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Program News | Program News Archive
Rick Rogers taught “Demography of Adult Morbidity and Mortality” through the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute (S3RI) at the University of Southampton, England, June 11-13, 2008. Course participants included graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty, and staff members from government agencies, including Imperial College, University of York, University of Southampton, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, and the Office for National Statistics.
Rick was also invited to present “Sex Differentials in Mortality: The Importance of Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Behavioral Factors,” to the Division of Social Statistics, University of Southampton, England, June 10, 2008.
Rick Rogers attended the National Research Council’s Committee on National Statistics workshop, "Vital Data for National Needs," held at the National Academies, Washington, DC, April 30, 2008. Workshop participants discussed the current and future state of the vital statistics system. Rick presented, “Use of Vital Statistics Data to Identify Mortality Trends,” which demonstrated how crucial vital statistics data are in guiding research and making policy decisions.
Rick Rogers presented “Sex Differentials in Mortality: The Importance of Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Behavioral Factors” to the Center for Population Dynamics (CePoD), Arizona State University, April 26, 2008.
Rick Rogers participated in a review of population forecasts for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Aging Society Network at the MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, IL, April 22, 2008.
The Population Program had a superb showing at this year’s 2008 Population Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 16-18. Nine faculty members, four postdoctoral fellows and research associates, and four graduate students chaired three sessions, were discussants in two sessions, gave nine presentations, and gave three poster presentations. Participants included Francisca Antman, Tania Barham, Jason Boardman, Justin Denney, Jeff Dennis, Bethany Everett, Lori Hunter, Nizam Khan, Peter Lovegrove, Robert McNown, Jane Menken, Stefanie Mollborn, Georges Reniers, Fernando Riosmena, Rick Rogers, Olumide Taiwo, and Jill Williams.
Rick Rogers presented “Health Disparities in the United States: The Effects of Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity on Health and Mortality” to Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, November 29, 2007.
Rick Rogers presented “Social Disparities and Health: Sex Differentials in Mortality” to Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health at the Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, October 29, 2007. The presentation was also videocast live to the Northwestern Medical School and the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute. This presentation was based on research conducted with Bethany Everett, Jarron Saint Onge, Patrick Krueger, and Bob Hummer. It was especially useful for Rick to visit Northwestern to find ways to bridge activities between our University of Colorado Population Center and their new NICHD-funded C2S center.
Population Program graduate students actively participated in this year’s Southern Demographic Association’s annual meeting held from October 11-13, 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama. Justin Denney presented “Forecasting Adult Survival;” Jeff Dennis presented “Characteristics of Health Care Use and Delay of Medical Care: The Effects of Sex, Race, Ethnicity, and Marital Status;” and Bethany Everett presented “Trends in Educational Attainment by Sex, Race/Ethnicity, and Nativity in the United States, 1989-2005.” The presentations were as insightful as they were well received. Importantly, the Graduate School, Population Program, and individual grants generously provided travel support.
The University of Colorado Population Center (CUPC) recently funded six outstanding developmental grants, which total over $40,000. These awards represent an invaluable way to support junior and senior faculty, fund graduate students, bridge programs, and encourage interdisciplinary research. These proposals were remarkably competitive, grapple with central demographic issues, and are likely to result in cutting-edge and significant research contributions. The CUPC Developmental Grant Review Committee – which consisted of Jason Boardman, Andrei Rogers, and Richard Rogers – made the following awards to center affiliates (with their project titles in parentheses): Paula Fomby, Sociology, CU-Denver, and Stefanie Mollborn, Sociology, (Explaining Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Effect of Family Instability on Adolescents’ Behavior), John Hewitt, IBG, and Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Linguistics (Northern Cameroon Language and Genetics Project), David Leblang, Political Science (Social Networks and International Immigration 1960-2004), Ying Lu, Political Science and Sociology (De-convolution Methods with an Application in Verbal Autopsy), Georges Reniers, Population Program, IBS (Partner Selection in Times of HIV/AIDS in Rural South Africa), and Fernando Riosmena, Geography (Evaluating the SES Health Gradients of Mexicans, Migration Selection and Acculturation Hypotheses Using Clinically-Reported Measures).
