Population Science Seminar Series

The BU Population Science Seminar Series (BU PopSci) is an interdisciplinary forum connecting established and emerging scholars in demography, population health, epidemiology, economics, and related fields.

About the Series

A Forum for Innovative Population Research

The Boston University Population Science Seminar Series (BU PopSci) brings together established and emerging scholars working across demography, population health, epidemiology, economics, and related fields. Each academic year, the series hosts 8–10 seminars that pair senior researchers with early-career faculty and postdoctoral scholars, creating a space where new ideas and methodological approaches can be shared and debated across disciplinary boundaries.

Speakers are drawn from universities and research institutions across the country and internationally, with a deliberate emphasis on representing diverse career stages, methodological traditions, and substantive interests. The series also serves as a meeting point for the BU research community, connecting faculty and students from across the university who share an interest in population science.

BU PopSci is a joint initiative of the Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS), College of Arts & Sciences (CAS), Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, the School of Law, and the School of Public Health. Members of the BU community and the broader academic public are welcome to attend. To receive regular announcements and invitations, please join our mailing list.

8–10
Seminars Per Year
4
Sponsoring Units
10
Faculty Affiliates
Hybrid
Access

Academic Year 2026–27

Seminar Schedule

Day & Time
Mondays, 12:00–1:15 pm
Format
In-person with hybrid access. Light refreshments provided.
Venue
Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS) Conference Room, 704 Commonwealth Avenue, 5th Floor, Boston
Date Speaker Topic / Notes
Sept. 14, 2026 Emma Zang, Associate Professor Tenure of Sociology and Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health
Oct. 19, 2026 Marcia Pescador Jimenez, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, BUSPH
Nov. 16, 2026 James Feigenbaum, Assistant Professor of Economics, Boston University College of Arts & Sciences
Dec. 7, 2026 Anna Aizer, Professor of Economics, Brown University
Jan. 25, 2027 Meghan Zacher, Assistant Professor of Population Studies, Brown University
Feb. 22, 2027 Anna Stansbury, Assistant Professor of Work and Organization Studies, MIT Sloan
Mar. 15, 2027 BU Lightning Round PAA Practice Talks — Population Association of America
Apr. 12, 2027 Mark Pachuki, Professor of Sociology, University of Massaschusetts Amherst
May 2027 To be announced

Series Leadership

Faculty Organizers

Co-Director

Deborah Carr

A&S Distinguished Professor of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences; Director, Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS)

Co-Director

Andrew C. Stokes

Associate Professor of Global Health & Sociology, School of Public Health

Neha Gondal

Associate Professor of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences; Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences

Benjamin David Pyle

Associate Professor of Law, School of Law

Linh Tô

Assistant Professor of Economics, College of Arts & Sciences

Administration

Alana Garrigues

Research Specialist, School of Public Health

Shannon Landis

Center Administrator, Center for Innovation in Social Science


Scholarly Community

Faculty Affiliates

Faculty from across the schools and colleges of Boston University whose research advances the population sciences.

Stacy Andersen

Co-Director, New England Centenarian Study; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Emelia Benjamin

Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, School of Public Health

Jacob Brown

Assistant Professor of Political Science, College of Arts & Sciences

Jack Dennerlein

Dean, Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences

Maria Glymour

Chair and Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health

Joshua Goodman

Associate Professor of Education, Wheelock College of Education & Human Development

Bronwyn Keefe

Assistant Dean & Associate Professor; Director, Center for Aging and Disability Education and Research (CADER), School of Social Work

Loretta Lees

A&S Distinguished Professor of Sociology; Director, Center for Innovation in Social Science; BU Initiative on Cities

Daniel Miller

Professor of Human Behavior, Social Work and Policy in the School of Social Work

Yannis Paschalidis

A&S Distinguished Professor in the College of Engineering; Director, Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering

Marcia I. Pescador Jimenez

Associate Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health

Christopher Robertson

Professor of Law, School of Law; Professor of Health Law, Policy & Management, School of Public Health

Jennifer Weuve

Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health

Faculty members engaged in population science research are invited to apply to become a Faculty Affiliate of the BU Population Science Seminar Series.

Institutional Support

Sponsors & Funders

The series is generously supported by the following Boston University schools and centers:

Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS) Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences School of Law School of Public Health

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