Training in Demography

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Population Studies and Training Center of Brown University requests continuing support for its T32 National Research Service Award. The long-term goal of the PSTC Demography Training Program is to train doctoral and postdoctoral social scientists to become internationally-renowned population scientists. More concretely, our objectives are to promote interdisciplinary publication, grant-seeking and primary research among trainees during the training period and after. We request support for six doctoral trainees and two postdoctoral trainees. In this application, we provide evidence of a strong interdisciplinary training program, supported by productive, committed faculty, focused on training students and postdoctoral fellows from Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology. We argue that the PSTC T32 training program shows ample evidence of continued intellectual and organizational evolution, dynamic synergy across disciplines and career stage, from new trainee through senior scholar, and a commitment to excellence that will produce and strengthen the next generation of investigators and teachers. We demonstrate excellent recruitment, retention and placement outcomes in the previous grant period, and focus on maintaining this excellence while improving professionalization and paths to future independence as scholars in the new application. The PSTC training program proposed here builds on a dynamic research infrastructure, with recently reconfigured thematic foci reflecting dramatic growth in Center and training program faculty. Current thematic areas include: Development, Institutions and Demographic Change; Consequences of Migration in Sending and Receiving Areas; Population Structures in the Urban Environment; Environmental Resources and Population Well-being; and Persistent Disparities in Health and Human Capital. Predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees are integrated into all themes, and supported through dedicated coursework, training modules, intensive mentoring and integrative activities. We show evidence of major institutional support in the form physical space, significant investments in graduate education generally, and targeted funds to support trainees. An active Training Committee supervises the design of the program, coordinating with our affiliated departments, and PD VanWey with PSTC Assistant Director Mecartea provides extensive support for the day-to-day operation of the program. We describe both continuing and innovative organizational and pedagogical efforts to secure the training goals we outline in this application.