BRYAN L. SYKES
2232 Piedmont Ave911 South 25th St.
Berkeley, CA 94702 Philadelphia, PA 19146
510-642-9800 (school) 215-735-0607 (home)
EDUCATION
Ph.D.University of California-Berkeley
Demography & Sociology, May 2007 (expected)
Three Essays on Causality and Crime
Q.E. Fields: Social Stratification, Economic Demography, & Social Theory
Dissertation Committee: Mike Hout & Samuel Lucas (co-chairs), Kenneth Wachter (Demography & Statistics), and Franklin Zimring (Boalt Law School)
M.A.University of California-Berkeley
Sociology, 2005
M.A.University of California-Berkeley
Demography, 2003
B.S.University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sociology, with a Concentration in Analysis and Research (CAR), 2001
OTHER EDUCATION
ParticipantQuantitative Analysis of Crime & Criminal Justice Workshop, Summer 2005
(ICPSR) University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; Ann Arbor, MI
StudentGraduate (Survey) Research Methods, Spring 2002
Temple University; Philadelphia, PA
ParticipantSummer Institute on Demographic Research (SIDR), Summer 2000
University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, PA
MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW
“Fertility and the Abortion-Crime Debate” (with Dominik Hangartner and Earl Hathaway)
“Drugs, Money, and Family: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Household Composition
and Illegal Labor Market Income”
MANUSCRIPTS IN PROGRESS
“Did Abortion Legalization Really Lower Crime?” (with Dominik Hangartner) Prepared for
Chance by Invitation
“Incarceration, Marital Uncertainty, and the Transition to Marriage Among New Parents”
“The Effect of Incarceration on Transitioning to Marriage: Do Women and Men Pay the Same Marital Cost for Prior Incarceration?”
“Optimizing Residential Segregation and Crime”
“The Effectiveness of Testing Strategies on Exam Performance” (with Sarah Torok)
RESEARCH & TEACHING INTERESTS
DemographySociology of LawStatistical Methods (Classical & Bayesian)
Crime & PunishmentUrban SociologyInequality/Social Stratification
AWARDS, HONORS, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
National Science Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow (Declined $120,000), 2007-2009
Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Finalist, 2006-2007
Dean’s Normative Time Fellowship ($15,000 + tuition); UC-Berkeley, 2006-2007
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award (Demography Dept.); UC-Berkeley, 2005
Mentored Research Award ($14,000 + tuition); UC-Berkeley, 2004-2005
National Institute of Health Training Grant ($19,886 + tuition), 2003-2004 & 2005-2006
Graduate Opportunity Fellowship ($15,000 + tuition); UC-Berkeley, 2002-2003
Mellon Foundation Minority Fellowship; University of Pennsylvania, 2000
Alpha Kappa Delta Honors Society, 1999-2001
Undergraduate Research Scholars Mentor; University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1999-2001
Chancellor’s Scholar; University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1997-2001
INVITED TALKS
2006 Department of Criminology, University of Maryland-College Park
“Incarceration, Marital Uncertainty, and the Transition to Marriage Among New Parents”
2006 Department of Sociology, University of Washington-Seattle
“Incarceration, Marital Uncertainty, and the Transition to Marriage Among New Parents”
2006 Departments of Demography and Sociology, University of California-Berkeley
“Incarceration, Marital Uncertainty, and the Transition to Marriage Among New Parents”
2005 Departments of Statistics & Economics, University of Bern; Bern, Switzerland
"The Ecological Fallacy of the Abortion-Crime Thesis"
2005Department of Demography, University of California-Berkeley
"A Demographic Critique of the Abortion-Crime Debate: Assessing the Impact of Omitted Variables Bias in Age-Period-Cohort Analyses"
2005ICPSR, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
"A Demographic Critique of the Abortion-Crime Debate: Assessing the Impact of Omitted Variables Bias in Age-Period-Cohort Analyses"
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2007Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (PAA); New York, NY
“Incarceration, Marital Uncertainty, and the Transition to Marriage Among New Parents”
