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KNOWLEDGE APPLIED The team at the Applied Population Laboratory uses a unique skill set to help decision-makers understand complex social trends and plan for the future By Nicole Sweeney Etter
Illustration by Danielle Lamberson Philipp
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SPRING 2019
hould a school district close an elementary school with shrinking enrollment, or will student numbers rebound in the coming years? What’s the outlook for a rural town with a rapidly aging workforce? Can a funeral home expect to be more or less busy over the next decade? How might climate change affect migration? On the third floor of Agricultural Hall, the researchers in the Applied Population Laboratory (APL) puzzle over these questions and much more. As skilled forecasters, problem solvers, and data facilitators, they deftly wield numbers, graphs, and maps to help the public better understand the shifting sands of people and place. Then there’s that word: applied. This knowledge is used to make vital decisions in communities across Wisconsin and the nation. APL’s nine researchers and outreach professionals field hundreds of requests each year from diverse sources: concerned citizens searching for information to share with their county boards; local and state government officials hoping to predict community needs; staffers from nonprofits looking to hone their programs; and journalists who want objective analysis of the latest population trends. “Those connections set us apart,” says David Long, APL’s associate director. “We’re trying to help people answer questions and solve problems that have a real, tangible impact.” APL is nationally known for its population estimates and projections program — what director Katherine Curtis refers to as the “meat and potatoes of applied research” — as well as other areas ranging from health geography to spatial analysis. “What makes me excited to get up and come to work every day is that we have this history of fundamental, building-block demography, which is foundational and continues to be very necessary and important to our stakeholders,” notes Curtis, a professor of community and environmental sociology at CALS and a demographic
