Research

Population health, spatial demography, and applied statistics

Overview

My research program uses demographic and statistical methods to understand how population processes and geographic context shape human health and wellbeing. Three commitments run through this work: substantive questions about health and inequality, careful attention to spatial and multilevel structure in data, and a methodological preference for models that are transparent and reproducible. Most of my analysis is carried out in R, drawing on large survey and administrative datasets from sources such as the U.S. Census, the Demographic and Health Surveys, and vital statistics systems.

The full publication record is available on Google Scholar, and worked examples and course code are posted on RPubs and GitHub.

Research themes

Spatial demography and geographic inequality

I examine how mortality, poverty, and social outcomes cluster across places, using exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial regression to study residential segregation, poverty concentration, and local spatial dependence. This line of work includes both substantive studies of segregation and methodological contributions on measuring and modeling spatial structure in the social sciences.

Population health and mortality

I study mortality, maternal and child health, substance use, and nutrition, with attention to how contextual conditions and social position shape risk across populations. Recent work includes analyses of drug overdose mortality across US-born and immigrant groups and trends in maternal mortality in the United States.

Statistical and predictive methods

I develop and apply hierarchical and Bayesian models, small-area estimation, hierarchical forecasting, and machine learning to demographic and public health problems, including undernutrition prediction and mortality forecasting for resource allocation.

Workforce and life-course demography

I also study life-course and cohort dynamics, including how the timing of labor market entry shapes early-career trajectories, using longitudinal data to separate structural drivers from period shocks.

Publications by theme

The selected publications below are grouped by theme and listed most recent first.

  • Review of Guangqing Chi and Jun Zhu: Spatial Regression Models for the Social Sciences (2020). Spatial Demography. DOI
  • Historic Roots of Modern Residential Segregation in a Southwestern Metropolis: San Antonio, Texas in 1910 and 2010 (2017). Urban Science. DOI
  • Measuring Residential Segregation using R (2014). Spatial Demography. DOI
  • A Study of County Child Poverty Rates in Puerto Rico: Does Space Matter? (2013). Spatial Demography. DOI
  • Poverty segregation in nonmetro counties: A spatial exploration of segregation patterns in the US (2013). Spatial Demography. DOI
  • Spatial Analysis in R: Part 1 Getting data from the ACS into R and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (2013). Spatial Demography. DOI
  • Spatial analysis in R: Part 2 - Performing spatial regression modeling in R with ACS data. (2013). Spatial Demography. DOI
  • An application of Bayesian spatial statistical methods to the study of racial and poverty segregation and infant mortality rates in the US (2012). GeoJournal. DOI
  • An application of spatially autoregressive models to the study of US county mortality rates (2009). Population, Space and Place. DOI
  • Drug overdose mortality by race/ethnicity across US-born and immigrant populations (2022). Drug and Alcohol Dependence. DOI
  • How Does the Context of Reception Matter? The Role of Residential Enclaves in Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy Among Mexican-Origin Mothers (2015). Maternal and child health journal. DOI
  • Hierarchical forecasts of Diabetes mortality in Mexico by marginalization and sex to establish resource allocation (2021). EconoQuantum. DOI
  • Machine learning algorithms for predicting undernutrition among under-five children in Ethiopia (2021). Public Health Nutrition. DOI
  • Early-career trajectories of young workers in the U.S. in the context of the 2008–09 recession: The effect of labor market entry timing (2019). PLOS ONE. DOI
  • Trends in Mortality Among Pregnant and Recently Pregnant Women in the US, 2015-2019 (2021). JAMA. DOI
  • Population Research Briefs in Population Research and Policy Review (2019). Population Research and Policy Review. DOI
  • Sexual Harassment in the Military: Individual Experiences, Demographics, and Organizational Contexts (2017). Armed Forces & Society. DOI
  • An examination of disparities in cancer incidence in Texas using Bayesian random coefficient models (2015). DOI
  • Racial segregation and maternal smoking during pregnancy: A multilevel analysis using the racial segregation interaction index (2014). Social Science & Medicine. DOI
  • Texas Latino Prison Gangs: An Exploration of Generational Shift and Rebellion (2014). The Prison Journal. DOI
  • Decomposing Kenyan socio-economic inequalities in skilled birth attendance and measles immunization (2013). Int J Equity Health. DOI
  • Infant mortality and intra‐household competition in the Northern Islands of Orkney, Scotland, 1855–2001 (2013). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. DOI
  • County-level poverty estimates for the contiguous United States, 2001, 2005 (2012). Journal of Maps. DOI
  • Socioeconomic position, rural residence, and marginality influences on obesity status in the adult Mexican population (2012). International Journal of Population Research. DOI
  • Violent crime in San Antonio, Texas: An application of spatial epidemiological methods (2011). Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology. DOI
  • Parental investment and socioeconomic status influences on children’s height in Honduras: An analysis of national data (2010). American Journal of Human Biology. DOI
  • An application of the variable-r method to subpopulation growth rates in a 19th century agricultural population (2009). Demographic Research. DOI
  • Life histories, blood revenge, and reproductive success among the Waorani of Ecuador (2009). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI
  • Understanding Carpool Use by Hispanics in Texas (2009). Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. DOI
  • Changing Times, Changing Faces: Franz Boas’s Immigrant Study in Modern Perspective (2003). American Anthropologist. DOI
  • Cranial Modification Among 19 th Century Osages: Admixture and Loss of an Ethnic Marker (2003). The Plains Anthropologist. DOI
  • A reassessment of human cranial plasticity: Boas revisited (2002). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI

Selected earlier work in biological and historical demography, including studies of the Boas cranial plasticity data and reproductive success among the Waorani, appears in the final tab above.