The Center expects to make similar annual awards over the next several years.
Richard Rogers and Jarron Saint Onge are featured in Top Stories on the July 9, 2007 CU News Center. Results of their study, "Major League Baseball Career Length in the 20th Century," are presented and they and their co-authors are quoted. Article (pdf)...
Short Course on Biodemography, June 11-13, 2007: The CU Population Center with support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Institute of Behavioral Science, the Institute for Behavioral Genetics, and the Department of Sociology, just completed a three-day short course on the topic of Biodemography. Jason Boardman organized the course, which included a review and discussion of current substantive contributions in the literature, instruction on the collection and use of biomarkers in demographic research, and methodological training in the statistical analysis of biosocial interactions. Faculty for this workshop included Eileen Crimmins (University of Southern California), Noreen Goldman (Princeton University), Maxine Weinstein (Georgetown University), and Tom Johnson, Matt McQueen, Michael Stallings, and Deqing Wu (Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado). Students were comprised of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty from 20 universities across the country. More information can be found by visiting the course website: http://www.colorado.edu/ibs/cupc/short_courses/biodemography/.
Richard Rogers presented "Sex Differentials in Mortality," to the Department of Demography and Organizational Studies and the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio, June 5, 2007.
This research -- conducted with Bethany Everett, Jarron Saint Onge, Patrick Krueger, and Bob Hummer -- employs the third round of the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES III) linked to the National Death Index (NDI) and life tables with covariates to examine sex differences in mortality. We build on previous literature by expanding the theoretical perspective; analyzing a current nationally representative data set; examining the effects of multiple risk factors; and presenting life tables with covariates. Whereas both sexes have witnessed mortality improvements over time, males have realized relatively greater gains. We find that both sexes realize a marriage survival advantage. Compared to men, women's lower propensity to be married, employed, earn high incomes, and engage in regular physical activity reduces the sex gap in mortality, but women's greater propensity to attend religious services and abstain from smoking widens the sex gap in mortality. These results contribute to the national discussion of health disparities; are rich with implications for family, health care, and pensions; and provide insight into life expectancy forecasts.
Richard Rogers gave a presentation, "Obesity and Mortality", on May 1, 2007 at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) in the Hague. The presentation presented historical patterns in adult obesity, revealed how obesity has changed over time for select subpopulations, and highlighted recent trends in the effects of obesity on mortality.
Richard Rogers taught a short course in April, 2007, "The Demography of Adult Morbidity and Mortality", through the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute (S3RI) at the University of Southampton in England. The course was attended by graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, staff members from government agencies, and individuals from private organizations.
This three-day course tackled such crucial questions as: Are health disparities widening over time and place? Are individuals really living longer and in better health? How does socioeconomic status operate to improve health and reduce mortality? Will life expectancies in more developed countries continue to increase over time, and if so, by how much? Overall, the course focused on ways to improve health and lengthen life.
Richard Rogers was invited to Texas A&M University, September 18-20, 2006 to consult with faculty and administrators about building a new interdisciplinary population center. Such interactions further enhance our University of Colorado Population Center's goal of bridging departments, programs, centers, institutes, and universities.
The University of Colorado Population Center (CUPC) recently funded four developmental grants, totaling $26,467.00. These awards represent an invaluable way to support junior and senior faculty, fund graduate students, bridge programs, and encourage interdisciplinary research.
The CUPC Developmental Grant Review Committee - which consisted of Andrei Rogers, Jason Boardman, and Richard Rogers - made the following awards: Jill Williams, for her project entitled "Temporary Female Labor Migration and Household Survival Strategies in Rural South Africa"; Jani Little, for her project entitled "GIS and Contextual Data: An Archive for Population Research"; Jason Boardman, for his project entitled "Psychological Resiliency as a Heritable Characteristic"; and Lori Hunter for an exploratory trip to consider potential future demographic research projects.
