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CU Population Center (CUPC) at the University of Colorado Boulder is currently recruiting two postdoctoral fellows with expertise in population-environment research, to start August 2020. The initial term of appointment is one year, but reappointment for a second year is possible, subject to performance evaluation.

CUPC, housed in the Institute of Behavioral Science, is a national leader in demographic research on population health, environmental demography and migration patterns and processes. This postdoctoral research position builds on CUPC’s strengths in environmental demography, and within that area, candidates should have research expertise in migration-climate-health linkages, rural demography, social vulnerability and natural hazards, and/or urbanization processes and their effects on the environment and health.

Candidates must have experience in quantitative methods, the use of computational, statistical or data scientific approaches applied to social science or interdisciplinary research settings as well as data integration that involves spatial and non-spatial data. They are expected to bring particular interest in interdisciplinary research and will be expected to participate in, and develop, projects collaborative with Earth Lab Boulder, an initiative harmonizing the wealth of Earth observation data to facilitate innovative scholarship using combinations of satellite, survey, and field data at various spatial and temporal scales.

Postdoctoral fellows are expected to spend time working independently as well as collaboratively with CUPC faculty affiliates on large-scale research projects and grant proposals. Postdoctoral researchers will be resident within CUPC in the Institute of Behavioral Science, will coordinate and/or participate in relevant working groups, regularly attend and present within the CUPC speaker series and other CUPC workshops and mentoring activities. We also expect fellows to attend the Population Association of America (PAA) annual meetings, submit one or more population-focused articles for publication during their time at CU Boulder, and help strengthen connections between CUPC and Earth Lab.

Qualifications for CUPC post-doctoral researchers:

• Doctoral degree in social sciences related to CUPC research themes;
• Strong quantitative background;
• Experience in integrating and analyzing large, and/or heterogeneous datasets;
• Demonstrated contributions to open science or willingness to contribute to open science;
• Demonstrated publication and grant-writing skills;
• Team spirit and interest in interdisciplinary research settings.

Application Deadline: December 31, 2019

Job posting: https://jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDetail/CUPC-PostDoctoral-Associate/15689

Application Details: Marisa.Seitz@colorado.edu (please note that you must apply via CU's job posting link above)

Position Details: Lori.Hunter@colorado.edu; Stefan.Leyk@colorado.edu

With CU's record-setting $631 million in research funding, CU Boulder Today highlighted the work that Lori Peek has done with CONVERGE here within the Natural Hazards Center at IBS.  Congrats!  Read the whole article here.  

Melissa Villarreal, IBS graduate student in the Natural Hazards Center, was highlighted in an article in CU Boulder Today about her research on how gender influences ways in which men and women respond differently to natural disasters. The article that Melissa and co-author Michelle Meyer (Texas A&M) wrote was published in the journal Disasters.  Melissa was also interviewed by the Boulder Daily Camera (behind a paywall).  

Dr. Beverly Kingston was recently interviewed on CU’s Brain Waves podcast in an episode titled “Mass shootings: What science says about an American epidemic”. Dr. Kingston is the Director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence PBPYD Program on CU Boulder’s campus. She shared what types of behavioral patterns may indicate a future mass shooting or act of violence, and what bystanders can do when they witness these warning signs. 

The podcast focuses on ways to spot and prevent violence, but also the way media portrays mass shootings and their perpetrators. Give it a listen here. There is a lot of discrepancy on how mass shootings should be talked about in the media, specifically the way headlines are worded. Additional guest speakers on this episode agreed that the media need to focus on continuing the victims' legacies rather than on the shooter.

Write up by Sierra Gonzalez Speegle, sophomore Strategic Communications major, IBS Undergraduate Student Assistant. 

Jason Boardman and Lori Peek both received the 2019 Outstanding Postdoctoral Mentor Award from the University of Colorado Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.  Ryan Reeves of the Research and Innovation Office explained that the office “typically only awards one, but both nominations were so compelling that the review panel elected to award them both.”

Jason was nominated by Ben Domingue, Tom Laidley, Brooke Huibregtse, Jonathan Daw, and Mike Roettger. He was described as an “uncommonly generous scholar…giving of time and attention, charitable with resources and connections, and where due, always happy to share credit for intellectual contributions.”

Lori was nominated by Rachel Adams, Mason Matthews, and Haorui Wu. She was described as inspiring, trusting, and someone who has enriched the lives of postdocs.  

The awards will be presented during an Appreciation Lunch from 12-1:30pm on Monday, September 16 in C4C Flatirons Room as part of National Postdoc Appreciation Week.

