UAlbany Center Captures Highly Competitive Funding as NICHD National Population Research Center

CSDA provides an intellectual home for 47 population researchers across five UAlbany colleges and eleven departments.

ALBANY, N.Y. (October 23, 2012) — The groundbreaking research of the University at Albany’s Center for Social and Demographic Analysis (CSDA) focusing on population redistribution, family and household dynamics, health, morbidity and mortality, and the status of children and adolescents both in the U.S. and abroad, has been boosted by a highly competitive renewal of federal support.

CSDA, directed by Timothy Gage, Ph.D., is the recipient of a five-year, $1.7 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health.

“The funding from NICHD is a testimony to the excellence of the Center and recognition of the University’s commitment to it nationally important work in population research,” said UAlbany Vice President for Research James A. Dias.

Established in 1981 at UAlbany, the Center has been continuously supported as a National Center since 1997. The newest grant is the Center’s third funding renewal from NICHD, which provides critical research infrastructure aid to CSDA. The award extends CSDA’s duration as a federally funded population center engaged in demographic and behavioral population science from 15 to 20 years.

Currently, CSDA provides an intellectual home to a productive interdisciplinary group of 47 population researchers across five colleges and eleven departments at UAlbany whose work encompasses administrative, computing/data services, and developmental infrastructure.

“Since the study of demography is interdisciplinary encompassing academic departments such as sociology, economics, anthropology, geography, criminology and biomedical sciences, research infrastructure support is vital to promote our work in a university setting,” said Gage. “This prestigious grant will allow CSDA to continue its mission of facilitating and organizing population research and education of the highest caliber.”

According to Gage, the current award will allow CSDA to achieve its key objectives, including:

• Maintain a stimulating and cohesive intellectual environment conducive to the development of multidisciplinary population scholarship, particularly in the areas of Spatial Inequalities and Vulnerable Populations.
• Facilitate the interchange of theories, ideas, methods, and data between traditional population scientists and other fields.
• Assist researchers in acquiring and accessing social science data sets.
• Provide state-of-the-art computer programming, software, hardware, and statistical support for population researchers.
• Help researchers prepare grant proposals and manage day-to-day administration of their grants.
• Provide access to key sources of information, including census documents, codebooks, survey data, and a wide variety of reference materials.
• Foster demographic research through the mentoring of a new generation of population scientists.
• Provide demographic information and expertise to the wider academic community and general public.

CSDA's many current research projects are viewable on its website. The Center is one of only 18 NICHD-funded population centers in the country; others operate at Brown and Princeton universities, as well as the universities of Chicago, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.

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