Joint PhD Program in Urban Systems

Jeffrey R. Backstrand
Director of Research, NSRC and Associate Research Professor, SPAA
Newark Schools Research Collaborative and School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers-Newark
backstjr@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Biography

Jeffrey R. Backstrand is Director of Research for the Newark Schools Research Collaborative and Associate Research Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers-Newark.  He is a founding professor in the Urban Systems program and former director of the Urban Health concentration.  Dr. Backstrand received his B.A. in Physical Anthropology from Pomona College, and an MA and Ph.D in Medical Anthropology from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Backstrand is a specialist in quantitative research methods, and has considerable knowledge and experience in the areas of urban anthropology, public health and nutritional epidemiology. He is a fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, and former chair of the Public Health Nutrition Research Interest Group of the American Society of Nutrition. In 2001, Dr. Backstrand was a member of the Institute of Medicine's Subcommittee on the Technical Specifications of a High-Energy Dense Emergency Food Product. He has also supervised the evaluation of the Connecticut WIC program's Project ReNew, a statewide initiative to improve cultural sensitivity and customer service by WIC personnel. Dr. Backstrand is the author of 27 peer-reviewed articles, plus numerous reports. His current research investigates the causes of black-white disparities in birth outcomes, and food insecurity in poor urban neighborhoods. He is currently coordinating the NSRC research activities of doctoral students and post-docs on a range of issues related to education and learning in Newark, New Jersey.