The annual Integrating Genetics and the Social Sciences (IGSS) conference showcases behavioral and molecular genetic studies that enhance demographic and social scientific inquiry and integrate genetics and the social sciences. The conference is co-organized by Jason Fletcher, CDHA director, and Jason Boardman, director of the Health & Society Program at the University of Colorado Boulder, and receives R13 funding from the National Institute on Aging.
In October 2021, ten CDHA affiliates, including seven graduate students, who conduct research in the biological and social sciences gathered in Boulder or virtually to present new work. Videos from CDHA presenters Jerome Choi, Shiro Furuya, Julia Goodwin, Qiongshi Lu, Kristen Malecki, Lauren Schmitz, Michael Topping, Eva Vasiljevic, Yuexuan Xu, and Boyan Zheng can be found on our YouTube playlist.
In November 2021, BRIDGE, or BRInging Data on Genetics to Economics, hosted the conference Frontiers in Economic Analysis with Genetic Data. Co-sponsored by CDHA, the Initiative in Social Genomics, the Center for the Economics of Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Chicago, and the La Follette School of Public Affairs’ Kohl Initiative, the event spanned two days at UW’s Discovery Building.
Jason Fletcher, Nicholas Papageorge (Johns Hopkins), Victor Ronda (University of Chicago), Lauren Schmitz (CDHA; La Follette School of Public Affairs), and Kevin Thom (UW–Milwaukee) organized the event. The conference brought together economists from across the US interested in the potential for genetic data to contribute to broad, long-standing questions in economics. Funding for the conference came from the National Institute on Aging as the funder of the Research Network on the Determinants of Life Course Capabilities and Outcomes.