CESR Seminar and Brown Bag Series
For more information on the seminar presentations, or if you would like to attend the presentation, or to meet with any of the speakers, please contact Dan Bennett or Dan Silver.
For more information on the brown bag presentations, or if you would like to attend the presentation or be added to our list for announcements, please contact Michele Warnock.
CESR Seminar and Brown Bag Series
The CESR Seminar and Brown Bag Series for Fall 2025 will run September 8 through December 15, 2025.
Mondays
12pm – 1pm
VPD and Zoom
David Houston | George Mason University
Monday, December 8
12pm – 1pm
VPD 203 and Zoom
Abstract: This presentation draws from a book-length project on the causes and consequences of rising partisan conflict in K-12 education politics. My interest is less in the specific policy battles and political personalities of the day and more about the long-term transformations in American politics and school governance that have made K–12 education more susceptible to disputes that cut along party lines. I argue that our contemporary clashes over issues like pandemic-era school closures, systemic racism, and the rights of gay and transgender students are downstream of these larger structural changes. To be clear, political conflict over education is unavoidable in a large, complex, and diverse society. However, the contemporary American system of government has struggled to accommodate an increasingly partisan politics of education, resulting in less frequent federal legislation, greater reliance on executive action, increasing policy divergence between states along party lines, and heightened animosity across the political landscape.
Bio: David M. Houston is an Assistant Professor of Education in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. He is also the academic program coordinator of the Education Policy program, the director of EdPolicyForward: The Center for Education Policy, and a university affiliate faculty in the Schar School of Policy and Government. Prof. Houston studies K-12 education politics, governance, and public opinion. His research has appeared in academic outlets such as the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and the Harvard Educational Review. It has also been featured in media outlets such as Chalkbeat, Education Week, The 74 Million, and Vox. This work has been supported by the Fordham Institute, the Hewlett Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, and the W. T. Grant Foundation. Prior to his position at Mason, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. He earned his Ph.D. in Politics and Education from Columbia University, where he studied in both the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis at Teachers College and the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Arts and Science. Before pursuing his doctorate, he taught first and second grade in New York City.
Diana Foster | University of California, San Francisco
Monday, December 15
12pm – 1pm
VPD 203 and Zoom
Abstract: In recent years, access to abortion in the United States has shifted dramatically—shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic and the June 2022 Supreme Court decision that ended federal protections for abortion. For some, these changes have made abortion more accessible and affordable; for others, legal access has become nearly impossible. This talk explores the emerging landscape of abortion access and costs—what it takes to obtain an abortion today and the economic consequences for those who are unable to end an unwanted pregnancy.
Bio: Diana Greene Foster, PhD, is a demographer and professor at the University of California, San Francisco. She led the United States Turnaway Study, a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of the health and well-being of women who seek abortion including both women who do and do not receive the abortion. She is leading a study of the health, legal and economic consequences of the end of Roe in the United States and a Turnaway Study in Nepal. She was named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow and is the author of over 130 scientific papers as well as the 2020 book, The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women and the Consequences of Having – or Being Denied – an Abortion.
Social-Science Genetics Seminars
Peter Visscher | Oxford
Thursday, December 4
9am – 10am
Zoom (See email for Zoom link)
Abstract: In admixed populations, ancestry proportions can be estimated with genetic data, and such proportions can be associated with complex traits. The estimated effects in this design are a combination of “direct” genetic effects and “indirect” environmental effects that are confounded with ancestry. With family data, this effect can be partitioned into a between-family (indirect) and within-family (direct) effect. In his presentation, Visscher will share unpublished results from a collaborative research project with the Mexican City Prospective Study (Estudio Prospectivo de la Ciudad de México) to estimate direct effects of ancestry on complex traits, including height, liability to type 2 diabetes and educational attainment, from a sample of 17,000 families and 30,000 sibling pairs.
Bio: Peter Visscher is Professor of Quantitative Genetics at the University of Oxford and the University of Queensland. He is known for his research investigating the genetic basis of complex human traits, including common diseases. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of human trait variation. Visscher developed and applied statistical analysis methods to quantify and dissect the contribution of DNA polymorphisms to trait variation within families and in the population at large. He was one of the first to propose, advocate and show that genome and trait data can be used to predict individuals who are genetically at high risk of disease. The use of “polygenic risk scores” in health care is now being trialled worldwide.
Sjoerd van Alten | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Thursday, January 8
9am – 10am
Zoom (See email for Zoom link)
Karin Verweij | Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
Thursday, February 5
9am – 10am
Zoom (See email for Zoom link)
Lucas Matthews | Hastings Center for Bioethics
Thursday, March 5
9am – 10am
Zoom (See email for Zoom link)
Lauren Schmitz | University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thursday, April 2
9am – 10am
Zoom (See email for Zoom link)
Silvia Barcellos | University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thursday, May 7
9am – 10am
Zoom (See email for Zoom link)
Conferences
CIPHER 2026
In its eighth installment, the Current Innovations in Probability-Based Household Internet Panel Research (CIPHER) Conference expands its scope to include artificial intelligence (AI) as a new area of focus. As always, CIPHER builds on a rich legacy of methodological innovation, international collaboration, and emerging data modalities. Bringing together researchers, technologists, and policymakers, this year’s conference will explore how AI can enhance panel design, data quality, respondent engagement, and ethical governance. Join us as we chart the future of probability-based internet panels at the nexus of artificial intelligence and survey science.