As part of the African Population Studies Research and Training Program Jani Little, Jane Menken, Enid Schatz, and Jill Williams delivered a short course on Longitudinal Data Management and Analysis to twelve students from the University of Colorado, Brown University, the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), and five interns from the African Population and Health Research Center (Nairobi, Kenya). The course took place June 12-23 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Students learned and used STATA to analyze a sub-sample of the Agincourt Demographic and Health Surveillance System, which has been collected since 1992 in a small rural area of South Africa. Benjamin Clark, data manager for the Agincourt Demographic and Health Surveilance System (ADHSS), assisted instructors and participants as they analyzed the ADHSS for research projects developed during the short course. Lori Hunter, Randall Kuhn, and Jarron Saint Onge also contributed to the course and many of the faculty from IBS consulted with the students during their stay.
Several faculty from IBS participated in the 4th Annual "Wits-Brown-Colorado-APHRC colloquium on Emerging Population Issues" held May 21-25 in Nairobi, Kenya. Funded by the Hewlett Foundation, the colloquium is designed to foster collaboration across participating institutions through the sharing of information on ongoing research, recent findings and plans for the future. The network also aims to strengthen advanced academic training in population studies within sub-Saharan Africa and a special session was held on the topic. This year's colloquium was hosted by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), and prior to the meeting, participants had the opportunity to learn about APHRC's research on population-health issues in sub-Saharan Africa, and also make field site visits to APHRC's demographic surveillance sites in 2 Nairobi slums. Participating in the colloquium were Jane Menken, Jason Boardman, Lori Hunter, Randall Kuhn, Richard Rogers, Enid Schatz, and Georges Reniers. Jill Williams and Steve Graham also served important roles on the organizing committee.
Jane Menken with APHRC director Alex Ezeh.
Richard Rogers, Director of the Population Program, was a recipient of the Excellence in Research, Scholarly, and Creative Work Award from the Boulder Faculty Assembly, April 17, 2006. Emphasis for the award is placed on work of high quality that does not receive recognition through the usual channels such as interdisciplinary research, work accomplished with undergraduate students, or an integrated long-term achievement.
Jani Little and Jarron Saint Onge presented at poster sessions of the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America in Los Angeles, California, March 30-April 1. Jani Little presented "What Can the Age Composition of a Population Tell Us about the Age Composition of Its Out- Migrants?" and Jarron Saint Onge presented "Baseball Career Length in the Twentieth-Centruy: The Effects of Age, Performance and Era."
Congratulations to Lisa Jordan, who received first place from the Population Geography Specialty Group at the Annual Meetings of the Association of American Geographers, held in Chicago, IL March 7-11, 2006. The title of her paper, which she presented at the meetings, was: "Religion and Mortality in the United States: A Geographic Analysis."
Several Program members attended the Annual Meetings of the Association of American Geographers, held in Chicago, IL March 7-11, 2006. Rachel Silvey presented a paper "Governing Bodies: The Regulation of Indonesian Migrants at 'Terminal 3,'" and was a discussant for two sessions: Southeast Asian Migrations and Identities and Temporary Labor Migration. Monica Smith presented a paper "Unsilenced Voices: Agency and Self Empowerment Among Women Migrant Workers." Yaffa Truelove presented a paper "The Theoretical Contributions of a Feminist Political Ecology Framework," and was panelist for a Panel on Gender and Water.
Bryan Jones, Junwei Liu, Jani Little, and Andrei Rogers presented papers at a special session on the indirect estimation of migration held at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Western Regional Science Association in Santa Fe, New Mexico, February 22-25, 2006. The session was devoted to reports on work being carried out on that topic in the Program and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
The University of Colorado Population Center (CUPC) recently funded four developmental grants, which total approximately $35,000. These awards represent an invaluable way to support junior and senior faculty, fund graduate students, bridge programs, and encourage interdisciplinary research.
