Coffee and Conversation
2025-10-27 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CCPR Break Room
Join CCPR affiliates for coffee and bagels from Noah’s Bagels, and take the opportunity to get to know one another in a casual setting.
Coffee and Conversation is held Mondays at 10:00 AM in the CCPR Break Room.
This week’s session will be hosted by CCPR Alumni Jennifer Flashman and CCPR Director Megan Sweeney, who will be there to guide the conversation, share insights, and connect with attendees in an informal setting.
Jennifer Flashman Biography: Jennifer Flashman received her Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA, where she focused on social demography and social stratification. After completing several postdoctoral positions, she transitioned from academia to the tech industry and has spent the past decade building and leading data science and analytics teams. Most recently, she served as Senior Director of Analytics and Data Science at Tinder, where she helped shape product and business strategy through data-driven insights. In November, she will join Life360 as Senior Director of Analytics. Jennifer is passionate about bridging the gap between academic training and industry practice and about helping social scientists see the diverse career paths available beyond academia.

Workshop: Applying for the F31 National Research Service Award (NRSA) Fellowship (For Students)
2025-10-29 12:00 - 13:15
Our New Junior Fund Manager, Lilian Coie, will present a new workshop for graduate students interested in applying for the F31 National Research Service Award (NRSA) Fellowship on Wednesday, October 29th, from 12:00-1:30 pm.

Workshop participation is subject to room capacity limitations. Please confirm your attendance by RSVPing here. In the event of more demand than available slots, priority will be assigned in the following order: Ph.D. students and junior scholars, followed by CCPR affiliates, and then based on the order of sign-up.

Lilian Coie’s presentation slides can be accessed here.
A recording of this workshop can be accessed here.

Coffee and Conversation
2025-11-03 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-12-01 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-01-05 10:00 - 11:00 | CCPR Break Room
Join CCPR affiliates for coffee and bagels from Noah’s Bagels, and take the opportunity to get to know one another in a casual setting.
Coffee and Conversation is held Mondays at 10:00 AM in the CCPR Break Room.
This week’s session will be hosted by the CCPR Directors, who will be there to guide the conversation, share insights, and connect with attendees in an informal setting.

Stefanie DeLuca, Johns Hopkins University, “Colleges that obviously don’t have what you need”: Risk, Social Mobility and the Postsecondary Decisions of Low-Income Students”
2025-11-05 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
Biography: Stefanie DeLuca is the James Coleman Professor of Social Policy and Sociology at the Johns Hopkins University, Director of the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab, and Research Principal at Opportunity Insights at Harvard University. She co-authored Coming of Age in the Other America (with Susan Clampet-Lundquist and Kathryn Edin), which was named an Outstanding Academic Title from the American Library Association and won the William F. Goode Award from the American Sociological Association. Her work has been funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Spencer Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Abell Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, National Academy of Education, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Department of Education, among others. She contributes frequently to national and local media, including The Atlantic, Baltimore Sun, The Economist, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Public Radio. Stefanie has been invited to share her research to support policy recommendations at the federal level at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and has provided briefings and testimony for several state legislatures and in federal court on behalf of the plaintiffs in the Baltimore Thompson v. HUD housing desegregation case. She currently serves on a Federal Research Advisory Commission at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Stefanie’s other awards and honors include the Publicly Engaged Scholar Award from the Community and Urban Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association, Scholar of the Year by the National Alliance of Resident Services in Assisted and Affordable Housing, William T. Grant Faculty Scholars Award, Johns Hopkins University Alumni Excellence in Teaching Award, and election to the Sociological Research Association.

Colleges that obviously don’t have what you need: Risk, Social Mobility and the Postsecondary Decisions of Low-Income Students

