Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center

See the information below about the Innovative Research Project grants, BLCC Working Groups, and CITRA Pilot Studies grants.

The Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center (BLCC) and the Cornell Population Program (CPP) invite applications from Cornell faculty for an Innovative Research Project Award. The objectives of the Innovative Research Project program are:

• to promote collaborative, multidisciplinary research on life course, demography, family studies, and related policy topics, and
• to enhance the likelihood of investigators' achievement of external funding.

Center funds of up to $10,000 are available for faculty with an existing research proposal in hand or one already, or about to be, submitted to an external funding agency. The Innovative Research Project award can be used: (1) to support pilot/feasibility studies that render the larger proposal more competitive, (2) as a matching grant, or (3) as a means of beginning a proposed research program currently being evaluated by a government agency or private foundation.

Applications may be submitted by full-time university faculty and research associates across the university engaged in social science research (visiting scholars excluded). Multidisciplinary teams of investigators are especially encouraged to apply. The next application deadline is April 1, 2008.

For details on the award criteria and the application process, click here.

For more information, contact:

DANIEL T. LICHTER
Director, Bronfenbrenner Center
BLCC, Beebe Hall
254-8557
dtl28@cornell.edu
or
ELIZABETH PETERS
Director, Cornell Population Program
255-2595
ep22@cornell.edu

The 2007 BLCC Innovative Research Project Grant recipients are:

• Maternal Work Conditions and Child Well-Being, Rachel Dunifon, Policy Analysis & Management
• Healthcare Decision Making in the Elderly, Joseph Mikels, Human Development
• Stress, Working Memory, and Resilience in Later Life, Anthony Ong, Human Development
• Taking Community Action Against Pain, Cary Reid, Division of Geriatrics, Weill Medical College
• How Does New Medical Information Affect the Use of High-Risk Procedures? The Case of Birth Procedure Decisions, Kosali Simon, Policy Analysis & Management

Since Spring 1992, we have awarded 47 grants; 39 to faculty within the College and 8 to faculty from other Colleges. Of the 39 Human Ecology Faculty recipients, at least 20 subsequently received outside funding from a federal agency or foundation.

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BLCC working groups (WG) address key or emerging research topics related to its missions. These multi-disciplinary working groups reflect current faculty interests. Current WGs focus on obesity (coordinated by John Cawley, PAM), family and nutrition (Adryth Gillispie, Division of Nutrition), and work-family balance and time-use data from the newly available module in the CPS (Mildred Warner, City and Regional Planning). These WGs include faculty from several departments and colleges. Each has different goals and planned activities; however, each seeks to create an intellectual community, develop collaborative research projects, and attract external funding. Working groups receive up to $3,000 annually for two years.

A fourth working group on domestic and international migration (led by Mary Kritz in Development Sociology) is currently being formed. An organizational meeting was held in May 2007, with over 30 attendees representing faculty from the Law School, Human Ecology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences (especially government), and Industrial and Labor Relations.

WGs are funded throughout the academic year. Funding requests should be directed to:
Myra Sabir, Assistant Director, BLCC.