The Population Research Institute: Development Core

Project Summary: PRI Development Core The Development core is the incubator for innovation, productivity, and scientific impact in the Population Research Institute (PRI). The Development core’s objective is to foster associates’ ability to develop new population research by providing seed grant funding, mentorship and consultation, opportunities to collaborate, and exposure to new advances in population dynamics. The Development core activities prioritize junior faculty members’ growth towards research independence and success. The Development core also promotes research and collaboration within and across PRI’s primary research areas: Communities, Neighborhoods and Spatial Processes; Migration, Immigration and Immigrant Integration; Families, Networks and Well-Being; Population Health. The core is directed by the PRI Associate Director and is staffed to support development activities specific to the core while maximizing the efficiency of services provided by the other cores in PRI. The specific aims of the Development core are: (1) To administer and oversee the PRI seed grant program to foster new innovative population dynamics research and new leaders in the field. The program is flexible to best meet the needs of PRI associates, especially pre-tenure researchers; (2) To foster intellectual collaboration and interdisciplinary exchanges among faculty members with common research interests through working groups; (3) To facilitate dissemination of new ideas, innovative methods, and new directions for population dynamics research through forums for internal and external speakers and; (4) To infuse cutting- edge population science and innovative methods across the primary research areas at PRI through signature events and focused workshops including a burgeoning, hands-on workshop series through collaboration with the Computation and Spatial Analysis core. The activities of the Development core are designed not only to support associates at the Pennsylvania State University but also to increase access to development activities in population science more broadly.