Abstract: While postsecondary education enrollment rates have soared over the last few decades, dilemmas remain about how to support young adults as they navigate paths after high school. On the one hand, postsecondary education plays a vital role in promoting intergenerational mobility, increasing earnings, and improving job quality. On the other hand, there are large and growing gaps in college attendance, college quality, and college completion rates by family income, leaving many young adults with only ‘some college’ and a relatively unsupported and sooner-than-expected transition to work. As a policy response, selective colleges and universities have tried to increase opportunities for low-income students on their campuses, with some significantly investing in financial aid expansions and other supportive interventions. One example is an experimentally evaluated intervention at the University of Michigan (UM) called the HAIL Scholarship Study, which tests whether a personalized offer of a guaranteed four-years of financial aid can increase enrollment of students from low-income families. HAIL has been very successful, more than doubling application and enrollment at UM among Michigan students from low-income families. However, one-third of the students who received the HAIL offer never applied to UM and one-fifth of those admitted did not attend UM. How do we explain such decisions? We use qualitative interviews with 136 low-income high-achieving high school seniors from the HAIL intervention to understand how they experienced and assessed risk in the college decision-making process. We find that low-income students –even high-performing low-income students with the tuition-guarantee—worry about whether the investment in a four-year degree is worth it. In particular, we observe a profound fear of failure as students worry that they will not complete their bachelor’s degrees and/or they worry that their college education will not pay off in terms of job or financial stability. The fear of non-completion seems to stem from several sources, including: the inability to perform well academically while at a selective institution; indecision about major and finding something of interest that will lead to a solid career; being away from social support; and concerns about shocks that might occur to derail them. As a result of this risk assessment, students enact a number of mitigation strategies to get a better sense of what they want to do, many resulting in an indefinite delay of their college enrollment.

CCPR Social Hour
2025-11-05 16:30 - 18:30 | UCLA Faculty Club
CCPR is hosting a faculty-only Social Hour at the UCLA Faculty Club. There is no formal agenda—think of this as an informal gathering to meet and reconnect with CCPR affiliates. Peter Evans and Grace Bukovsky from UCLA College Development will attend to discuss and answer questions regarding major giving fundraising and foundation support with those interested. Light refreshments will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there!

Tiffany Joseph, Northeastern University, "Not All In: Race, Immigration, and Health Care Exclusion in the Age of Obamacare"
2025-11-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
CCIS / CSIM / BIMI / GMC // CCPR book presentation (via zoom) on 11/7/25. This event may be recorded. Please note that the time listed is Pacific Time. Registration link: https://ucsd.zoom.us/meeting/register/OOns5nFVTzCf139m4hWE0Q
If the link does not work for you, please copy and paste it onto your web browser. The registration link is also available on the CCIS website (ccis.ucsd.edu) here, https://ccis.ucsd.edu/events/index.html
For more information please email w2tam@ucsd.edu.

Biography: Dr. Tiffany Joseph is Associate Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Northeastern University. Her research and teaching interests explore race, ethnicity, and migration in the Americas; immigrants’ health and healthcare access; immigration and health policy; and the experiences of faculty of color in academia. Her most recent book, (Not) All In: Race, Immigration, and Healthcare Exclusion in the Age of Obamacare Uohns Hopkins University Press), explores how documentation status, race, and ethnicity influence the healthcare access of immigrants after comprehensive health reform. She is also the author of Race on the Move: Brazilian Migrants and the Global Reconstruction of Race (Stanford University Press, 2015) and her work has been published in various peer-reviewed journals and national media outlets.
Not All In: Race, Immigration, and Health Care Exclusion in the Age of Obamacare, Tiffany Joseph
Abstract: Despite progressive policy strides in health care reform, immigrant communities continue to experience stark disparities across the United States. Not All In exposes the insidious contradiction of Massachusetts’ advanced health care system and the exclusionary experiences of its immigrant communities. Joseph illustrates how patients’ race, ethnicity, and legal status determine their access to health coverage and care services, revealing a disturbing paradox where policy advances and individual experiences drastically diverge. Examining Boston’s Brazilian, Dominican, and Salvadoran communities, this book provides an exhaustive analysis spanning nearly a decade to highlight the profound impacts of the Affordable Care Act and subsequent policy shifts on these marginalized groups. Not All In is a critical examination of the systemic barriers that perpetuate health care disparities. Joseph challenges readers to confront the uncomfortable truths about racialized legal status and its profound implications on health care access. This essential book illuminates the complexities of policy implementation and advocates for more inclusive reforms that genuinely cater to all. Urging policymakers, health care providers, and activists to rethink strategies that bridge the gap between legislation and life, this book reminds us that in the realm of health care, being progressive is not synonymous with inclusivity.

