Sneha Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University. She is a social demographer who studies the determinants and consequences of global family change. Her research focuses on understanding how/why family dynamics are changing across the Global South, and what these changes mean for the health and wellbeing of aging individuals and young adults. Prior to coming to Northwestern, Sneha was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin with the DZC project. She holds a PhD in Development Sociology with a concentration in Population and Development from Cornell University. Sneha is a co-investigator for the DZC Project.
Alexandre Gori Maia (PhD in Economics, UNICAMP) is a Full Professor at the Economics Institute of the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil). He works with applied econometrics and development economics, focusing on demographic economics, well-being and poverty, health and inequality, and the impacts of social and environmental change in Brazil. Notably, he contributes as a co-investigator for the DZC project. His recent research endeavors encompass a diverse spectrum, including the interconnections between demography, health, and the economy in collaboration with the University of Texas – Austin and Columbia University. Additionally, he has been actively engaged in evaluating climate resilience strategies for family farming alongside the Adapt Group and the University of California – San Diego. Furthermore, his work delves into the impacts of land-use changes and agroforestry, with ongoing partnerships with Virginia Tech and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation. Gori is a co-investigator for the DZC Project.
Raquel Zanatta Coutinho (Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is an associate professor in the Demography Department at Cedeplar/UFMG. Dr. Coutinho holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master’s degree in Demography from the Center for Regional Development and Planning at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Cedeplar/UFMG), where she was also a Postdoctoral Fellow (Capes). Her research areas include sexual and reproductive health, with a focus on maternal health, as well as the contextual and inequality factors that mediate the relationship between reproductive intentions and outcomes. Currently, she is leading the Extension Project “Sentidos do Nascer” (UFMG/FACE). Raquel is a co-investigator for the DZC Project.
Jenny Trinitapoli (Ph.D. in Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin) is the director of the Center for International Social Science Research at the University of Chicago. Her work bridges the fields of social demography and the sociology of religion. She has written extensively about the role of religion in the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2008, she has been the principal investigator of Tsogolo la Thanzi, an ongoing longitudinal study of young adults in Malawi, which asks how young adults negotiate relationships, sex, and childbearing in the midst of a severe AIDS epidemic. Trinitapoli is the author of An Epidemic of Uncertainty (University of Chicago Press, 2023) and co-author of Religion and AIDS in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2012). Jenny is a co-investigator for the DZC Project.
Sandra Valongueiro Alves (Ph.D. in Demography, University of Texas at Austin) is a medical doctor from the State University of Pernambuco (UPE). Dr. Valongueiro Alves also has a M.A. in demography from the Federal University of Minas Gerais – UFMG. She has been a researcher at the Graduate Program in Public Health at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, since 2006. Dr. Valongueiro Alves has worked in public health, focusing on maternal mortality and abortion, gender-based violence, reproductive health, and information on mortality. Currently, Dr. Valongueiro Alves is involved with MERG (Microcephaly Epidemic Research Group). She is also a member of the Maternal Mortality Committee of Pernambuco. Sandra is a collaborator for the DZC Project.
Raphael Nishimura (Ph.D. in Survey Methodology, University of Michigan) is the Director of Sampling Operations of the Survey Research Operations (SRO) within the Survey Research Center (SRC) at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR). He has been working with sampling and survey statistics for over ten years. His main research interest includes sampling methods, survey nonresponse and adaptive/responsive designs. He is also the director of the Sampling Program for Survey Statisticians of the SRC Summer Institute for Survey Research Techniques. Raphael is a collaborator for the DZC Project.
Brooke Whitfield is a Ph.D. student in the department of Sociology with a specialization in Demography at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on sexual and reproductive health, contraception and abortion access, and sexual behaviors and attitudes. Prior to starting her graduate studies, Brooke worked as a research analyst at Child Trends conducting both quantitative and qualitative research across several randomized control trial evaluations of teen pregnancy prevention programs. She received her B.A. in Global Health and Public Policy from Duke University. Brooke is a Research Assistant for the DZC Project.
Mohammad Al-Abbas is a Ph.D. Student of Demography at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering a Master of Arts in International Affairs at the Lebanese American University. With a multidisciplinary background, Mohammad frequently utilizes engineering and programming techniques to tackle social science issues. He has engaged and published in diverse research topics, including engineering education, technology ethics, science diplomacy, policy design, public health, and most recently, migration. He hopes to contribute to the literature on the effects of climate change and environmental degradation and work towards more inclusive policies that increase regional, national, and international protections for environmental migrants to meet the climate change challenges of the 21st century. Mohammad is a Research Assistant for the DZC Project.
José Henrique Costa Monteiro da Silva is a PhD student in Demography at the University of Pennsylvania. He was born in Brasília, Brazil and he holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and a M.Sc. in Demography from the University of Campinas, Brazil. Before joining the Graduate Group in Demography at UPenn, José worked at the International Policy Centre for the Inclusive Growth, an institution founded from a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Brazil and at the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Centre (CELADE), the population division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. He is interested in formal demography and in the application and assessment of indirect methods for demographic estimation in countries with poor quality data. José is a Research Assistant for the DZC Project.