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CPC Postdoctoral Scholars

Academic Year 2007-08
Janel Benson, Ph.D.
Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, 2006
Email: jlbenson@email.unc.edu

Phone: (919) 843-0827
207 CPC South 		Janel Benson
Research focus:
Adolescent and young adult development; life course processes; identity development; mixed methods
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Glen Elder, Sociology

 
Selected recent publication(s):
Benson, Janel. Forthcoming. "Make New Friends But Keep the Old: Peers and the Transition to College." Advances in Life Course Research: Interpersonal Relations across the Life Course 12.

Benson, Janel and Frank F. Furstenberg. 2007. "Entry into Adulthood: Are Adult Role Transitions Meaningful Markers of Adult Identity?" Advances in Life Course Research: Constructing Adulthood: Agency and Subjectivity in the Life Course 11: 199-224.

Benson, Janel. 2006. "Exploring the Racial Identity of Foreign-Born Blacks in the United States." Sociological Forum 21:(2) 219-247.

Sarah Brauner-Otto, Ph.D.
Sociology, University of Michigan, 2007
Email: sbotto@email.unc.edu
Phone: (919) 843-6859
306B CPC East		 Sarah Brauner-Otto
Research focus:
Family demography in Nepal and in the US; new conceptualizations of social context
CPC Faculty Preceptors: Drs. Lisa Pearce , Sociology and Ronald Rindfuss, Sociology

 
Selected recent publications:
Brauner-Otto, Sarah R., William G. Axinn, and Dirgha J. Ghimire. (2007) "The Spread of Health Services and Fertility Transition." Demography 44(4): 747-70.

Amy Burdette, Ph.D.
Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, 2007
Email: burdamy@email.unc.edu

Phone: (919) 966-0368
401A CPC East 		Amy Burdette
Research focus:
Individual and contextual determinants of mental/physical health, health behaviors, and health related attitudes; religious variations in health and family life - particularly among racial/ethnic minorities and disadvantaged populations
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Glen Elder, Sociology

 
Selected recent publications:
Burdette, Amy M., Christopher G. Ellison, Darren Sherkat and Kurt Gore. (2007). "Are there Religious Variations in Marital Infidelity?" Journal of Family Issues 28(12):1553-1581.

Hill, Terrence D., Amy Burdette, Christopher Ellison, and Marc Musick. Forthcoming. "RAPID COMMUNICATIONS: Religious Involvement and Healthy Lifestyles: Evidence from the Survey of Texas Adults." Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Hill, Terrence D., Amy Burdette, Mark Regnerus, and Ronald Angel. Forthcoming. "Religious Involvement and Attitudes toward Parenting among Low-income Urban Women." Journal of Family Issues.

Hill, Terrence D., Christopher G. Ellison, Amy M. Burdette, and Marc A. Musick. 2006."Religious Attendance and the Health Behaviors of Texas Adults." Preventive Medicine 42: 309 312.

Regnerus, Mark and Amy M. Burdette. 2006. "Religious Change and Adolescent Family Dynamics" Sociological Quarterly 47:(1) 175-194.

Hill, Terrence D., Amy M. Burdette, Jacqueline L. Angel, and Ronald J. Angel. 2006. "Religious Attendance and Cognitive Functioning among Older Mexican Americans" Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences 61B:P3-P9.

Burdette, Amy M., Christopher Ellison and Terrence Hill. 2005. "Conservative Protestantism and Tolerance Toward Homosexuals: An Examination of Potential Mechanisms" Sociological Inquiry 75:(2) 177-196.

Burdette, Amy M., Terrence Hill and Benjamin Moulton. 2005. "Religion and attitudes toward Physician-Assisted Suicide and Terminal Palliative Care." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44:(1) 79-93.

Felicia Yang DeLeone, Ph.D.
Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University, 2008
Email: felicia.deleone@unc.edu

Phone: (919) 843-5548
302E CPC EAST 		Felicia DeLeone
Research focus:
Immigrant health outcomes during the transition to adulthood
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Kathleen Mullan Harris, Sociology

 
Kathryn Henderson, Ph.D.
Sociology, Indiana University, 2005
Email: kahender@email.unc.edu


Kathryn Henderson
Research focus:
Social stratification, with a focus on gender, family, and work, throughout the life course
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Glen Elder, Sociology

 
Kris Marsh, Ph.D.
Sociology, University of Southern California, 2005
Email: marshk@unc.edu

Phone: (919) 966-2154
501 CPC East		 Kris Marsh
Research focus:
Social demography of black household types, especially of black non-family households and the black middle class; spatial analysis of blacks in urban communities; the mental well-being of black middle class adults and adolescents
CPC Faculty Preceptors: Drs. William Darity, Economics and Philip Cohen, Sociology

Selected recent publications:
Marsh, Kris, William A. Darity, Jr., Philip N. Cohen, Lynne M. Casper and Danielle Salters. Forthcoming. "The Emerging Black Middle Class: Single and Living Alone." Social Forces

Marsh, Kris. Forthcoming. "Black Middle Class in the United States and South Africa." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences

Dickson, Lynda and Kris Marsh. Forthcoming. "The Love Jones Cohort: The New Face of the Black Middle Class?" Black Women, Gender & Families

Robert Mswia, Ph.D.
Demography, University of Pennsylvania, 2006
Email: rmswia@email.unc.edu

Phone: (919) 843-6269
305F CPC East		 Robert Mswia
Research focus:
Methods and measures of mortality in the era of HIV/AIDS: estimation models and projection techniques
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Philip Setel, Epidemiology
Lisa Sacco, Ph.D.
International Nutrition, Johns Hopkins University, 2003
Email: sacco@email.unc.edu
 Non-resident

