Maryland Population Research Center

 MPRC Leadership Team

The Maryland Population Research Center draws together leading scholars from diverse disciplines to support, produce and promote population-related research of the highest scientific merit.

Michael S. Rendall, Director

Dr. Rendall joined the University of Maryland in the fall of 2011, moving from the RAND Corporation where he was Senior Social Scientist, Director of the Population Research Center and Postdoctoral Program in Population Studies, and Associate Director of the Labor and Population Division. His methodological work has included evaluation of data quality in fertility, family structure, and international migration; elderly poverty measurement; new statistical methods for combining survey and population data; and new methods for the simulation of cohort lifetimes and population dynamics. His substantive work has included exploration of relationships of socio-economic inequality and social policy to fertility, household structure, and migration. His current research topics include migration between Mexico and the United States over the 1990s and 2000s, migration and social-demographic outcomes of New Orleanians following Hurricane Katrina, and modeling the development of obesity across U.S. childhoods.

Wade C. Jacobsen, Acting Associate Director

Wade C. Jacobsen is an associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland. His research examines how the development of risky behaviors in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood is shaped by interactions with institutions (e.g., schools, criminal legal system) and social networks. Most of his current research assesses the impacts of a youth’s experience with school discipline or criminal justice involvement on changes in their peer networks and risky behaviors. Dr.Jacobsen has been an active member of MPRC since 2017.

Susan W. Parker, Associate Director (on sabbatical)

Susan W. Parker is a professor in the School of Public Policy. Previously, she was a professor of economics at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City. Her research focuses principally on education and health in developing countries and in particular on the evaluation of programs and public policies. She has particular interest in the areas of conditional cash transfer programs and targeting. Her current projects include studying the causes and consequences of the rise in obesity in Mexico, the health impacts of public health insurance, and mobile banking in poor populations. Dr. Parker has been an active member of the MPRC community since her arrival at the University of Maryland in 2017.

Our Center is funded by an infrastructure grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Center funding is designed to support grant recipients in their research. Please get in touch if you have suggestions for activities that can better help you submit a successful grant application or that can support funded research.