Training in the Demography and Economics of Aging

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PROJECT SUMMARY The Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan requests a five-year renewal of its training program in the demography and economics of aging. Michigan has one of the oldest population centers in the United States, with a distinguished record in domestic and international population research and training. The University's highly ranked social science departments and professional schools, combined with the unique strengths of the Institute for Social Research, provide PSC with an exceptionally rich environment for research and training in the demography of aging. The Center's current group of faculty is arguably the strongest and certainly the most interdisciplinary in its history, making major contributions in many areas of research in the economics and demography of aging. The proposed training program will provide specialized demographic training to selected predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees. The predoctoral training program is based in the doctoral programs in sociology, economics, public health, and public policy. Students 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 training, which is provided to researchers from a variety of disciplines, is coordinated with a faculty mentor and includes course work, seminars, and collaborative or independent research. This proposal seeks support for 8 predoctoral and 4 postdoctoral trainees per year, the same number of slots we have in our current grant. A major focus of our program is socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic disparities in health – a focus facilitated by the addition of public health into the program. The recent record of the program in terms of trainee recruitment and professional placement is excellent, with trainees moving into top academic and non-academic positions and producing high-quality research published in leading journals. Our record of recruitment, retention, and placement of under-represented minority trainees is particularly strong.