 Lisa Sacco
Research focus:
The associations between maternal-infant interaction, infant feeding, nutritional status and development
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Margaret Bentley, Nutrition
William Sambisa, Ph.D.
Demography and Rural Sociology
The Pennsylvania State University, 2006
Email: wsambisa@unc.edu

Phone:(919) 966-5969
502 CPC East		 William Sambisa
Research focus:
Adolescent health and patterns of sexual risk behavior and their consequences in an international context
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Sian Curtis, Maternal and Child Health
Mary Shenk, Ph.D.
Anthropology, University of Washington, 2005
Email: mshenk@unc.edu
Mary Shenk
Research focus:
Human behavioral ecology; microeconomic modeling; human marriage and family systems; demographic transition; inheritance and property transfer systems; South Asia, especially India
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Paul Leslie, Anthropology
Select recent publications:

Shenk, Mary. 2005. "Kin Networks in Wage-Labor Economies: Effects on Child and Marriage Market Outcomes." Human Nature 16(1):81-113.

Shenk, Mary. "Embodied Capital and Heritable Wealth in Complex Cultures: A Class-Based Analysis of Parental Investment in Urban South India." Research in Economic Anthropology 23(2004): 307-333.
Naomi Spence, Ph.D.
Sociology, The Florida State University, 2006
Email: spencen@email.unc.edu

Phone: (919) 966-5891
401G CPC East		 Naomi Spence
Research focus:
Social demography with a focus on fertility as it relates to mortality and immigrant status; life course processes, gender, and race/ethnicity as determinants and mediators of health disparities
CPC Faculty Preceptors: Drs. Glen Elder, Sociology and Jon Hussey, Maternal and Child Health
Tirzah Spencer, Ph.D.
Biobehavioral Health
The Pennsylvania State University, 2003
Email: tirzah@email.unc.edu

Phone: (919) 843-4442
402A East		 Tirzah Spencer
Research focus:
Sociodemographic and environmental determinants of physical activity and obesity among African American and Latino children and adolescents; maturation, culture, obesity intervention design, and health disparities
CPC Faculty Preceptor: Dr. Barry Popkin, Nutrition
Selected recent publications:
Alhassan, S., Sirard, J., Spencer, T., and Robinson, T. (In Press). "Estimating Physical Activity from Incomplete Accelerometer Data in Field Studies" Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Jack Jr., L., Liburd, L., Spencer, T. and Airhihenbuwa, CO. 2004. "Understanding the Environmental Issues in Diabetes Self-management Education Research: A Re-examination of Eight Studies in Community-based Settings" Annals of Internal Medicine 140:(11) 964 - 971.

Miles Taylor, Ph.D.
Sociology, Duke University, 2005
Email: mtaylor@unc.edu

Phone: (919) 843-4757
302C CPC East		 Miles Taylor
Research focus:
Disability trajectories among older adults, including medical and social causes and mediators, life course processes and health, social epidemiology, and health disparities
CPC Faculty Preceptors: Dr. Glen Elder, Sociology and Dr. Peter Uhlenberg, Sociology

Selected recent publications:

Taylor, Miles G. Forthcoming. "Timing, Accumulation, and the Black/White Disability Gap in Later Life: A Test of Weathering." Research on Aging: Special Issue.

Lynch, Scott M., J. Scott Brown and Miles G. Taylor. Forthcoming. "The Demography of Disability." International Handbook of the Demography of Aging. (Springer-Verlag).

Quesnel-Vallée, A. and Miles Taylor. 2006. "Pathways from Parental Education to Adult Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms." American Journal of Epidemiology. 163 (Suppl):S70.

Morgan, S. Philip and Miles G. Taylor. 2006 "Low Fertility at the Turn of the 21st Century." Annual Review of Sociology, 32, 375-399.

Taylor, Miles G. and Scott M. Lynch. 2004. "Trajectories of Impairment, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms in Later Life." Journals of Gerontology Series: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59(4): S238-S246.

Corder, Elizabeth H., Estifanos Ghebremedhin, Miles G. Taylor, Dietmar R. Thal, Thomas G. Ohm, and Heiko Braak. 2004. "The Biphasic Relationship between Regional Brain Senile Plaque and Neurofibrillary Tangle Distributions: Modification by Age, Sex, and APOE Polymorphism." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1019, 24-28.

Shapiro, Adam and Miles Taylor. 2002. "Effects of a Community-Based Early Intervention Program on the Subjective Well-Being, Institutionalization, and Mortality of Low-Income Elders." The Gerontologist 42:334-341.
Amanda Thompson, Ph.D.
Anthropology, Emory University, 2007
Email: althomps@email.unc.edu

Phone: (919) 843-6255
403C CPC East		 Amanda Thompson
Research focus:
Infant feeding, early life influences on body composition and obesity, and biological and cultural influences on infant growth and hormonal development
CPC Faculty Preceptors: Drs. Linda Adair , Nutrition and Margaret Bentley , Nutrition

 
Selected recent publications:

Lampl M and AL Thompson (in press) "Growth chart curves do not describe individual growth biology." American Journal of Human Biology.

Thompson, Amanda L., Turner, Bethany L. (2007) "Recruiting undergraduates to biological anthropology: Using PBL/ICBL as gateways." Anthropology News 48(4).

Lampl M, AL Thompson, and EA Frongillo (2005) "Sex differences in the relationships among weight gain, subcutaneous skinfolds and salutatory length growth spurts in infancy." Pediatric Research. 58(6): 1238-1242.

Sellen, D, AL Thompson, D Hruschka, A Stein, and R Martorell (2005) "Early determinant of non-exclusive breast feeding among Guatemalan infants." Protecting Infants through Human Milk: Advancing the Scientific Evidence Base. L.K. Pickering, A.L. Morrow, R.J. Schanler, G.M. Ruiz-Palacios, eds. New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.