IBS Speaker Series: Using Genetics for Non-Genetic Social Science

Dalton Conley (Princeton)

Title: Using Genetics for Non-Genetic Social Science

Abstract: The cost of genetic information has been dropping at a rate faster than of Moore's law in microcomputing. As a result, the science of genetic prediction has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years and with it has emerged a novel field: sociogenomics. Sociogenomics seeks to integrate genetic and environmental information to obtain a more robust, complete picture of the causes of human behavior as well as novel ways to answer old sociological questions. This talk will highlight some recent examples of sociogenomic research, touching upon issues such as adolescent peer effects, racial discrimination, assortative mating and fertility patterns. The talk will conclude by discussing the social and policy implications of genetic prediction.

Bio: Dalton Conley is the Henry Putnam University Professor in Sociology and a faculty affiliate at the Office of Population Research and the Center for Health and Wellbeing. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and in a pro bono capacity he serves as Dean of Health Sciences for the University of the People, a tuition-free, accredited, online college committed to expanding access to higher education. Conley’s scholarship has primarily dealt with the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic and health status from parents to children. He earned an M.P.A. in Public Policy (1992) and a Ph.D. in Sociology (1996) from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Biology from NYU in 2014. He has been the recipient of Guggenheim, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Russell Sage Foundation fellowships as well as a CAREER Award and the Alan T. Waterman Award from the NSF. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.

A light lunch will be served at 11:45 am.