Manasi Deshpande, The University of Chicago, "Explaining the Historical Rise and Recent Decline in Social Security Disability Insurance Enrollment"
2025-11-12 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
Biography: Manasi Deshpande is an associate professor of economics with tenure at the University of Chicago Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her research interests include the optimal design of social safety net programs, their interaction with labor markets, and their effects on consumption, health, and well-being. She has received the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, NSF CAREER award, and William T. Grant Scholarship. Her dissertation on the long-term effects of disability programs received the 2015 APPAM Dissertation Award, the 2015 Upjohn Institute Dissertation Award, and the 2016 NASI John Heinz Dissertation Award. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Becker-Friedman Institute.

Explaining the Historical Rise and Recent Decline in Social Security Disability Insurance Enrollment

Abstract: After substantial growth in the 1990s and 2000s, enrollment in the U.S. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program has been declining since 2013. We use detailed administrative data to quantify the contributions of various factors to trends in SSDI enrollment, focusing especially on the decline in the 2010s. A statistical decomposition suggests that the vast majority of the decline in SSDI enrollment since 2013 is attributable to declines in application rates and, to a lesser extent, award rates, within demographic groups, rather than changes over time in demographic characteristics, eligibility, or rates of exit from SSDI. The decline in SSDI enrollment rates is disproportionately driven by older low-to-middle-skilled men with relatively severe health conditions who, over time, have become less likely to apply for SSDI and more likely to work. Consistent with this descriptive evidence, we present results from a causal analysis suggesting that improved labor market opportunities for older middle-skilled men could explain the decline in SSDI enrollment. We also present a set of causal estimates that rule out several popular hypotheses for the decline in SSDI applications, including lower award rates at the appeal level, a higher administrative burden of applying, greater generosity of other programs, and reductions in pollution and smoking.

Federal Data Access Event
2025-11-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Charles E. Young Research Library, Data Science Center, Room 11630L
Federal data systems are going through major transitions, and researchers across campus are dealing with changes in data access and documentation.

Join Dr. Margaret Levenstein, Director of ICPSR (the world’s largest social science data archive), for a conversation about how the research community is responding. Since January, ICPSR has preserved over 1,200 datasets to keep data accessible.

What you’ll learn:

Where to find archived and alternative data sources
How UCLA Library and partners are responding
Strategies for ensuring research continuity
Ways to contribute to preservation efforts

Details: Wednesday, November 13, 2025 Noon – 1:00 PM,
Charles E. Young Research Library, Data Science Center, Room 11630L
Lunch provided

Register: https://ucla.in/4nxPXzV

On the Move: Migration Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean
2025-11-14 12:00
Friday, November 14,2025 | 12:00PM – 1:30PMPacificTime
Will be held via Zoom (This Event May Be Recorded) Register for Zoom Info Here
Book Talk Speakers:
Andrew Selee is President of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a global nonpartisan institution that seeks to improve immigration and integration policies through fact-based research, opportunities for learning and dialogue, and the development of new ideas to address complex policy questions.
Diego Chaves-González is Senior Manager for MPI’s Latin America and Caribbean Initiative, which aims to create dialogue and foster the exchange of innovative policy ideas among Latin American governments and their partners.
Valerie Lacarte is a Senior Policy Analyst with MPI’s U.S. Immigration Policy Program, where she contributes to research design and conducts data analysis on a range of issues, including native-immigrant gaps in socioeconomic outcomes and access to public benefits for vulnerable immigrant and humanitarian populations.
Ariel G. Ruiz Soto is a Senior Policy Analyst at MPI, where he works with the U.S. Immigration Policy Program and the Latin America and Caribbean Initiative
Discussant: Rubén Hernández-León (Director of the UCLA Latin American Institute and Professor of Sociology)
On the Move: Migration Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean
In a newly published , On the Move: Migration Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, Migration Policy Institute (MPI) President Andrew Selee and coauthors Valerie Lacarte, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, and Diego Chaves-González offer the first comprehensive look at policy responses by governments in the region and shed light on the lesser-known dynamics of migration in, to, and through the region. Through compelling storytelling and rigorous analysis, the authors uncover how governments and societies in Latin America and the Caribbean are adapting—unevenly, yet innovatively—to an era of unprecedented human mobility

Coffee and Conversation
2025-11-17 10:00 - 11:00 | CCPR Break Room
Join CCPR affiliates for coffee and bagels from Noah’s Bagels, and take the opportunity to get to know one another in a casual setting.
Coffee and Conversation is held Mondays at 10:00 AM in the CCPR Break Room.
This week’s session will be hosted by the CCPR Directors and new UCLA Professor Ann Owens, who will be there to guide the conversation, share insights, and connect with attendees in an informal setting.

