涵盖空间方法最重要的基本问题，包括推理、空间依赖性、空间异质性、尺度、不确定性和生态谬误等问题；（iv）参与者使用自己数据的机会；(v)通过小组项目和小组讨论促进点对点互动的活动；（六）促进对等互动和帮助建立学者社区的社会活动。为了实现第二个目标，我们将补充现有的网站资源，最重要的是，我们将调整为研讨会和研讨会期间生成的课程材料，通过基于网络的方式进行自定进度的培训。该提案汇集了宾夕法尼亚州立大学人口研究所（PRI）和加州大学圣巴巴拉分校空间综合社会科学中心（csss）的教员，以及美国四大地理学系中的两个系的教员。宾夕法尼亚州立大学和加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的合作关系建立在共享的专业知识（GIS教学、地理、研讨会和会议管理）和互补的专业知识（人口科学、远程学习和数字图书馆）的基础上。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The GIS Training Program in Population Science has two main goals. The primary goal is to jump-start the adoption and use of spatial methods in population research among the current cohort of young population scientists and the secondary goal is to provide the infrastructure for continuing diffusion of such methods during and after our proposed Population Science and GIS workshop series has been completed in 2006. To achieve the primary goals we propose to provide standardized, intensive training in a demography-tailored GIS course for 80-100 young demographers via four 2-week workshops (20-25 participants per workshop) over two years (September 2004-August 2006). The workshops will primarily target interdisciplinary pre-doctoral students studying demography at NICHD-supported population training centers, and the wider Association of Population Centers (APC). We also expect to attract other graduate students in demography related disciplines (including agricultural economics, anthropology, economics, geography, public health, rural sociology, sociology) as well as young faculty, and researchers employed in population agencies. The Population Science and GIS workshop will provide: (i) a basic introduction to GIS, spatial analysis, spatial statistics, mapping, and visualization; (ii) a strong focus on applications in population research; (iii) coverage of the most important basic issues of spatial methods, including problems of inference, spatial dependence, spatial heterogeneity, scale, uncertainty, and the ecological fallacy; (iv) opportunities for participants to work with their own data; (v) activities that foster peer-to-peer interaction, through group projects and small-group discussions; and, (vi) social activities that foster peer-to-peer interactions and help to build a community of scholars. To achieve the secondary goal, we will supplement the existing website resources and most importantly adapt the course materials generated for and during the workshop for self-paced training via web based delivery. This proposal brings together faculty from the Population Research Institute (PRI) at Penn State and the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS) at the University of California at Santa Barbara as well as drawing on faculty from two of the top four departments of geography in the United States. The Penn State and UC Santa Barbara partnership builds upon shared expertise (GIS instruction, geography, workshop and conference management) and complementary expertise (demographic science, distance learning, and digital libraries).