Douglas L. Anderton is Associate Dean for Research in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, a professor of sociology, Director of the Social and Demographic Research Institute, a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and an elected member of the Sociological Research Association. His research emphasizes quantitative analysis of population-environment interactions and historical population health. He is the author of over fifty journal articles and has co-authored several books, including Demography: Study of Human Populations (2007), Population of the United States (1998), Fertility on the Frontier (1993) and an edited series, Readings in Population Research Methodology (1997). He is currently editor of the journal Social Science History. His most recent historical research projects include a study of "Grammars of Death" (NIH) and "Strengthening Qualitative Research in Longitudinal Analysis of Human Mortality" (NSF), studying the changing precision in death classification over the mortality transition in emerging industrial communities in nineteenth-century New England, and the impact of such change on longitudinal analysis of mortality trends. His environmental health research includes a series of research projects with Dr. Kathleen Arcaro all studying epigenetics, environmental contaminants, methylation and breast cancer diagnostic evidence in human breast milk (DOD, Avon, Baystate-ROH). He continues to have an interest in environmental justice concerns, evident in his recent research interests in technological manufacturing infrastructures and plausible risks, and network coverage in communication of risks to vulnerable populations. Professor Anderton is on sabbatical through December 31, 2011. Associate Professor Jennifer Lundquist is serving as Acting Director during that time.
Areas of Interest: Population Studies, Statistics, Environmental Health, Social Epigenetics
Current Grants:
2012-13. Keep a Breast Foundation. Diet Intervention to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk in Hispanic/Latina Women in Western Massachusetts. PI: Kathleen Arcaro
2011-13. Avon Foundation. Epigenetics and Breast Cancer Risk in African American Women. PI: Kathleen Arcaro
2010-12. Avon Foundation. Impact of Environmental Estrogens on Epigenetics: Bisphenol A in Breast Milk and Promoter Methylation of Exfoliated Breast Epithelial Cells. Collaborator. PI: Kathleen Arcaro. Collaborator: David Reckhow
2010-12. NSF (UMichigan, Prime). Innovations in Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses of Longitudinal Death Data in 19th-Century New England
2009-12. Baystate Health Foundation. Analysis of SKP2 and Associated Proteins in Estrogen-Receptor Negative Breast Cancers. Co-Investigators: Christopher Otis, Kathleen Arcaro and Katerina Fagan-Solis
2006-12. Social Science History Association. Editorship of Social Science History
2009-11. Avon Foundation. The Presence, Prevalance and Impact of Intracellular Chlamydia in Cells from Breast Milk. Co-investigators: Kathleen Arcaro and Elizabeth Stuart
2010-11. Baystate Health Foundation. Investigation of DNA Methylation in Tamoxifen-Resistant Estrogen Receptor-Positive and Estrogen Receptor-Negative Breast Cancer. Co-PI. PI: Kathleen Arcaro
2009-11. Baystate Health Foundation. Environmental Impacts on Epigenetics: Bisphenol A and Promoter Methylation. PI. Co-investigators: Kathleen Arcaro and David Reckhow
Recent Grants:
2008-11. Department of Defense. Descriptive Biomarkers for Assessing Breast Cancer Risk. Co-PI: Kathleen Arcaro
2006-11. NSF. STS Component of the NSEC: Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (Nanotechnology). Investigator. PIs: Mark Tuominen and Thomas Russell
2007-10. Baystate Medical Center. Gene and Protein Expression of Paralemmin in Breast Cancer. PI: Christopher Otis. Co-Investigator: Kathleen Arcaro
2007-10. Avon Foundation. Role of Pregnancy and Lactation in Inhibiting Age-Induced Promoter Hypermethylation. Collaborator. PI: Kathleen Arcaro
2008-09. NSF. Characterization of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles in Human Breast Milk. Collaborator: Kathleen Arcaro
2008-09. CHM/NSF. Nanoparticle Models and New Analytical Methods to Study the Bioavailability and Toxicity of Nanomaterials. Collaborator. PI: Kathleen Arcaro
2009. Town of Amherst/Council on Aging. Survey of Amherst Senior and Midlife Population. Co-investigator: Randall Stokes
Pending Grants:
Diet Intervention and Epigenetics of Breast Cells in African American Women. NIH. PI: Kathleen Arcaro
Selected Publications:
"Medication Use and Gender in Western Massachusetts: Results of a Household Survey." Health Care for Women International (in press). With C. M. Obermeyer, K. Price, M. Schulein and L. L. Sievert.
"Quantitative Analysis of Promoter Methylation in Exfoliated Epithelial Cells Isolated from Breast Milk of Healthy Women." Epigenetics 5:546-655, 2010. With C. M. Wong, S. Smith-Schneider, M. A. Wing, M. C. Greven and K. F. Arcaro.
"The Potential of Using Breast Milk as a Tool to Study Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Risk." Future Oncology 4:595-97, 2008. With Kathleen Arcaro.
"Neighborhood Poverty and American Indian Infant Death: Are the Effects Iidentifiable?" Annals of Epidemiology 18:552-59, 2008. With P. J. Johnson and J. M. Oakes.
Demography: The Study of Human Population, 3rd Ed. Chicago: Waveland Press, 2007. With David Yaukey and Jennifer Lundquist.
Public Sociology: Michael Burawoy and His Critics. University of California Press, forthcoming 2006. D. Clawson, R. Zussman, M. Burawoy, J. Misra, N. Gerstel, R. Stokes and D. Anderton (eds.).
"Sewers in the City: A Case Study of Individual-Level Mortality and Public Health Initiatives in Northampton, Massachusetts at the Turn of the Century." Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 60:42-72, 2005. With J. K. Beemer and S. Hautaniemi Leonard.
"Grammars of Death: An Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Literal Causes of Death from the Age of Miasmas to Germ Theory." Social Science History, 28:111-43, 2004. With Susan I. Hautaniemi.