Nathan Nunn, University of British Columbia, “Development Mismatch?: Evidence from Agricultural Projects in Pastoral Africa”
2025-11-19 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
Biography: Nathan Nunn is a Professor of Economics at the University of British Columbia and holds a Canada Research Chair in cultural economics. His research examines the historical and dynamic process of economic development, focusing on the evolution of culture, norms, and institutions across societies. He has published dozens of articles aimed at improving our understanding of the historical process of factors relevant to economic development, including distrust, gender norms, religiosity, rule-following, zero-sum thinking, honor cultures, conflict, immigration, state formation, and support for democracy. Another aspect of his research examines the importance of local cultural context for contemporary development policy.
Development Mismatch?: Evidence from Agricultural Projects in Pastoral Africa

Abstract: We study the consequences of a clash between contemporary development initiatives and traditional economic practices in Africa. Crop agriculture has expanded considerably across the continent in recent years. Much of this expansion has occurred in traditionally pastoral areas. This is believed to be a major cause of conflict between pastoral and agricultural ethnic groups. We test this hypothesis using geocoded data on agricultural development projects across Africa from 1995-2014. We find that implementing agricultural projects in traditionally pastoral areas leads to a two-fold increase in the risk of conflict. We find no equivalent effect for agricultural projects implemented in traditionally agricultural areas, nor for non-agricultural projects implemented in either location. We also find that this mechanism contributes to the spread of extremist-religious conflict in the form of jihadist attacks. The effects are muted when agricultural projects are paired with pastoral projects, which is more likely to occur when pastoral groups have more political power. Despite these effects on conflict, we find that crop agriculture projects increase nighttime luminosity in both agricultural and pastoral areas. Evidence from survey data suggest that the gains in pastoral areas are concentrated in on-pastoral households. Our results indicate that “development mismatch” – i.e., imposing projects that are misaligned with local communities – can be costly.

Development Workshop: Mary Jo Mitchell (Director of Gov’t and Public Affairs, PAA), “Engaging Policymakers: Role of PAA/APC and Population Scientists”
2025-12-03 12:00 - 13:15 | Zoom
Biography: Since January 2004, Mary Jo H. Mitchell has been the Director of Government Affairs for the Population Association of America and Association of Population Centers. In addition to representing PAA and APC, Ms. Mitchell has co-directed The Census Project since 2008. Prior to her position with PAA/APC, Ms. Mitchell worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for approximately 10 years, as the Legislative Officer at the National Institute on Aging and as the Special Assistant to the Director of the NIH Office of Policy of Extramural Research Administration. Ms. Mitchell held positions on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant for U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro and Legislative Correspondent for former U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. Ms. Mitchell has a Master of Public Administration from George Washington University and is a former Presidential Management Fellow. Her recent leadership positions include serving as President of the Association of Public Data Users, 2021-2022, and as the Chair of the Associates Board of Directors for the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, 2011-2012. In March 2024, Mary Jo was appointed by the U.S. Census Bureau to serve on the 2030 Census Advisory Committee. In 2024, she was named one of Washington, DC’s Top Lobbyists by the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics.
“Engaging Policymakers: Role of PAA/APC and Population Scientists”
Abstract: The Population Association of America (PAA) and Association of Population Centers (APC), especially through the work of its Government and Public Affairs Committee and the Director of PAA/APC Government Affairs, Mary Jo Mitchell, educate policymakers about the population sciences and the organizations’ federal policy priorities. Please join us on December 3 for a webinar in which Mary Jo Mitchell will discuss how PAA and APC develop and communicate the organizations’ federal policy priorities and how you can play a role. Mary Jo will share tips on how to successfully establish and maintain good communications and relationships with federal policymakers and their staff.

A recording of this event can be found here.

[CANCELLED] CCPR Infrastructure Grant Planning Meeting
2025-12-05 08:00 - 17:00
Join us for the CCPR Infrastructure Grant Planning Meeting exclusively for faculty on December 5, 2025. This session will focus on strategizing proposals and collaborative opportunities for the upcoming grant cycle.

