COSSA Member Spotlight
AAPSS Calls for Nominations for 2023 Moynihan Prize
The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) has announced the opening of nominations for the 2023 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize in Social Science and Public Policy. The Moynihan Prize is an annual honor created to recognize social scientists, public officials, and civic leaders who champion the use of informed judgment to advance the public good. The winner is recognized at a public event to be held in 2023 and receives a $20,000 cash prize. Nominations will be accepted through October 26, 2022 and may be submitted on the AAPSS website.
COSSA Welcomes San Diego State as a New Member
COSSA is excited to welcome San Diego State University as its newest member! A research university in San Diego, SDSU receives over $14 million annually in federal social and behavioral science funding. COSSA’s full membership list can be found here. Information on how to join is on the COSSA website.
NSF Announces Partnership with SSRC’s Mercury Project
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), a COSSA member, recently announced a new partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate and SSRC’s Mercury Project, a research initiative focusing on the impacts of and preventing the spread of public health misinformation. This partnership, called “Advance Scientific Knowledge about the Impact of Public Health Guidance,” will help advance evidence to inform decision making related to public health, especially within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several of the hallmark programs within the SBE Directorate are participating in the partnership including Cultural Anthropology, Economics, Sociology, and…
Social, Behavioral, and Economic COVID Coordinating Center Launches New Website & Resources
The Social, Behavioral, and Economic COVID Coordinating Center (SBE CCC), an effort led by the University of Michigan’s Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently developed a new website with a host of resources on coordinating research efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic. The SBE CCC acts as an information hub for communication about COVID-19 research, information-sharing between researchers, and sharing opportunities among the social, behavioral, and economic sciences community. Among the resources available on the new website are breaking news stories about COVID-19 research, podcasts and webinars, and publications…
Biden Administration Names Nancy La Vigne, Criminologist & COSSA Board Member, to Lead National Institute of Justice
On May 4, it was announced that President Biden has appointed Dr. Nancy La Vigne to be the next Director of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). La Vigne, a distinguished criminal justice researcher, brings a wealth of experience in criminal justice policy, research, and non-profit leadership. Formerly a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, La Vigne holds a Ph.D. in criminal justice from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Texas-Austin, and a bachelor’s degree in government and economics from Smith College. She has over a decade…
Last Chance to Register for UIDP Workshop on University-Industry Partnerships in the Social Sciences!
The University of Maryland and UIDP, in collaboration with COSSA, the National Science Foundation, MITRE, the Optimal Solutions Group, SAGE Publishing, and the Federation of Associations in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, will be hosting the second part of the Workshop on U-I Partnerships in the Social Sciences. The in-person workshop will be held April 20-21 at The Hotel at the University of Maryland. The event will bring together “a group of experts and leaders from academia, industry, and government to consider how academic-corporate partnerships can advance social, behavioral, and organizational science research to positively impact science and society.” Learn more…
Today is Social Science Advocacy Day! Learn How You Can Participate
Today, COSSA is holding its 2022 Social Science Advocacy Day, a members-only annual event bringing together social and behavioral scientists from across the country to meet with Members of Congress and their staff to advocate for increased funding for federal agencies and programs important the research community. This year, 70 individuals from COSSA member organizations will participate virtually in about 90 meetings with policymakers and their staff in the House of Representatives and Senate. You can get in on the action by responding to COSSA’s Action Alert and sending a quick note to your elected officials to voice your support…
PAA to Host Virtual Briefing on Trends Affecting Rural Communities
The Population Association of America (PAA), a COSSA governing member, is hosting a Congressional briefing entitled “Small Towns/Big Trends: Demographic Insights on Living, Working, and Thriving,” that will feature an expert panel presenting research regarding demographic, economic, health, and environmental challenges and opportunities facing U.S. rural communities. The virtual briefing will take place on March 18, at 12:00 pm ET. Participants can register for the briefing here.
PAA Holds Congressional Briefing on the Demographic Implications of Climate Change
On December 6, the Population Association of America (PAA), a Governing Member of COSSA, organized a virtual Congressional briefing titled “Braving the Storm: How Climate Change Will Affect How and Where We Live.” The briefing, which was moderated by Chair of the PAA Government and Public Affairs Committee Vida Maralani, featured presentations on research reflecting the impact of climate change on international and domestic demographic changes. The first presentation, by Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue of Cornell University, highlighted several demographic implications for climate change and its impact on the Sahel region on the African continent. The second presentation, by Sarah Curran of…
SSRC Launches Global Consortium on Misinformation and Health Research
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has launched a new initiative, the Mercury Project, a global research consortium focused on combatting mis- and disinformation in public health and finding interventions that support the spread and uptake of accurate health information. The $10 million initiative will provide three-year research grants “to discover new, evidence-based, data-driven tools, methods, and interventions to counter mis- and disinformation and to support the spread and uptake of accurate health information.” More information about the project is available on the SSRC website. Proposals are being accepted on a rolling basis.
