Information For:

Population Studies & Training Center

  • Trainee research

    Each year, an NICHD fellowship supports five PSTC trainees, providing them time and funding to pursue their research agendas. Click to read about the projects of recent fellows.

  • Impacts of childhood lead poisoning

    Anna Aizer's research assesses the effectiveness of lead hazard controls and the economic consequences associated with childhood lead poisoning in Rhode Island.

  • PSTC Newsletter

    Read the latest issue of the PSTC newsletter, which focuses on population health, inequality, and distribution.

  • Migration, Urbanization, and Health

    The Migration and Health Follow-up Study, led by Michael White, seeks to help inform global health policy by improving understanding of how migration and urbanization impact population health. 

  • Rhode Island Innovative Policy Lab

    Learn more about the data- and science-driven policy reform that RIIPL is working to implement in conjunction with RI policy makers.

American melting pot creates diversity, tensions

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – American suburbs are rapidly changing and diversifying, moving from traditional middle-class white enclaves to racially and ethnically mixed neighborhoods. "Suburbia's new face" quotes Professor of Sociology John Logan, who has done extensive research on the changing American demographics, including global neighborhoods. “Global neighborhoods are made possible by immigration,” he says in the article. “Hispanics and Asians [are] paving the way for integration of African-Americans.”

Flores addresses youth and migrant illegality

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – Assistant Professor of Education Andrea Flores is part of a team working on the project, "Migrant Illegality Across Uneven Legal Geographies: Advancing the Sociology of Immigration." They will examine "how local enactments of law have differential effects on migrant illegality as a lived experience for youth." The team has been awarded one of four grants from the American Sociological Association's Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline (FAD) for the project. 

BIARI addresses global dilemmas

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – Participants from 46 countries gathered June 3-16 for the Brown University International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI), organized by Professor of Anthropology and BIARI Director Matthew Gutmann. The annual Institute brings together early-career scholars to address pressing global issues and "promote a just and peaceful world through research, teaching, and public engagement." Read more.

Linking lead to crime

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – A recent paper co-authored by Professor of Economics Anna Aizer estimates "the impact of lead on behavior: school suspensions and juvenile detention" and notes that increases in lead levels increases the probabilities of school suspension and juvenile detention. The paper is referenced in "New evidence that lead exposure increases crime." The study has also received coverage from the New York Post and The American Prospect, which notes Aizer and her co-author are the first researchers to look at this connection.