Holiday Coffee and Conversation
2025-12-08 10:00 - 11:00 | CCPR Break Room

Coffee and Conversation
2026-01-12 10:00 - 11:00 | CCPR Break Room
Join CCPR affiliates for coffee and bagels from Noah’s Bagels, and take the opportunity to get to know one another in a casual setting.
Coffee and Conversation is held Mondays at 10:00 AM in the CCPR Break Room.
This week’s session will be hosted by Professor Adriana Lleras-Muney, who will be there to guide the conversation, share insights, and connect with attendees in an informal setting.

Philip N. Cohen, University of Maryland, "Research Is Not Enough: Public Engagement and the Citizen Scholar"
2026-01-14 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
Biography: Philip N. Cohen is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. His latest book, Citizen Scholar: Public Engagement for Social Scientists (Columbia University Press 2025), addresses the role of intellectuals in public life and offers guidance for a career in social science. His other research concerns demographic trends, family structure, the division of labor, health disparities, and open science.

Research Is Not Enough: Public Engagement and the Citizen Scholar
Abstract: What is the role of professional scholars in civic life? How and why should academics seek to reach audiences beyond their disciplines and institutions? Must there be tension between advancing along an academic career path and taking part in public conversations, or can these goals reinforce each other? Drawing from personal experience and in-depth research, this talk features straightforward advice that acknowledges professional risks as well as rewards. Cohen embraces the reciprocal relationship between professional scholarship and active citizenship, arguing that aligning personal and vocational identities can enhance both public and academic contributions. He explores intellectual work on social media, science communication, political activism, and how to build trust while developing a public intellectual identity (and his experience suing President Trump for blocking him on Twitter – and winning).

A recording of this event can be found here.

Michael Geruso, UT Austin, Book Talk on "After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People"
2026-01-14 18:00 - 19:15 | Royce Hall, Room 314, 10745 Dickson Ct, Los Angeles,, CA, 90095
Biography: Dr. Michael Geruso is coauthor of After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People. Geruso is an economic demographer, public economist, and associate professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin. From 2023 to 2024, he served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, where he advised on issues of health and population. He holds bachelor’s degrees in engineering, political science, and philosophy. He earned his PhD in economics from Princeton and completed postdoctoral work at Harvard prior to joining the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. His work has been published in top peer-reviewed outlets including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, and Demography, and has been featured in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, the Atlantic, the Economist, and more.

After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People

Description: Most people on Earth today live in a country where birth rates already are too low to stabilize the population: fewer than two children for every two adults. In After the Spike, economists Dean Spears and Michael Geruso sound a wakeup call, explaining why global depopulation is coming, why it matters, and what to do now. It would be easy to think that fewer people would be better—better for the planet, better for the people who remain. This book invites us all to think again. Spears and Geruso investigate what depopulation would mean for the climate, for living standards, for equity, for progress, for freedom, for humanity’s general welfare. And what it would mean if, instead, people came together to share the work of caregiving, making parenting better, and stabilizing our numbers. After the Spike asks what future we should want for our planet, for our children, and for one another.

Event Recap: Michael Geruso, economic demographer, public economist, and Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, and co-author of After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People, delivered a compelling book talk on the global decline in birth rates. He argued that depopulation poses a serious challenge, emphasizing that larger populations have historically fueled innovation, economic growth, and our ability to solve complex global problems. Challenging the belief that smaller populations necessarily produce greater prosperity or environmental gains, Geruso calls for efforts to support those who wish to have children while safeguarding gender equity and reproductive freedom to stabilize the population. The event sparked meaningful discussion and lively dialogue among attendees.

A recording of this event can be found here.

