The Population Studies Center (PSC) of the University of Michigan is requesting a renewal of its NICHD Mentor training grant award in Social Science Training in Population Studies. For the 2005-2006 academic year, PSC has 11 pre-doctoral and 2 post-doctoral trainee slots for this NICHD T32. This application requests renewal of these slots. Our training program allows trainees to enhance their research skills, collaborate with senior faculty, and launch independent research careers. The University's highly ranked social science departments and professional schools, in combination with the unique strengths of the Institute for Social Research, make the University of Michigan an exceptional home for demographic research and training. Since the time of the last competitive renewal some changes have taken place in the program. The Center has grown substantially in the number of affiliated scholars, in the scope of its research and training programs, and in the opportunities it provides to trainees. The Center's current group of faculty is arguably the strongest and certainly the most interdisciplinary in its history. In addition, the placement record for recent PSC trainees is outstanding. Another important change in the first five years of this MENTOR award was a transition in the Principal Investigator from Professor Pamela Smock to Professor Arland Thornton. The proposed training program in the social sciences and population studies is conducted in close collaboration with the departments of Sociology, Economics, Public Health, Anthropology, and History. It will provide specialized demographic training (typically 5 and 2 years in duration for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees respectively) to selected predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees. Our research and training programs of the PSC are characterized by a number of thematic areas of excellence, including family, fertility, children, social inequality and stratification, aging and health, data collection methodology, and statistical methodology. The recent record of the program in terms of recruitment, progress, and professional placement is excellent, with trainees moving into top academic 'and non-academic positions and producing high-quality research that is published in leading journals in the field.
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