Jere R. Behrman, the W. R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Economics and Sociology and Research Associate of the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania, received the biennial Irene B. Taeuber 2017 award at the Population Association of America Annual Meetings in Chicago on 28 April. The Irene B. Taeuber award is presented in recognition of an unusually original or important contribution to the scientific study of population, or for an accumulated record of exceptionally sound and innovative research. Behrman’s research is in empirical micro economics, economic development, early childhood development, labor economics, human resources (education, training, health, nutrition), economic demography, household behaviors, life-cycle and intergenerational relations and policy evaluation. His network of collaborators spans the globe, ranges across multiple disciplines, and includes scholars from all career stages. He has published 415 articles in leading demographic, economic, sociology, public health, nutritional and biomedical journals and 35 books, and served on 157 Ph.D. dissertation committees.
Penn faculty and alumni were very present during the awards ceremony: Jere R. Behrman was presented the Irene B. Taeuber award (by Douglas Massey, a Penn alumnus). The Dorothy Swaine Thomas award is named after a former Penn faculty and first woman president of the American Sociological Association. The Harriet B. Presser award recipient, Frances Goldscheider, is a Penn alumna; so too is Robert J. Lapham award recipient was Cheikh Mbacke, a Penn alumnus. Cheikh could not attend, so this award was accepted by Ayagah Bawah, another Penn alumnus. Penn News also covered this occassion.
Photo credit: Art Antonik