John Warren

University of Minnesota

Professor

Rob Warren is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation (ISRDI) at the University of Minnesota. At ISRDI he formerly serviced as Director of the Minnesota Population Center (MPC); founded the Population Studies training program; and was the inaugural co-director of the Population Health Sciences training program. Since 2012 he has co-led (with Eric Grodsky, Chandra Muller, and others) the 2013-2015 and 2021 midlife follow-ups of the High School & Beyond (HS&B:80) cohort and the 2025 follow-up of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS:72). Although NLS:72 and HS&B:80 started as part of NCES's secondary longitudinal studies program, they are now a major resource for understanding the social and biological pathways through which early life educational and other conditions shape later life health, cognition, and longevity. Dr. Warren has frequently published on methodological issues related to measuring grade retention and high school dropout rates; is an expert in the methodological problem known as panel conditioning; has published a number of articles on the consequences of state-mandated high school exit examinations; and has published a number of articles on the consequences for high school students of holding paid jobs. In recent years he has led an effort to link records from several major surveys of older Americans to records from the 1940 US Census. With the latter data resource, he has modeled the long-term consequences for health and well-being of childhood exposure to lead, fluoride, and coal-powered electrical plants. From 2013 to 2016 he was editor of Sociology of Education. He has served on standing review panels for the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.