Biodemography and vital statistics

Although the Academy focused largely on the physical sciences for most of its first 50 years, following both World Wars, its mandate broadened into the life and social sciences. By 1976, the eight divisions of the NRC included three grounded firmly in the social sciences: the Assembly of Behavioral and Social Sciences, the Commission on Sociotechnical Systems, and the Commission on Human Resources. Biodemography and vital statistics have been important components of this increasing involvement with the social sciences. At the colloquium, Margo Anderson, Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, described the Federal Statistical System and the creation of the Committee on National Statistics within the NRC. Robert Hauser, executive director of the NRC's Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, delivered a talk on the Committee on Population, which initiated a traditional of groundbreaking work on demography at the Academy. Michael Hout, professor of sociology at New York University, touched on the Committee on National Statistics' influences on social science research. Kenneth Prewitt, Carnegie Professor of Public Affairs at Columbia University, explored the extent to which the social sciences can be demonstrated to have influenced public policy.