"Biomedical researchers should change the way they use race and ethnicity in their research, says a new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, calling on researchers to scrutinize whether the use of race and ethnicity is appropriate at each stage of their work — and explain the scientific reasoning behind their decision in any publications.  
 
"Biomedical research spans human health and disease — from laboratory studies of animal tissue that improve our understanding of human biology, to clinical trials for new medical treatments. Race and ethnicity are used widely in biomedicine. However, the report says, racial and ethnic categories are often used inappropriately in biomedical research as proxies for biology — or as poor substitutes for factors such as genetics or environmental exposures — despite there being no genetic or biological basis for race. In some discrete cases, their use can be appropriate, for example in identifying health disparities."

Read the full media release here

Access the report here

ASA President Adia Harvey Wingfield  announced on November 1 the appointment of Dr. Heather Washington as Executive Director of the American Sociological Association. Heather has been serving as Interim Executive Director since May 2024. In August, the Finance Committee unanimously recommended Heather for appointment to Executive Director, and in October, ASA Council enthusiastically and unanimously voted to appoint her to the position.

Heather has been an integral part of ASA since 2021. She began her career at ASA as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), where she directed the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) and led efforts to advance ASA’s DEI goals. Most recently, Heather served as ASA Deputy Director, a role in which she continued to lead the association’s DEI efforts, while also serving as the principal investigator on two large grants: The National Science Foundation-funded ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant and the William T. Grant Foundation-funded project on recognizing and rewarding community-engaged scholarship in tenure and promotion.

Heather holds a PhD and MA in sociology from The Ohio State University. Prior to joining ASA staff, she was an associate professor of sociology with tenure and an accomplished researcher and teacher. Heather is a Fellow of the ASA MFP (Cohort 38), a recipient of the American Society of Criminology minority fellowship, and a graduate of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. In 2018, she was selected as an Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, a significant honor recognizing professors who have distinguished themselves in their various academic disciplines and who are working to make our society more equitable and just. 

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has put out a call for experts to participate in a study focused on increasing knowledge about barriers, solutions, and policies facing people with disabilities to advance a robust STEM workforce and STEM education workforce. NASEM staff is looking to build a team of approximately 12-16 volunteers whose tasks will include collecting information on potential speakers, participants, and peer reviewers for any publications regarding this study. NASEM is seeking experts in the following areas: disability studies, STEM career development, STEM and STEM education workforce, employment law, disability accommodations for academic and non-academic workplace environments, universal design, and STEM policy administration.

The full solicitation and description of qualifications can be found here. The deadline to submit recommendations is November 15.

Source: Consortium of Social Science Associations Washington Update, October 29, 2024

On October 15, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the newest class of National Science Board members, which includes sociologist and former White House official Alondra Nelson.

The National Science Board (NSB) is the policy-making body of the National Science Foundation (NSF) that also serves as an independent advisor to the President and Congress on federal science policy. The board consists of 24 members who serve staggered six-year terms and new members are appointed by the President.

Alondra Nelson is a sociologist who served as the first Deputy Director for Science and Society at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Biden Administration and was the first social scientist and woman of color to serve as interim OSTP Director. She left OSTP in 2023 and returned to academia at the Institute for Advanced Study. 

Source: Consortium of Social Science Associations Washington Update, October 29, 2024

The Center for Integrated Latent Variable Research (CILVR) at The University of Maryland is pleased to announce the following popular online short courses open to the public:

ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX SURVEY DATA (from NCES)
Dr. Laura Stapleton, University of Maryland
November 7-8, 2024

MULTILEVEL MODELING
Dr. Tracy Sweet, University of Maryland
December 12-13, 2024

For more information on the complete CILVR course catalog and to register, see the UMD Open Learning website.

"Loka Ashwood is a sociologist examining the intersection of environmental injustice, corporate and state power, and anti-government sentiment in American rural communities. Ashwood reveals how state support for some corporate interests can come at a high cost for rural residents. She draws from her own experience on her family’s farm and ethnographic research in rural communities facing ecological, economic, and social challenges. By analyzing specific local issues in the context of larger institutional structures, she sheds light on rural identity, culture, and politics."

See Ashwood's complete profile on the MacArthur Foundation website.

"Ruha Benjamin is a transdisciplinary scholar and writer illuminating how advances in science, medicine, and technology reflect and reproduce social inequality. By integrating critical analysis of innovation with attentiveness to the potential for positive change, Benjamin demonstrates the importance of imagination and grassroots activism in shaping social policies and cultural practices. In People’s Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier (2013), Benjamin examines the persistent gap between those who contribute to new medical technologies and those who actually benefit from them."

Read Benjamin's complete profile on the MacArthur Foundation website.

[Ed. note: This article was published in October 2022 but was recently reprinted by the Consortium of Social Science Associations. The study was based in Canada but provides useful lessons for US educators, as well.]

By Sandra Lapointe Ph.D. (McMaster University)

Future graduates face complex global challenges like climate change, as well as ethical, social and cultural implications of emerging new technologies like artificial intelligence.

The urgency of these challenges — and the complexity of skills and capabilities needed to address them — has prompted a revisiting of the role of social sciences and humanities programs in equipping students for civic engagement and as future leaders. 

[Read the complete article at The Conversation]

by John W. Curtis, DCSS Treasurer

I received an e-mail with the above subject line on October 2. The sending e-mail address shows a domain of "nihproposals.org" but the offer comes from a website of the "National Funding Foundation." (see a screenshot from the e-mail header below)

A quick visit to the "National Funding Foundation" website left me highly skeptical. I could not find the offered workshop listed and the "Foundation" does not list any staff. The overall look of the website seems much more spare than what I would expect from a legitimate organization.

A Google query led me to this entry from the Brown University IT Department, listing a similar e-mail from NFF in October 2023 under the heading of "phishing e-mail."

I would advise caution. If you have additional information or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at dcsociologicalsociety@gmail.com

Time is a health resource but critical gaps remain in understanding how time use is associated with health and well-being. The 2025 University of Maryland Time Use Conference theme is "Time Use as a Social Determinant of Health." They welcome abstract submissions on (a) innovative data, measures, and analyses of daily time use and health and well-being disparities; (b) time use and sleep; and (c) sedentary and physically active leisure across the life course; (d) variations in time-related health behaviors among children, adolescents, and parents; and (e) associations of daily time use behaviors, energy expenditures, and obesity. They also encourage research on other dimensions of time use as a social determinant of health.

The deadline to submit an abstract is now October 4, 2024. See complete details online.

The Joint Program in Survey Methodology offers a variety of short courses. Short courses are open to the public and admission to the University of Maryland is not required.

Short courses for 2024-2025 will be delivered online through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous instruction, with the exception of Introduction to Survey Sampling.

See the complete schedule, pricing, and registration links at the JPSM website.