Dr. Jennifer Van Hook has been appointed to serve as the next director of the Population Research Institute (PRI) beginning July 1, 2022. PRI is a multidisciplinary research center at Penn State that promotes innovative population research. Part of the Social Science Research Institute at Penn State, PRI has been continuously supported by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) since 1992. Dr. Van Hook’s five-year term as Director begins on July 1, 2022.
Dr. Van Hook looks forward to continuing the developments made by PRI over the last five years under the leadership of PRI's current director, Dr. Jennifer E. Glick. "PRI remains an intellectual home for population scientists at Penn State and beyond," said Van Hook. "With the recent successful renewal of NICHD center funding, the community is stronger than ever." Looking ahead, Van Hook aims to strengthen PRI's research portfolio in the areas of population diversity and well-being across the life course.
Van Hook is the Roy C. Buck Professor of Sociology and Demography at Penn State. She is a demographer with broad interests in population health, including the socioeconomic and health integration of immigrants and their children and the size, characteristics, and aging of the foreign-born population. Much of her research has been supported by external grants from NICHD, NSF, and the Russell Sage Foundation. She served as the director of PRI from 2011 to 2016 and Director of Graduate Studies in Sociology at Penn State from 2017 to 2021. Van Hook is currently co-principal investigator of the NICHD-funded training program in Social Environments and Population Health housed in PRI.