The RAND Postdoctoral Research Program in the Study of Aging is designed to ease the critical transition that young scholars must make from student to independent researcher. Such scholars can face challenges to elaborating a research agenda, publishing their work, and developing a network of interested colleagues. The RAND program aims to help young scholars enhance the analytical skills they developed in graduate school, study aging-related issues in an interdisciplinary environment, present research results effectively to various audiences, and develop an agenda for research after leaving RAND. The National Institute on Aging has funded the RAND program for more than a decade; the project described here is to extend that support another five (5) years, beginning in 2005. The program, situated at RAND headquarters in Santa Monica, California, enrolls one (1) new postdoctoral fellow each year, typically for a two (2)-year term. Fellows are broadly recruited from persons just completing their Ph.D, or with a few years of postdoctoral experience, in fields such as demography, economics, and sociology. A diverse and distinguished group of 27 researchers, representing a variety of disciplines, participates as the training faculty. A five (5) member Steering Committee oversees the program. The postdoctoral program offers individualized training to the fellows, including on-the-job training in research on aging through a large, highly regarded program of ongoing aging-related studies at RAND, as well as other formal and informal training designed to enhance the fellows' analytical and communication skills. Fellows can enroll in seminars in the Pardee RAND Graduate school; participate in courses offered by RAND's statistical, computing, survey, and communications experts; attend numerous seminars on economic, demographic, and population issues offered at RAND and neighboring universites. The staff advisor and other members of the training faculty and research support help fellows develop and pursue their own research agendas and prepare research presentations for professional meetings and papers for submission to professional journals. Fellows are also encouraged to develop a research proposal for submission to a funding agency, as a step towards continuing their progress after the training program ends.
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