The CUPC Developmental Grant Review Committee - which consisted of Andrei Rogers, Jason Boardman, and Richard Rogers - made the following awards: Randy Walsh and Terra McKinnish, Economics, for their project entitled "Decomposing Neighborhood Change;" Liam Downey, Sociology, for his project entitled "Examining the Determinants of Urban Environmental Inequality in Multiple Metropolitan Areas;" Tania Barham and A. Mushfiq Mobarak, Economics, for their project entitled "Social and Economic Impacts of Electricity Provision: Evidence from the Quasi-Random Placement of Hydroelectric Plants in Brazil;" and Fred Pampel, Sociology, for his project entitled "Socioeconomic Differentiation and Cigarette Use: Changes from Youth to Adulthood."
Jarron Saint Onge, Steven Doubilet, and Richard Rogers attended this year's Southern Demographic Association's 36th annual meeting, held November 3-5 at the University of Mississippi. Jarron Saint Onge and Richard Rogers presented "Blood Pressure Measures and All-Cause Mortality." Steven Doubilet presented "From World War I to Iraq: U.S. Military Casualty Trends and Medical Advances."
Liam Downey recently won the 2005 Sociological Spectrum Best Paper of the Year Award for his article, "Assessing Environmental Inequality: How the Conclusions We Draw Vary According To the Definitions We Employ" in Sociological Spectrum Vol. 25(3).
Lisa Jordan won first place in the student paper competition at the Annual Meeting of the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Division of the Association of American Geographers in Laramie, WY, September 22-24, 2005. The title of her paper was: "Religion and Fertility in the United States: A Geographic Analysis."
It is wonderful news that the ASA (American Sociological Association) Publications Committee approved adding Jason Boardman to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. He will be officially on the Board as of January 1, 2006.
With Richard G. Rogers as principal investigator and director, and Jason Boardman, Lori Hunter, and Andrei Rogers as associate directors, the Research Program on Population Processes received an R21 grant from NICHD for Developmental Infrastructure for Population Research. The award is $924,089 over five years beginning July 7, 2005. Based on the merits of the thirty-year-old research program, the new Population Center will be expanding demographic research and training in the areas of migration and population distribution, health, and environmental demography.
Jane Menken gave a keynote address at the University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Health Sciences Research Day on August 4, "Contributions of longitudinal study sites to understanding the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa."
Jane Menken chairs the Panel on Aging in Africa of the Committee on Population at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The Panel held a Workshop on Aging in Africa in South Africa July 26-29. Several participants were CU researchers or CU Population Aging Center (PAC) Associates. The Workshop began in Limpopo Province with a visit to the Agincourt Health and Population Program, run by the University of the Witwatersrand and headed by PAC Associate Steve Tollman. The afternoon session included presentations of current research, most of which is being carried out as collaborations between WITS and IBS researchers. Sam Clark presented a study of the survival of AIDS orphans; WITS research and PAC Associate Mark Collinson presented work with Clark and CU undergraduate Kyle Drullinger on the high mortality of return migrants, a phenomenon they refer to as "coming home to die." Enid Schatz discussed the study of older women and their experience with AIDS that she is conducting with a WITS PhD student. WITS researcher and PAC Research Associate Wayne Twine presented research he and Lori Hunter are conducting on the impact of AIDS on environmental resource use.
The Workshop continued its meeting, with Menken as Chair, in Johannesburg at the University of the Witwatersrand. Clark presented a paper on the HIV/AIDS simulation model he is developing, which includes modules to simulate the impact of various treatment strategies. A paper by Kuhn, Menken and PAC Associate Omar Rahman on self-reported and observed health measures as predictors of subsequent mortality was presented by Menken. PAC Research Associates Alex Ezeh and Kathy Kahn also gave papers, on health and aging in Nairobi and in the Agincourt study respectively.
The Panel on Aging met July 29-30 and is preparing a report to NIH on needs for research on Aging in Africa.
