Three sociology and demography graduate students at Penn State recently participated in a program designed to provide policy communication training to doctoral students attending universities in the U.S.
The Population Reference Bureau’s U.S. Policy Communications Training Program consists of a week-long workshop in Washington, DC that focuses on the role of research in the U.S. policy process, and on techniques for effective communication of research findings to U.S. decision makers, media, and nontechnical audiences. Additionally, attendees apply the lessons learned at the workshop to prepare two policy communication materials based on their dissertations or related research topics during the following academic year.
The three participants from Penn State were:
Anne DeLessio-Parson
DeLessio-Parson is a doctoral candidate in sociology and demography researching plant-based eating practices as embedded in social networks, the connections with population health, and gender in India and Argentina. DeLessio-Parson also has interests in dietary change and migration, survey methodology, and mixed methods. With a background in political science and rural sociology, she works to ensure a social justice framework undergirds her teaching and research.
Kyler Sherman-Wilkins
Sherman-Wilkins is a doctoral candidate in sociology and demography with a primary scholarly focus on the social determinants of physical, mental, and cognitive health over the life span. His research stems from his desire to better understand how the social environment and social institutions shape individuals' health and aging trajectories from birth until death. In addition to research, Sherman-Wilkins has an interest in U.S. aging and health policy and is excited for the opportunity to learn how to engage with policymakers as well as disseminate his research to a broader audience
Yeris Mayol-Garcia
Mayol-Garcia is a doctoral candidate in the sociology and demography who conducts research oriented towards furthering our collective understanding of immigrants and their families. A primary focus of her work is studying the role of migration in the developmental and socioeconomic outcomes of Latin American immigrants and their families across several stages in the life course, including childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. She focuses on origin and destination communities to provide a binational perspective on her research. She previously worked as an applied statistician demographer at the U.S. Census Bureau for two years. There, she enhanced her quantitative and teamwork skills, attention to detail, and developed a population perspective. Thus, she combines her interdisciplinary and quantitative training to tackle questions related to migration and family. Her ultimate research goal is to provide quality information to policymakers, intervention program developers, service providers, parents, and scholars to improve the experiences of migrants and their families around the world.
The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — National Institutes of Health (NIH) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).