Development Core The Development Core aims to increase population science human capital and to facilitate the development of innovative, interdisciplinary population science research projects. CPC conceptualizes individuals' career life courses and projects' research life cycles and uses this conceptualization to identify the key opportunities for making strategic investments in individuals and projects. Moreover, there is a synergy between investing in the career lifecycle and the research life cycle. This can be seen most clearly in developing large, exciting, long- term, high-impact projects and recruiting, retaining and advancing the human capital of CPC Fellows. While CPC does not hire faculty, it can enrich the pool of population scientists at UNC by collaborating with departments and schools that do hold hiring and promotion authority. The Center also works with departments to make retention offers to outstanding population scientists. The Director has primary responsibility for CPC's role in hiring and retaining key population scientists. CPC has had a clear impact on hiring and retention in the last five years. On July 1, 2015, Robert Hummer will become the Odum Professor of Sociology, a CPC Fellow, and Director of CPC's Development Core. He is well positioned to assume the Core Director role based on his prior administrative leadership, his record of federally funded research, and his past mentorship of students and junior faculty. Hummer will direct all other activities of the Development Core: Seed Grants, the Summer- in-Residence Program, Methodological Consultative Services, and CPC Seminars. CPC seed grants invest in promising population research projects--those that are innovative and that begin the exploration of important topics. Seed grants have played a key role in career and project development at CPC. In addition, CPC has a special program aimed at advancing the careers of junior scholars, the ?Summer-in-Residence Program?--a structured program leading to submission of a first NIH application. The program targets assistant professors, although it is open to associate professors who lack NIH grant experience. This program (first funded in CPC's 2009 R24) has enrolled 15 persons (working on 14 different projects) and has produced 13 NIH applications (with the remaining one in preparation). Of the 11 applications that have been submitted and reviewed, 4 have been funded (36%), and 2 are pending review. The Methodological Consultative Services Unit contributes to the quality and innovativeness of research by informing Fellows about new developments and promulgating the use of the most appropriate research methods in population sciences. This unit, which is led by David Guilkey and also includes Barrington, Bollen, Herring, and Suchindran, presents three didactic seminars a year and provides individual consultations on research projects. Finally, through its seminar and workshop series, the Development Core fosters intellectual community, encourages discourse across disciplines, and stimulates new and innovative research ideas.
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