About Us

The Center for Demography and Ecology (CDE) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is a multi-disciplinary cooperative for demographic research and graduate training in the social sciences. Since its founding in 1962, CDE has been a leader in the field of demography as demonstrated by its high levels of scholarly productivity and rigorous graduate training program. The center receives generous support from university, nonprofit, and federal sources, including two major grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: a center grant (P2C HD047873) and a T32 training grant (T32 HD007014).

Home to over 80 faculty affiliates from departments and schools across campus—including sociology, public affairs, economics, and population health sciences—CDE is a hub for population research. This interdisciplinary environment at CDE, including our weekly Demography Seminar (DemSem), encourages affiliates to develop new collaborative research efforts to answer innovative questions in population science.

Our affiliates are engaged in research projects that tackle some of the most pressing social, economic, and public health issues of today. Affiliates receive funding for these projects from a variety of federal, state, foundation, and University sources, and, over the past five years, have secured nearly 19 million dollars for research.

Our training program includes more than 45 doctoral students from departments across the UW–Madison campus. Students complete courses and seminars in demography, work closely with faculty mentors on research, and participate in the weekly Demography Training Seminar.

CDE is organized around three cores that structure and support its activities–Administrative, Developmental, and Scientific and Technical. To help manage funding awards and research projects, CDE affiliates and students enjoy access to services and resources tailored specifically to social scientists. Staff in the Social Sciences Research Services help prepare, submit, and manage grant applications, provide budgeting assistance, and negotiate contracts stemming from grant awards. Other center resources include computing and statistical support made possible by the Social Science Computing Cooperative. CDE also enjoys a close collaboration with the Center for Demography of Health and Aging, which co-sponsors the weekly Demography Training Seminar.

The center’s leadership and dedicated staff help ensure that CDE is poised to play an integral role in extending population science in new directions. Please explore our site at your leisure to learn more about the exciting research and training happening at CDE.