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NICHD-T32 Trainee Program

Social Environments and Population Health

The training program, funded by a T32 grant from the National Institutes of Health, provides multidisciplinary in-class training in population health issues for predoctoral students. It also provides mentored research and numerous professionalization activities, including colloquia, workshops, and support to attend conferences. For more information, see T32 predoctoral training activities 1-2024.

T32 Training Directors

Dr. John Iceland, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Demography (email: jdi10@psu.edu), and Jennifer Van Hook, Roy C. Buck Professor of Sociology and Demography (email: jxv21@psu.edu)

T32 Faculty

Most of the training faculty are drawn from five of the participating dual-title Demography programs: Sociology, Human Development and Family Studies, Anthropology, Rural Sociology, and Health Policy and Administration.

Current Trainees

T32 Postdoc:  Lauren Broyles (PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Penn State University, 2023)

T32 pre-doctoral trainees: 

  • Michael Caniglia, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Demography
  • Jorden Jackson, Ph.D. candidate in Rural Sociology and Demography
  • Arinala Randrianasolo, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Demography
  • Abbie Robinson, Ph.D. candidate in Rural Sociology and Demography
  • Anna Shetler, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Demography
Most recent T32 alumni

Postdoctoral scholars: Dr. Léa Pessin (ENSAE Paris, France), Cate McNamee (Queens University, Belfast, UK); Dr. Molly Dondero (American University), Dr. Cory Anderson, K99 award candidate.

Pre-doctoral trainees: Aarti Bhat (Ph.D. candidate, Penn State), Leslie Ford (Ph.D. candidate, Penn State), Kendell Lowry (Senior Data Analyst at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research), Lauren Newmeyer (Bowling Green State University), Megan Evans (Max Plank Institute), Jesse Smith (Assistant Professor of Sociology at Benedictine College), Jane Lankes Smith (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center), Brianne Pragg (Human Factors Engineer at Battelle), Cadhla McDonnell (Postdoctoral Fellow, Trinity College Dublin), Chanell Washington (U.S. Census Bureau), Lisa Boyd (Virginia Tech), Yeris Mayol-Garcia (U.S. Census Bureau), Aggie Yellow Horse (Arizona State University), Sarah Patterson (University of Michigan), Kyler Sherman-Wilkins (Missouri State University), and Ashley Larsen Gibby (Brigham Young University).

Application Process

The T32 training program is currently soliciting applications for predoctoral scholars with funding beginning in the Fall of 2024. Applications are due on February 23, 2024, and will be considered on a rolling basis. See the T32 application process for predoctoral students for more information.

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