University of Chicago Conference to Highlight Social Science Partnerships for Policymaking
The University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy will be hosting a hybrid virtual/in-person conference, “Creating Social Change Through Public-Private Partnerships.” The event will explore how a “new, more action-oriented social science can help solve social problems by partnering with government agencies, NGOs and private-sector firms.” The agenda will feature expert practitioners from Los Angeles, Baltimore, Washington DC, and Chicago who will speak to the ways they engaged research insights to advance policy changes related to housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and the environment. More details are available on the event’s website. The event is open to the…
ASA Task Force Releases Report on Quality of 2020 Census State Totals
The Task Force on 2020 Census Quality Indicators convened by the American Statistical Association (ASA), a COSSA governing member, released its final report on September 14. That task force, chaired by former U.S. Chief Statistician Nancy Potok, was formed in September 2020 to assess the quality of data from the 2020 Census, given the challenges of conducting the census during the pandemic and concerns about political interference from the Trump Administration. The task force evaluated a set of 10 state-level “process statistics” relevant for evaluating the quality of census state-level totals used for apportionment and concluded that it found “no…
AERA to Host Annual Brown Lecture on Intersectionality and Education Equity
The American Educational Research Association (AERA), a COSSA governing member, will host its annual Brown Lecture in Education Research virtually on October 21 at 6:00 pm ET. The 2021 lecture is entitled “Still Climbing the Hill: Intersectional Reflections on Brown and Beyond” and will be delivered by Lori Patton Davis, professor of higher education and student affairs at Ohio State University, and an influential scholar on critical race theory and African Americans in higher education. The Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research commemorates the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education and is designed to…
AAPOR Releases Report Evaluating 2020 Election Polling
The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) has released a report analyzing the pre-election polls from the 2020 elections titled “Task Force on 2020 Pre-Election Polling: An Evaluation of the 2020 General Election Polls.” The task force consisted of 19 members chosen to ensure diversity of backgrounds and opinions from various organizations, media outlets, and academic institutions. One of the main points covered in the report relates to polling errors that may have stemmed from issues of noncoverage, nonresponse, or statistical adjustments. The report notes that small errors can add up and have large effects on the predictions of…
AAPSS Hosting Event on Cutting Child Poverty
The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) and Spotlight on Poverty & Opportunity will host a virtual discussion titled “Opportunities to Cut Child Poverty: Understanding the Data and Evidence” on Thursday, June 24 at 2:00 pm ET. The webinar will focus on what is already known about child poverty and how we know it, racial disparities in poverty levels, and what policies and investments can bring us closer to the goal of ending this problem. The speakers will also address current federal policy and proposed legislation, and the potential impact on child poverty in the U.S. More information…
Kathleen Cagney, University of Chicago Sociologist, to Head Michigan’s ISR
Kathleen A. Cagney, professor of sociology and director of the University of Chicago’s Population Research Center, has been named the next director of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research (ISR). Cagney will also hold research professorships in ISR’s Survey Research Center and Population Studies Center. Her research examines social inequality and its relationship to health with a focus on neighborhood, race, and aging and the life course. Cagney will succeed David Lam, who has directed the Institute since 2015, and will return to the faculty. She will assume her new position on September 1.
NYU Professor Anna Harvey Named Next SSRC President
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), a COSSA member, has named Anna Harvey, a leading scholar of government, law, and inequality, and professor of politics at New York University, as its 15th president and CEO. Dr. Harvey succeeds Alondra Nelson, who has since taken a key role in the Biden Administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Dr. Harvey, a political scientist by training is a founding director of NYU’s Public Safety Lab and also holds appointments as professor of law and of data science. She assumes her new role on July 1.
AAPSS to Host Virtual Moynihan Prize Event with William Nordhaus
The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) and SAGE Publishing will co-host a Moynihan Prize event on May 13 at 3:00pm ET titled “A Turning Point for International Climate Policy? New Approaches to Environmental and Economic Cooperation.” The event will include a webinar and panel discussion focused on international economic and regulatory approaches to environmental policy Nobel laureate and Moynihan Prize recipient William Nordhaus. The event will take place at 3. More details and information on registration is available here.
Marta Tienda Named AAPSS President
The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS), a COSSA member, has announced the selection of Dr. Marta Tienda as its next president. She succeeds Dr. Ken Prewitt, who led the organization since 2015. Dr. Tienda is the Maurice P. During Professor in Demographic Studies and Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, with joint affiliations in the university’s Office of Population Research and The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Her research interests include immigration, population diversification, and concentrated poverty, documenting how social arrangements and life course trajectories both perpetuate and reshape socioeconomic inequality.