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Editor:
Tonya Allen
allen@pop.psu.edu
PRInformation
Fall 2006
Note from the Director
With the receipt of our recent R24 infrastructure award, PRI enters its fourth cycle of NICHD funding in support of population research. As we move into the next five year period, our central goals remain consistent with those of the past: to advance population research through interdisciplinary collaborations, innovative approaches, and the provision of high quality services that make PRI Associates and Affiliates more productive. A related goal is to provide rigorous, interdisciplinary training in demography through the dual-title degree program.
Although our fundamental goals have not changed, the funding environment has become more competitive. The NICHD Population Research Infrastructure Program increasingly emphasizes the importance of developing a research program that moves the field forward in significant ways, both within traditional areas of demographic inquiry and at the boundaries of population research and allied fields. Thus, the greatest challenge we face as an institute is organizing ourselves collectively to move beyond narrowly defined research agendas toward research that defines and moves the field. To do so will require that we maintain and strengthen the intellectual community within PRI, recruit new population scholars, and provide structures and resources that encourage new collaborations and ground-breaking research.
As the new Director, one of my goals is to foster a stimulating intellectual environment within PRI. We have planned an exciting Fall Seminar Series focused on issues in family and inequality. In addition to a number of stellar internal speakers, the noontime series will feature talks by Dalton Conley (New York University), Susan Short (Brown University), Ron Lesthaeghe (Visiting Research Professor, University of Michigan), and Daniel Lichter (Cornell University). The Spring Seminar Series, which is still being planned, will focus on issues in Population Health. Rukmalie Jayakody (Faculty Assistant, Developmental Infrastructure) and I are also planning activities and mechanisms to encourage new research within our three signature theme areas: family processes and change; inequality and opportunity; and individual, family, and population health.
In the last few years, PRI has grown in terms of the number of Associates and Affiliates and the disciplines represented. Because we are spread across campus (and have some members as far away as the Hershey Medical Center) it is a challenge to integrate new members and maintain a sense of community. One of my goals is to develop new opportunities for meaningful intellectual exchange and community building through support of substantive interest groups, project-oriented working groups, and other learning activities, such as the Statistical Software Users Group organized by George Farkas (Director, Statistics Core).
I encourage PRI's faculty, staff and students to play an active role in our efforts to move the institute forward over the next few years. I welcome your input and suggestions, and look forward to working with you.
Nancy Landale
Director
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