Congratulations to Jason and Lori for being such great mentors to Postdocs!

One of IBS's former students, Robbee Wedow, is featured heavily in two New York Times pieces, one Opinion piece and one written for the Science section.  Robbee is currently a research fellow at the Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard, and a research fellow in the department of sociology at Harvard.  The NYT pieces highlight a recent paper published in the American Association for the Advancement of Science journal, click here for the full paper.  Congrats to Robbee and please read about the exciting research he is doing.  

So researchers could never predict sexual behavior from DNA alone. In fact, we’ve known this for a while. Even if you have a homosexual identical twin — someone who shares all of your DNA — you are still more likely to be straight than gay.

Many people are wary of genetic research into sexuality because they fear that scientific findings could be used to advance discrimination. They worry that people will attempt to eliminate same-sex behavior using gene-editing technologies like CRISPR or by screening embryos. But the genetic science of sexuality shows us that neither effort would work.

We must also recognize that bigotry needs no data. No facts will sway those who want to police the intimacies of consenting adults. Rather than consign ourselves to ignorance out of fear, we should use these powerful new data ethically and thoughtfully to arrive at a fuller understanding of who we are.

It’s prejudice, not knowledge, that threatens us.

(from "What Genetics Is Teaching Us About Sexuality," by Steven M. Phelps and Robbee Wedow, New York Times, August 29, 2019)

How do genes influence our sexuality? The question has long been fraught with controversy.

An ambitious new study — the largest ever to analyze the genetics of same-sex sexual behavior — found that genetics does play a role, responsible for perhaps a third of the influence on whethersomeone has same-sex sex. The influence comes not from one gene but many, each with a tiny effect — and the rest of the explanation includes social or environmental factors — making it impossible to use genes to predict someone’s sexuality.

(from "Many Genes Influence Same-Sex Sexuality, Not a Single 'Gay Gene'," written by Pam Belluck, New York Times, August 29, 2019)

The Boulder Daily Camera published an article titled "CU Boulder center knows how to prevent violence, but it's not simple," highlighting the work of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) here at IBS. 

Beverly Kingston and Bill Woodward are quoted heavily in the article, citing various ways that CSPV studied school shootings and how the best preventative measures focus on adaptive change instead of technical solutions. 

Research shows that approximately 40% of school shooters are traumatized, 30% are psychotic, and 30% are psychopathic.  

Each type [of individual who has made a specific threat of violence] requires different management or treatment. Those who are traumatized may need therapy or extra supports; those who are psychotic probably need medication; and those who are psychopathic can only be managed externally, through monitoring, check-ins, and limiting movements throughout the school.

The article also touched on how complicated the causes of violence are, and how the best answer is going to be comprehensive and multi-faceted – not a "silver bullet" solution that will have immediate effects.  

Kingston said there are proven ways to prevent violence or decrease motivation for violence, but there's a desire from the public to have one easy solution. in reality, it would take funding, cultural shifts and a willingness to do complicated things.

Thanks to Beverly and Bill for their continued dedication to working towards a solution to end violence – and for all of the hard work that researchers and staff at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence do on a day to day basis.  

The full article is available on the Daily Camera website (but it is subscription only, unfortunately).  

Recently, Lori Peek was interviewed on CU's Brain Waves podcast focusing on natural disasters.  She discussed the increase of frequency and intensity of natural hazard events that have been happening in more recent history. Give a listen to what Lori had to say about this and also the vulnerable populations who are more affected by natural disasters. Lori's interview is a great overview of what the Natural Hazards Center has been studying and she also highlights practical lessons learned for responding to natural disasters.  

The podcast finishes with other interviews about how to gather better information about tornados in order to create better warning systems and how men and women respond differently to natural disasters – also well worth the listen! 

Robbee Wedow, a former IBS and Sociology graduate student at CU Boulder now at Harvard University, was awarded the Matilda White Riley Early Stage Investigator Award from the Natural Institutes of Health (NIH). This notable award is named after Matilda White Riley who was a renowned scientist known for her contributions to the behavioral and social sciences at the NIH. The NIH celebrates Dr. Matilda White Riley’s legacy through this annual award. Beginning in 2016, the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences (OBSSR) started to recognize up and coming scientists by introducing a competition for peer-reviewed articles by Early Stage Investigators. Robbee was one of the awardees for his paper on education, smoking, and cohort change published in the American Sociological Review in July 2018.  

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Article summary written by Sierra Gonzalez-Speegle, CU Boulder Sophomore, Strategic Communications major