Corey S. Sparks, Ph.D.

Corey S. Sparks

Professor, Department of Sociology and Demography · The University of Texas at San Antonio

I am a demographer and quantitative social scientist whose work sits at the intersection of population health, spatial analysis, and applied statistics. My research examines how demographic and contextual conditions shape human health, with particular attention to mortality, maternal and child health, food insecurity, and the geographic inequalities that structure these outcomes.

Methodologically, I work with large survey and administrative datasets and apply hierarchical, spatial, and Bayesian models, machine learning, and reproducible analytic workflows in R. I have published more than forty peer-reviewed articles across population health, spatial demography, and quantitative methods, and I teach graduate courses in statistical and spatial analysis for population science.

Research → Teaching → Google Scholar →

Research areas

Spatial demography and geographic inequality

I study how health, mortality, and social outcomes vary across place, using geospatial methods and spatial statistical models to analyze segregation, poverty, residential structure, and local clustering. This work emphasizes results that clarify where disparities concentrate and why.

Population health and mortality

Much of my research examines mortality, maternal health, substance use, and nutrition using large administrative and public health datasets, with a focus on which populations are most affected and how contextual conditions shape risk.

Statistical and predictive methods

I develop and apply hierarchical models, Bayesian estimation, forecasting, and machine learning to demographic problems, favoring methods that are transparent, reproducible, and interpretable.

Workforce and life-course demography

I also study longer-term trajectories, including labor market entry, cohort transitions, and social mobility, using longitudinal and cohort-based analytics to identify structural drivers and key inflection points.

Selected publications

  • Drug overdose mortality by race/ethnicity across US-born and immigrant populations (2022). Drug and Alcohol Dependence. DOI
  • Trends in Mortality Among Pregnant and Recently Pregnant Women in the US, 2015-2019 (2021). JAMA. DOI
  • Machine learning algorithms for predicting undernutrition among under-five children in Ethiopia (2021). Public Health Nutrition. DOI
  • Hierarchical forecasts of Diabetes mortality in Mexico by marginalization and sex (2021). EconoQuantum. DOI
  • Historic Roots of Modern Residential Segregation in San Antonio, Texas, 1910 and 2010 (2017). Urban Science. DOI

See the research page for publications organized by theme, or my Google Scholar profile for the full record.

Contact

I welcome inquiries from prospective students, collaborators, and colleagues.

Email: corey.sparks@utsa.edu
GitHub: github.com/coreysparks
Code and course materials: github.com/coreysparks?tab=repositories