Sociology professor Patrick J. Carr discusses *Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means For America*. *In Hollowing Out the Middle*, husband and wife research team Patrick Carr and Maria Kefalas draw attention to a problem that is little discussed in urban and academic centers, but is keenly felt in rural towns across the country: namely the exodus of young, educated adults toward those same urban and academic centers. Carr and Kefalas use the case study of "Ellis", Iowa to better understand this phenomenon, and to offer strategies for creating sustainable, thriving communities across the Heartland.
Patrick J. Carr is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University, and is an Associate Member of the MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on the Transitions to Adulthood and Public Policy. He earned his PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 1998, and his research interests include communities and crime, informal social control, youth violence, and transitions to adulthood.