2006 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA); Montreal, Canada
"Fertility and the Abortion-Crime Debate"
2006Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (PAA); Los Angeles, PA
"Fertility and the Abortion-Crime Debate"
2005 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (PAA); Philadelphia, PA
"Bringing the Family Back In: An Analysis of Household Composition and Illegal Labor Market Income"
2004 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA); San Francisco, CA
"Pursuing Cultural Goals, Rejecting Institutional Means: An Anomic Analysis of Illegal Labor Market Wages and Household Dynamics"
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2006-presentGraduate Student Researcher, Sociology & Statistics Depts.; UC-Berkeley
- Conducted advanced statistical analyses (log-linear models and latent structure analysis) in LEM for Dr. Leo Goodman’s publication in the Annual Review of Sociology
- Created tables and figures in LaTex and R/S-plus
2005-2006Graduate Student Researcher, Boalt Law School
- Created complex databases on crime and abortion rates to assist Professor Frank Zimring on his criminological study of the impact of abortion on crime declines internationally
- Conducted advanced statistical, demographic, and econometric analyses of these databases using SAS and R/S-plus
- Made methodological recommendations for the study
2004-2004Graduate Student Researcher, Sociology & Statistics Depts.; UC-Berkeley
- Conducted advanced statistical analyses (log-linear models and latent structure analysis) for Dr. Leo Goodman’s April 2004 presentation for the Sociological Methodology section of the American Sociological Association.
2003-2004Graduate Student Researcher, Boalt Law School and JSP Program;
- Built and maintained the statistical databases of legal case coding
- Made quantitative/methodological research suggestions
- Wrote SAS programs to analyze data
- Conducted statistical analyses for Dr. Lauren Edelman and Linda Kreiger on their research project—Judicial Deference to Institutional Structures and Organizations: An Analysis of Equal Employment Opportunity Cases, 1963-2000
2001-2002 Research Associate, National Economic Research Associates (NERA);
Philadelphia, PA
- Conducted statistical analyses using SPSS, STATA, & MS Access;
- Wrote & critiqued surveys
- Supervised the project work of research assistants
- Wrote executive summaries for projects
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2004-2005 Graduate Student Instructor/Teaching Assistant for Demography 110 & 210 (Fall 2004 & Fall 2005), Demography Dept.; UC-Berkeley
- Taught graduate and undergraduate actuarial science and statistical methods for studying population dynamics
- Led exam review sessions & graded exams
- Graded graduate student homework assignments
2003-2004Informally Taught Leo Goodman’s Graduate Course on Categorical Data & Log-linear Analysis (Statistics 261/Sociology 271D)
2002-2005Grader for Economic Demography, Urban Sociology, Social Inequality, and Sociology of Law
SERVICE
2006-presentReferee, American Sociological Review
2002-2003 Editor, Berkeley Journal of Sociology; Berkeley, CA
2000-2001 Editorial Assistant, American Sociological Review, UW-Madison
Editorial Assistant, Sociological Methods and Research, UW-Madison
SOFTWARE SKILLS
*SAS*SPSS*UNIX*WinBugs*SQL
*LEM*STATA*MS Access*R/S-plus*LaTex
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
American Sociological AssociationPopulation Association of America
American Statistical Association American Society of Criminology
REFERENCES
Professor Mike Hout (co-chair)Professor Samuel R. Lucas (co-chair)
Survey Research CenterDepartment of Sociology
2538 Channing Way438 Barrows Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720Berkeley, CA 94720
510-643-6874510-642-4766
Professor Kenneth WachterProfessor Franklin Zimring
Department of DemographyBoalt Law School
2232 Piedmont Ave.383 Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 642-1578510-642-0854
Professor Leo GoodmanProfessor Ronald Lee
Department of SociologyDepartment of Demography
440 Barrows Hall2232 Piedmont Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94720Berkeley, CA 94720
510-843-6013 (home)(510) 642-4535
1