Interdisciplinary Training in Demography

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This proposal request a five-year renewal of the Penn State NICHD Interdisciplinary Training in Demography T-32 grant. We request support for six predoetoral and two postdoctoral positions. Based on our dual-Ph.D, training paradigm that was recently recognized by NIH as a model program structure, the proposed renewal will support interdisciplinary predoetoral degrees with nationally-ranked departments in Anthropology (biological) and Demography, Human Development & Family Studies (developmental psychology) and Demography, and Sociology and Demography. The targeted postdoctoral program focuses on the integration of social demographic and human development science research and scholarship for a new generation of population scientist. Supported by the Penn State Population Research Institute infrastructure, the training program is based on the expertise of 39 Demography Program faculty (29 with appointments in the above three degree programs) who together have a portfolio of 36 current and 19 pending population research and training grants. This grant environment provides rich opportunities for pre- and post-doctoral student research apprenticeships. Twelve new population faculty scholars have been added over the past five years, thereby significantly expanding the training programs intellectual depth and breadth. Five faculty mentors and 33 percent of current NICHD trainees are members of underrepresented groups. In recent years the program has a strong record of placing Ph.D. and postdoctoral trainees in academic positions at population center and other major universities, and in highly visible federal, international, and research agency positions. The predoctoral training program is composed of six key pedagogical components involving formal demography course work and informal seminars/workshops, primarily focused around PRIs signature population science research themes -- family demography and life course development processes, demography of child well-being, health inequality and biodemography, and community context and spatial population analysis. The interdisciplinary post-doctoral training program, bridging social demography with developmental science of family processes emphasizes: 1) enhanced methodological skills and interdisciplinary substantive knowledge acquisition, 2) advanced apprenticeship experiences on funded research projects, and 3) professional development (papers, publications, proposal preparation) achievements. Facilitated by a low faculty-student ratio, a research apprenticeship program is a key feature of both pre- and post-doctoral programs. Predoctoral trainees will be recruited from the approximately 425 annual applicants to and students currently enrolled in the three participating dual-degree programs.