Workshop: Matias Cattaneo, Princeton University, "Boundary Discontinuity Designs: Theory and Practice"
2026-01-21 12:00 - 15:00 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
Biography: Matias D. Cattaneo is a Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE) at Princeton University. He is also an Associated Faculty in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), the Department of Economics, and the Program in Latin American Studies (PLAS), and an Affiliated Faculty in the Data-Driven Social Science (DDSS) initiative, the AI at Princeton initiative, and the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning (CSML). Beyond academia, he serves as an Amazon Scholar, and has advised a wide range of organizations worldwide. Matias is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the International Association for Applied Econometrics, and an elected Member of the International Statistical Institute. His research interests are interdisciplinary, motivated by quantitative challenges arising in the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. He integrates econometrics, statistics, applied mathematics, data science, and decision science, with applications to program evaluation and causal inference.
Boundary Discontinuity Designs: Theory and Practice
Abstract: We review the literature on boundary discontinuity (BD) designs, a powerful nonexperimental research methodology that identifies causal effects by exploiting a thresholding treatment assignment rule based on a bivariate score and a boundary curve. This methodology generalizes standard regression discontinuity designs based on a univariate score and scalar cutoff, and has specific challenges and features related to its multi-dimensional nature. We synthesize the empirical literature by systematically reviewing over 80 empirical papers, tracing the method’s application from its formative uses to its implementation in modern research. In addition to the empirical survey, we overview the latest methodological results on identification, estimation and inference for the analysis of BD designs, and offer recommendations for practice.
A recording of this event can be found here.

Coffee and Conversation
2026-01-26 10:00 - 11:00 | CCPR Break Room
Join CCPR affiliates for coffee and bagels from Noah’s Bagels, and take the opportunity to get to know one another in a casual setting.
Coffee and Conversation is held Mondays at 10:00 AM in the CCPR Break Room.
This week’s session will be hosted by Professor Andres Villarreal, who will be there to guide the conversation, share insights, and connect with attendees in an informal setting.

The Challenges and Promise of Population Research: Insights from CCPR’s Junior Population Scientists
2026-01-28 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
CCPR’s Junior Population Scientists are distinguished population scholars and CCPR affiliates from other California universities. Join us in welcoming the inaugural cohort as they briefly introduce their research and insights into the challenges and promises of population research. A Q&A session and reception will follow.

Household decision-making under the microscope: evidence from experiments with Kenyan households
Prachi Jain is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Loyola Marymount University. Her research uses experimental methods to explore topics in behavioral economics, gender economics, and economic development. Her interests are expansive, for example exploring the role of social networks in informal insurance, the underrepresentation of women in labor markets, financial privacy in couples, and the effects of stress on economic decision-making. She is a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Effective Global Action and an external affiliate with the California Center for Population Research. She received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan. She previously was a Postdoctoral Associate at Princeton University and completed her B.A. degree in Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Presented Paper here.

Looking Within Families: Differences Among Adult Children and Implications for Support to Older Parents and Their Health

Luoman Bao is an Associate Professor of Sociology at California State University, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on aging, health, and family, with a particular attention to aging experiences and intergenerational dynamics in diverse social contexts, as well as their implications for the health and well-being of older adults. Her work also examines how gender, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic inequalities shape family experiences and individual health across the aging process. Presented Paper here.

Measuring the population health impacts of immigration policy

Dr. Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young is an immigrant health scholar whose research seeks to understand the impact of the US immigration system on the well-being of immigrants and their families. She has established new frameworks and measures to understand the relationships between immigration policies, citizenship/legal status, and health, and has conducted some of the first empirical studies showing that immigration policy is associated with health inequities. A guiding principle in her work is to partner with immigrants and community members as active contributors in the design and interpretation of research. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and published in a wide range of public health, health policy, and sociological journals, including American Journal of Public Health, The Milbank Quarterly, International Migration Review, and Social Science and Medicine. She received her PhD in community health sciences from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and her MPH with an emphasis in maternal and child health from UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Presented Paper here.

Food insecurity on campus: barriers to food assistance use among college students
Tabashir Nobari, PhD, MPH, is an affiliate at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and an associate professor in the Department of Public Health at California State University, Fullerton. Nobari’s longstanding interest is preventing socioeconomic and racial/ethnic health inequities among young children and college students by addressing health equity barriers through social programs and policies. Her research focuses on the social determinants of health, particularly food insecurity, housing insecurity, homelessness, and adverse childhood experiences. Nobari uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods to understand the impact of policies and programs on college students’ basic needs and early childhood obesity. She focuses on preventing inequities in obesity and food insecurity among young children and college students by addressing health equity barriers (housing insecurity and poverty) through food assistance programs (CalFresh, WIC) and policies. Nobari is a co-investigator on a USDA-funded study to examine the policies, systems, and environments related to access to food at Minority-Serving Institutions. She is co-PI on an NSF-funded study to develop smart technologies for previously unhoused residents of Permanent Supportive Housing in Orange County. She is also a member of the board of directors for Nourish California, an advocacy group working to ensure that all Californians with low income can access the food they need and want. Nobari earned her doctorate in community health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and her master’s in public health in international epidemiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She completed her postdoc with PHFE-WIC, the largest local agency in the nation for the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. Presented Paper Here.

