Director

Dr. Lloyd Potter portrait
LLOYD POTTER, PH.D.
Professor, College for Health, Community & Policy
Director, Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research (IDSER)
Texas State Demographer

Dr. Potter’s current work focuses upon understanding and communicating demographic processes in Texas, training doctoral level applied demographers in the areas of public policy and health, and conducting demographic research on public policy and health related topics. Over his career, Dr. Potter’s work has focused on applying demographic methods and social and behavioral science in public health settings. Before joining the Institute, Dr. Potter was Director of the Center for Study and Prevention of Injury, Violence, and Suicide at the non-profit company Education Development Center. Earlier he managed the youth violence and suicide prevention program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers

Monica Cruz, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate

Dr. Cruz supports the work of the Texas Demographic Center through its network of statewide affiliates and the Texas Legislature. She has worked as a legislative aide for the Texas Senate, as a program director for the City of San Antonio and with other non-profit organizations as a policy analyst and researcher. Her research interests include housing, economic development, poverty, and employment. Prior to joining the TDC staff, she served as an administrator for civic engagement in higher education and has taught courses in public policy, Texas government and American Politics.

Janine Geppert, M.S.
Research Scientist Associate/Project Coordinator

Ms. Geppert is responsible for the project coordination and organization of data collection within the Texas Demographic Center’s Texas Population Estimates and Projections Program. She has over 5 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative research projects in both the public and private sector. Ms. Geppert also provides support for the production of the estimates and projections and data requests from the Texas Demographic Center.

Rafael E. González, M.S.
Special Research Associate

Mr. Gonzalez has over 10 years of applied demographic data analysis experience at the state government level. Previously, he worked at the Office of the Texas Governor where he was involved in developing, implementing, and monitoring specialized demographic research projects for the Texas Workforce Investment Council. Currently, Mr. Gonzalez is responsible for managing an interagency cooperation contract between IDSER, UTSA, and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) providing demographic data assistance to Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) across the state.

Po-Chun Huang, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate

Dr. Huang has over 5 years of demographic research experience in topics ranging from fertility, migration, education, transportation, and demographic trends. Previously, he worked at the Demographic Research Unit of the California Department of Finance and the Research and Development Branch of the California Department of Motor Vehicles where he was involved in several research projects focusing on demographic and transportation topics. His recent research projects include the population projections in Texas urban areas and the Head-Start Program community assessment for the City of San Antonio. Dr. Huang is currently leading a group of graduate research assistants in providing transportation planning support for TxDOT throughout the state.

Jeffrey A. Jordan, Ph.D
Senior Research Associate

Dr. Jordan has been involved in numerous research projects that investigate the relationship between demography and various other socioeconomic issues in Texas including transportation, energy conservation, labor force, education, criminal justice, and social services. For the past 15 years, he has provided data, programming, and GIS expertise on the various projects at the Institute and the Texas Demographic Center. Previously, he worked at the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University where he was involved in several research projects addressing demographic and social services topics.

Jeongsoo Kim, Ph.D.
Research Data Analyst

Dr. Kim is an applied demographer who has experience both in the industry and in demographic research. His academic research mainly focused on low fertility and aging in economically developed countries. His research scope explored social risk factors in health disparities as a postdoc fellow in UT Health. Also, he has experience in vision-based musculoskeletal health services using machine learning techniques. His recent research is aiming to combine population forecasting methods with machine learning algorithms.

Saloni Rajput, Ph.D.
Research Data Analyst

Dr. Rajput’s academic background is in applied geography and GIS. She is currently working on projects for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) designing and implementing web-based mapping and data delivery applications. Dr. Rajput has over 10 years of experience working on geospatial projects, working here and from her previous jobs at The City of Austin and The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and working with LiDAR data for a survey and mapping company in Austin.

Muhammad Salaha Uddin, Ph.D.
Special Research Associate

Dr. Uddin’s research interests focus on environmental, urban, and transportation studies integrating the spatial and socioeconomic phenomena. He completed Ph.D. majoring in Spatially Integrated Social Science from the University of Toledo, Ohio. He worked in academia and industry before joining the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research (IDSER), UTSA. Currently, he is working on several projects in IDSER. Specifically, he is working in a team for developing and assessing the methods to generate demographic forecasts using automated or synthetic methods at the Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ) level or other approved geography of the Texas Department of Transportation.

Xiuhong "Helen" You, Ph.D.
Associate Director

Dr. You is the lead scientist for the Texas Demographic Center Population Estimates and Projections program. She has over 15 years of demographic research experience with a general interest in demography and public policy in Texas. Her recent research revolves around population estimates and projections for Texas, although her works cover a wide range of topics including welfare, education, migration, health and health care in Texas. Some of her recent projects include the Population Estimates for Texas, the Educational Attainment Projections of the Texas Labor Force, the Diabetes Projections and the Projections of the Uninsured in Texas.