Research Professor at the Population Studies Center and Professor of History
University of Michigan
Alter's research investigates the history of the family, demography, and economic history, and recent projects have examined the effects of early life conditions on health in old age and new ways of characterizing fertility transitions. From 2011-2016 he served as Director of ICPSR, the world's largest social science data archive and a leader in data curation, digital preservation, secure sharing of confidential data, and training in quantitative research methods. He has been a national leader in efforts to define standards for documentation and reproducibility of empirical research published in social science journals.