A recording of this event can be found here.

Coffee and Conversation
2026-02-02 10:00 - 11:00 | CCPR Break Room
Join CCPR affiliates for coffee and bagels from Noah’s Bagels, and take the opportunity to get to know one another in a casual setting.
Coffee and Conversation is held Mondays at 10:00 AM in the CCPR Break Room.
This week’s session will be hosted by Professor Mark Handcock, who will be there to guide the conversation, share insights, and connect with attendees in an informal setting.

David Grusky, Stanford University, "Why is Evidence-Based Policy Still So Elusive? The Case of U.S. Homelessness Policy"
2026-02-04 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
Biography: David B. Grusky is Edward Ames Edmonds Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University. His research examines the structure of social mobility and inequality, new ways to improve the country’s infrastructure for monitoring mobility and inequality, and new policies for increasing mobility and reducing inequality.

Why is Evidence-Based Policy Still So Elusive? The Case of U.S. Homelessness Policy

In many policy zones, the available evidence suggests that locally-tailored policy would outperform one-size-fits-all policy, yet it’s difficult for local policymakers to carry out the local tailoring that’s consistent with that evidence. We use the case of homelessness policy to illustrate how this problem can be overcome across a wide range of policy domains.

Reexamining the “Nation of Immigrants”: The Politics of ICE Enforcement
2026-02-05 18:00 - 19:30 | UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center, 425 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Join us for a keynote and panel exploring new data on immigration enforcement, stronger state protections, and fair, sustainable policy.

RSVP HERE

With the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) arrests and detentions surging, California’s legislative leadership offers critical lessons on safeguarding rights and rebuilding trust. Join us on February 5, 2026 for a keynote presentation followed by a panel of policymakers, researchers, and advocates who will discuss what the latest data reveal about enforcement patterns, how to strengthen state protections, and what’s next for fair and sustainable approaches to immigration.

Reception 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Lecture and Panel 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Registration is free and required for all guests. We intentionally oversell tickets to ensure a full venue. Entry and seating are first come, first served and not guaranteed, even with a ticket. We recommend arriving early and join the pre-reception to maximize your chance of entry.

Attorney General Rob Bonta will be the keynote speaker.
Panelists include:

Cielo Castro, Chief Impact Officer, California Community Foundation (moderator)
Ahilan Arulanantham, Professor from Practice, UCLA Law; Faculty Co-Director, Center for Immigration Law & Policy
Paul Ong, Director, UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge
Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA); Luskin Senior Fellow

Briefs can be found here.

TONGVA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.

PHOTO RELEASE
By attending this event, you will be entering an area where photography, audio and video recording may occur. With your presence, you authorize UCLA Luskin and its licensees to photograph you, make sound and/or video recordings of you, and use the recordings for marketing, publicity and promotion of this event and UCLA Luskin generally. Please click on the link for the full UCLA Luskin Notice of Filming Release.
Attendance by a public official will constitute acceptance of a reportable gift.

Coffee and Conversation
2026-02-09 10:00 - 11:00 | CCPR Break Room
Join CCPR affiliates for coffee and bagels from Noah’s Bagels, and take the opportunity to get to know one another in a casual setting.
Coffee and Conversation is held Mondays at 10:00 AM in the CCPR Break Room.
This week’s session will be hosted by Professor Randall Kuhn who will be there to guide the conversation, share insights, and connect with attendees in an informal setting.

