Program on Applied Demographics

December 2008

NEW LEADERSHIP at PAD: Continuity maintained, Perspective expanded.

Dr. Warren A. Brown is leaving Cornell University and has accepted a faculty position with the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Warren will be directing the Vinson Institute's new Applied Demography Program. He will be responsible for demographic analysis and outreach to Georgia's state and local governments. Among his activities and achievements during his 30 year career at Cornell University are the initiation and Directorship of the Program on Applied Demographics. In addition, he has represented New York State in the US Census Bureau’s Federal-State Cooperatives for Population Estimates and Projections. We wish Warren the best in his new position.

Dr. Joe D. Francis, Associate Professor of Development Sociology, will be the new director of the Program on Applied Demographics.  Dr. Francis brings long time career interests and experience in Census data, survey research, economic development, applied work on land use, and specialty agriculture production and marketing to this position. His teaching concentrations are in research methods and statistics and Geographic Information Systems/spatial statistics.  Joe’s relevant background and experience will enhance the current work of PAD as he oversees delivery of current obligations to New York State and the US Census Bureau and implements new directions incorporating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to display demographic patterns.  The Program on Applied Demographics looks forward to this new leadership and direction.

Jan K. Vink, Research Support Specialist at PAD, will be the  New York State representative in the US Census Bureau’s Federal-State Cooperatives for Population Estimates and Projections. He has been a member of the Program of Applied Demographics for 5 years and has advanced skills in statistics, computer programming and data analysis. Jan has represented New York State at Cooperative meetings on a number of occasions in the past.

March 20, 2008. PAD's Warren Brown and Jan Vink prepared a commentary on the Vintage 2007 Population Estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, especially as these relate to New York State, its counties and economic development regions. The commentary includes comments on the use of these estimates in looking at population trends and the components of change. A graph and tables illustrate points made in the commentary.
Data web pages on this web site are also updated to include the latest U.S. Census Bureau county population estimates. See the newest county profiles here and the newest maps here.

December 2007.  The Program on Applied Demographics moved from the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER) to the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center in the College of Human Ecology.  PAD is now located on the second floor of Beebe Hall on the Cornell campus.

May 2007.  PAD's Warren Brown and Jan Vink prepared a commentary on the Vintage 2006 Population Estimates, especially as these relate to New York State and its counties.  The commentary includes comments on the use of these estimates in looking at population trends, a brief record of growth in economic development regions and gain and loss in county populations, and a description of an alternative methodology used in challenging the Census Bureau's estimates for some New York State counties.  A graph and table illustrate points made in the commentary.

April 5, 2007.  The U.S. Census Bureau released population estimates Vintage 2006.  Information about population estimates as well as specific datasets, from national to subcounty level, are available.

September 6, 2006.  Dr. Warren Brown, Program Director for the Program on Applied Demographics and Research Director of the New York Census Research Data Center, testified at a hearing of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census on September 6, 2006 in Washington, DC.  The subject is "2 Plus 2 Should Never Equal 3: Getting Intercensal Population Estimates Right the First Time."  Because of the importance of the Intercensal Estimates in determining allocations of hundreds of billions of federal dollars, the hearing focused on:

• whether the Bureau's methodology results in reasonably accurate estimates and equitable allocation of federal grants
• the importance of accuracy
• opportunities for improving the estimates
• whether the Bureau's challenge process is transparent, fair and takes into account a community's ability of challenge
• whether the Bureau strives to continuously improve the estimates

Others testifying were Dr. Louis Kincannon, Director of the U. S. Census Bureau, Dr. David Swanson, Director of the State Data Center of Mississippi and professor at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Joy Phillips, Associate Director of the Washington, DC Data Center, and Ken Hodges, Assistant Vice President and Chief Demographer for Claritas, Inc.