Musick

As new director of the Cornell Population Center, sociologist and demographer Kelly Musick hopes to grow the center’s reputation as a hub for social science research and training in core disciplines across the university.

Musick, associate professor of policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology, has been appointed to a five-year term, succeeding Daniel Lichter, the Ferris Family Professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management, who became director of the Institute for Social Sciences last fall.

With 115 faculty and research associate affiliates, CPC brings together scholars in four core areas: families and children, health behaviors and disparities, poverty and inequality, and immigration and diversity. It frequently hosts visiting researchers and lecturers from top national and international institutions and offers grants and research support across fields including economics, policy, planning and sociology. Through CPC, undergrad and graduate students also receive training in cutting-edge population topics and methods of data analysis, and find faculty mentors to support their interests.

“The Population Center serves as a critical bridge for population scientists across the Cornell campus,” said Musick. “I’m excited to build on CPC’s areas of excellence, including innovative uses of data to examine critical policy issues, a unique emphasis on translation and attention to undergraduate training. I’m eager to further develop our graduate population training program, strengthen growing ties to the international population community in research and training, and expand support for affiliates interested in pursuing external funding.”

Musick has served as a CPC faculty affiliate since 2008, including eight months as acting director in 2013. Her research focuses on family change and social inequality. In 2014-15, Musick was a visiting researcher at the Stockholm University Linnaeus Center on Social Policy and Family Dynamics in Europe, where she continues to be involved as an international collaborator. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Russell Sage Foundation and the Swedish Research Council.

“Kelly brings a wealth of research experience to this leadership role, and under her guidance I am confident that the CPC will continue to thrive as a hub for social scientists with an interest in population and demography across Cornell,” said Alan Mathios, the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology. “I am grateful to Dan Lichter for his expert guidance of the center since 2011. Under his leadership, it has grown in size and stature and fostered a great deal of interdisciplinary population and demography work.”