Jonathan Kolstad, University of California, Berkeley, "Thinking versus Doing: Cognitive capacity, decision making and medical diagnosis"
2026-02-11 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
Biography: Jonathan Kolstad is a professor at the Haas School of Business, where he holds the Henry J. Kaiser Chair, and in the Economics Department at UC Berkeley. He is also a core faculty member in the Computational Precision Health Graduate Group at UC Berkeley and UCSF, the founding director of the Center for Health Care Marketplace Innovation and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research interests lie at the intersection of health economics, industrial organization and public economics. He is interested in finding new models and unique data that can account for the complexity of policy relevant markets, health care in particular. Much of his work applies tools from behavioral economics and machine learning and AI to better understand behavior and market outcomes and to design policy and technology interventions to improve welfare. Kolstad was awarded the ASHEcon Medal in 2018, given biennially to the economist age 40 or under who has made the most significant contributions to the field of health economics, the Arrow Award for the best paper in health economics in 2014 and the NIHCM Foundation Research Award in 2016 and 2018. Kolstad is also active as an entrepreneur and founder in health care and technology and an advisor to governments, corporations, and startups. He received his PhD from Harvard University and BA from Stanford University.

Thinking versus Doing: Cognitive capacity, decision making and medical diagnosis

Abstract: We study how situational fluctuations in cognitive capacity shape behavior in high-stakes, real-time decision-making. Drawing on recent advances in behavioral economics that revolve around inattention, cognition and complexity, we show that cognitive load influences how physicians in emergency departments allocate mental effort, attention, and make diagnostic and treatment decisions. We use quasi-random variation in patient-physician pairings, along with granular electronic medical record and audit-log data from many clinical interactions, to show that, under higher cognitive load, physicians substitute mental deliberation with more numerous but less precise diagnostic actions. Specifically, we document that higher load (i) increases the total number of orders of diagnostic tests, (ii) reduces the use of more precise and less common tests (iii) increases the use of common tests and (iv) increases uncertainty in diagnostic beliefs. We show that cognitive load impacts downstream inpatient admission from the emergency department: a physician in the highest cognitive load decile increases admissions by 28% relative to the same physician in the lowest cognitive load decile, for the exact same kind of patient. We also explore implications for policy, including how patient-physician matching might be improved by accounting for cognitive load profiles. These results offer novel field-based evidence on the dynamics of attention and belief formation, and shed light on how cognitive constraints shape diagnostic behavior in complex, real-world environments.

Amy Finkelstein, MIT, "Trading Goods for Lives: The Effect of NAFTA on Mortality"
2026-02-18 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
(with Matthew Notowidigdo and Steven Shi)
Biography: Amy Finkelstein is the John & Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the co-founder and co-Scientific Director of J-PAL North America, a research center at MIT that encourages and facilitates randomized evaluations of important domestic policy issues. She is also the co-Director of the Economics of Health Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research and was the founding Editor of American Economic Review: Insights.
Trading Goods for Lives: The Effect of NAFTA on Mortality
with Matthew Notowidigdo and Steven Shi
Abstract: We leverage spatial variation in exposure to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to examine its impact on mortality and explore quantitative implications for the welfare effects of NAFTA. Areas more exposed to Mexican import competition by NAFTA experienced larger increases in mortality. In the 14 years post-NAFTA, an area with average NAFTA exposure experienced an increase in annual, age adjusted mortality of 0.68 percent (standard error = 0.19). NAFTA-induced mortality increases are particularly pronounced among working-age men, a demographic that also experienced disproportionate NAFTA-induced employment declines. Comparisons with the mortality effects of other economic contractions suggest that, unlike declines in the non-manufacturing employment-to-population (EPOP) ratio which reduce mortality, declines in manufacturing EPOP consistently increase mortality.

Coffee and Conversation
2026-02-23 10:00 - 11:00 | CCPR Break Room
Join CCPR affiliates for coffee and bagels from Noah’s Bagels, and take the opportunity to get to know one another in a casual setting.
Coffee and Conversation is held Mondays at 10:00 AM in the CCPR Break Room.
This week’s session will be hosted by Professor Graeme Blair, who will be there to guide the conversation, share insights, and connect with attendees in an informal setting.

Developmental Seminar: Conducting Research with Vulnerable Populations
2026-02-25 12:00 - 13:15 | Room 4240A, 4th Floor, Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles Young Dr., LA, CA 90095
This multidisciplinary panel will address practical and ethical issues that arise when conducting research with vulnerable populations. Panelists will include CCPR affiliates Faith Deckard, Elizabeth Kim, Randall Kuhn, and Meredith Phillips.

A recording of this event can be found here.
