Steven Ruggles

Last updated
Steven Ruggles
Born (1955-05-08) May 8, 1955 (age 68)
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Wisconsin, University of Pennsylvania
Known for IPUMS
Scientific career
Fields Historical demography
InstitutionsInstitute for Social Research and Data Innovation, University of Minnesota

Steven Ruggles (born May 8, 1955) is Regents Professor of History and Population Studies at the University of Minnesota, and the director of the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation. [1] He is best known as the creator of IPUMS, the world's largest population database. IPUMS provides information about two billion people residing in 107 countries between 1703 and the present, including every respondent to the surviving U.S. censuses of 1790 to 1940. [2] He served as founding director of the Minnesota Population Center from 2000 to 2016. He served as the 2015 President of the Population Association of America, the first historian to hold the position. [3] He also served as President of the Association of Population Centers (2017–2018) [4] and President of the Social Science History Association (2018–2019). [5] He has been active on many national advisory and study committees, including the Census Bureau Scientific Advisory Committee; [6] the National Science Foundation Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Advisory Committee; [7] the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for CyberInfrastructure; [8] and the National Academy of Sciences Board on Research Data and Information. [9]

Contents

Ruggles received a Ph.D. in historical demography from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. [10] He has published extensively on historical demography, focusing especially on long-run changes in multi-generational families, single parenthood, divorce, and marriage, and on data and methods for population history. His study of the effects of demographic change on family structure [11] won the William J. Goode Book Award from the American Sociological Association and the Allen Sharlen Memorial Award from the Social Science History Association. [10] Ruggles's work on migration censoring in family reconstitution [12] stimulated a debate about biases introduced by the "Ruggles Effect." [13]

In 2003, Ruggles received the Robert J. Lapham Award from the Population Association of America in recognition of lifetime contributions that blend research with the application of demographic knowledge to policy issues, [14] and in 2009 he received the Warren E. Miller Award from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research for meritorious service to the social sciences. [15] In 1995, Ruggles was described as the "King of Quant" by Wired Magazine, [16] and in 2014, he was named “Wonkblog-Certified Data Wizard” by the Washington Post Wonkblog, which noted that losing to Steven Ruggles in Name That Data is kind of like losing to Adele on American Idol . [17] In 2022 Ruggles was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" grant. [18]

In 1994, Ruggles married Lisa Norling, another historian. They have two daughters.

Selected publications

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References

  1. ↑ "Explore Our Centers | Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation". Isrdi.umn.edu. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  2. ↑ "Homepage | IPUMS". Ipums.org. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  3. ↑ Norling, Lisa (June 22, 2014). "Steve Ruggles to Head the Population Association of America". College of Liberal Arts . University of Minnesota . Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Association of Population Centers". Popcenters.org. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  5. ↑ "Social Science History Association". Archived from the original on 2018-11-07. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
  6. ↑ "Census Scientific Advisory Committee (CSAC)". Census.gov.
  7. ↑ "SBE Advisory Committee | NSF - National Science Foundation". Nsf.gov. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  8. ↑ "NSF's Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure | NSF - National Science Foundation". Archived from the original on 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
  9. ↑ "Policy and Global Affairs at the National Academies". Sites.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  10. 1 2 University of Minnesota (2010-06-03). "Steven Ruggles: College of Liberal Arts: U of M". Apps.cla.umn.edu. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
  11. ↑ Steven Ruggles (1987). Prolonged Connections: The Rise of the Extended Family in Nineteenth Century England and America (PDF). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN   0-299-11034-6.
  12. ↑ Steven Ruggles, "Migration, Marriage, and Mortality: Correcting Sources of Bias in English Family Reconstitutions," Population Studies vol. 46 (1992) pp. 507-522
  13. ↑ E.A. Wrigley, "The Effect of Migration on the Estimation of Marriage Age in Family Reconstitution Studies," Population Studies vol. 48 (1994) pp. 81-97; Alice Bee Kasakoff and John W. Adams, “The Effect of migration on Ages at Vital Events: A Critique of Family Reconstitution in Historical Demography” European Journal of Population 11 (1995), pp. 199-242; B. Desjardins, “Bias in Age at Marriage in Family Reconstitutions: Evidence from French-Canadian data.” Population Studies 49 (1995) 165–169; E. Voland and R.I.M. Dunbar, “The Impact of Social Status and Migration on Female Age at Marriage in an Historical Population in North-West Germany.” Journal of Biosocial Science 29(1997), pp. 355-360; Steven Ruggles “The Limitations of English Family Reconstitution.” Continuity and Change 14 (1999) 105-130; M. A. Jonker and A. W. van der Vaart, “Correcting Missing-Data Bias in Historical Demography” Population Studies vol. 61 (2007) pp. 99-114
  14. ↑ "Robert J. Lapham Award - Population Association of America". Popassoc.org. Archived from the original on 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
  15. ↑ "Warren E. Miller Award". Icpsr.umich.edu. Retrieved 2013-01-18.
  16. ↑ Rettig, Hillary. "The King of Quant". Wired.com. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
  17. ↑ "Name That Data Answers Week 9". The Washington Post . Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  18. ↑ "MacArthur Fellows Program Steven Ruggles".
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