Katherine J. Curtis

Dr. Katherine J. Curtis serves as the Buttel-Sewell Professor of Community & Environmental Sociology and Director of the Center for Demography & Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She maintains critical affiliations with the Applied Population Laboratory (APL), Center for Demography of Health and Aging (CDHA), UW-Extension, Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP), and Rural Population Research Network (RPRN), driving interdisciplinary population research across institutional boundaries.

Her research program centers on demography with specialized extensions into spatial, environmental, rural, and applied domains. Curtis investigates population-environment interactions through the lens of demographic, economic, and environmental force dynamics, while pioneering spatial-temporal analyses of social inequality—particularly historical and localized mechanisms perpetuating racial disparities. She employs advanced geospatial statistical methodologies within place-based theoretical frameworks to dissect inequality's profound impacts on population wellbeing, with emphases on migration patterns, fertility responses, and rural livelihood systems.

Curtis leads multiple externally funded initiatives including NICHD/NSF-supported studies on spatial differentiation in migration/fertility responses to environmental events, NICHD-funded age- and race-specific net migration analyses, and USDA-research on rural spatial connectedness. Her publication trends reveal consistent methodological innovation in spatial demography applied to poverty dynamics, racial inequality, and environmental sociology.

Scientific awards: None documented in provided materials.

Professor Curtis actively mentors eight graduate students across sociological and demographic research domains while securing major grants from NICHD, NSF, and USDA. Her grant portfolio demonstrates sustained federal investment in spatial-demographic approaches to understanding structural inequality and environmental adaptation.

As Director of the Center for Demography & Ecology, Curtis orchestrates collaborative research across the Applied Population Laboratory, Center for Demography of Health and Aging, and Rural Population Research Network—fostering integrated analyses of population dynamics through spatial, environmental, and social inequality frameworks.