Institute for Population Research

The Institute for Population Research is a multidisciplinary center, established in 2000 as the Initiative in Population Research with the goal of building excellence at Ohio State in population and health research.

IPR’s growth since 2006 has accelerated thanks to funds from the OSU Population and Health Targeted Investment in Excellence (TIE). In 2009, IPR received a highly-competitive five-year $2.2 million infrastructure award from the National Institutes of Health. 

In 2012, the OSU Faculty Senate approved IPR’s proposal to become a university center, and IPR was renamed Institute for Population Research.

The IPR also has many activities such as weekly seminars, methodological workshops, work groups of IPR affiliate members, and seed grants. The IPR also provides office space for graduate students in related programs.

Pathways into Program

The Ohio State University Institute for Poputation Research offers a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Demography (GISD). To apply, students must be currently enrolled in a graduate or professional program at Ohio State and successfully complete at least 10 but no more than 20 hours of graduate-level coursework.

The specialization consists of the following components:

  1. A required one-credit (1) hour core proseminar course. The proseminar will focus on demography and will be divided into two components.
    • First, a weekly one-hour class that focuses on a broad survey of the field of demography with a special emphasis on methods.
    • Second, immediately following the proseminar, students will attend the weekly IPR seminar. Each Tuesday IPR hosts a demography seminar that brings in speakers (both internal and external to the University) to present their recent population-related research. The seminar will expose GISD graduate students to cutting-edge demographic research methods.
  2. A required three-credit (3) hour course in Demographic Techniques (SOC 7884.13). A core component of demographic training is its methodological toolkit. This course will cover the materials and methods of fundamental demographic analysis.
  3. Electives will be drawn from existing courses offered across the University which contain significant demographic content and/or provide technical training that will advance research on demographic topics. These hours must include at least three different courses, and at least 9 hours must be from outside the home graduate program but may include cross-listed courses (cross-listed courses that comprise this 9 hours minimum must be enrolled in outside the home department).