People

Faculty

Susan E. Short

Director of the PSTC | Sociology

Family, Gender, Inequality, Reproductive health

Zhenchao Qian

Interim Director of the PSTC | Sociology

Family demography, Immigration, Race and ethnicity, Social Inequality

Margot Jackson

Associate Director of the PSTC | Sociology

Children and families, Health, Inequality and poverty

Cancer Prevention, Health Disparities, Health Equity, Intersectionality, LGBTQ+ health, Patient-provider interactions, Sexual and Reproductive health, Social determinants of health, Social Epidemiology, Structural discrimination, Women's health

Anna Aizer

Economics

Child health, Child support, Domestic violence, Medicaid, Poverty, Welfare

Dany Bahar

Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs

Economic gains from migration and refugees, knowledge and technology diffusion, innovation, entrepreneurship, structural transformation, economic growth and development

Sandra Lynn Barnes

Sociology

Sociology of Religion; Inequality and Poverty; Urban Sociology; Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality; Black Youth Education; African American Studies

Angela (Angie) M. Bengtson

Public Health

Global perinatal health, HIV and pregnancy, Engagement in HIV care, Obesity during pregnancy, Perinatal depression, Maternal immunization

Daniel Björkegren

Economics

Development, Industrial organization, Information technology, Mobile phones

Stephen Buka

Epidemiology

Behavioral and psychiatric disorders, Birth complications, Environmental hazards, Maternal and child health, Substance use

Jennifer Candipan

Sociology

Stratification, Inequality, Urban sociology, Education, Neighborhoods and schools, Neighborhood change, Race/Ethnicity, Residential mobility, Policy, Quantitative methods, Spatial analysis

Kenneth Chay

Economics

Community health, Labor and health economics, Microeconomics

Alexandra B. Collins

Epidemiology

Substance use; built environment and neighborhood change; gender inequities; social and structural determinants of health; harm reduction; drug policy; HIV and drug use; qualitative and community-based research

Terry-Ann Craigie

Economics

Child wellbeing, Criminal justice reform, Family formation, Mass incarceration, Race and gender discrimination

Pedro Dal Bó

Economics

Experimental economics, Game theory, Political economy

Kevin Escudero

American Studies

Community engagement, Comparative ethnic studies, Critical refugee studies, Immigration and citizenship, Social movements

Alison Field

Public Health

Eating disorders, Nutrition, Obesity, Public Health

Linford D. Fisher

History

Atlantic World, Colonial American, and Native American history, Forced migration and mobility, Religion, Slavery

Andrea Flores

Education

Adolescence and early adulthood, Anthropological demography, Citizenship, Education, Immigration and migration

Andrew Foster

Economics

Development, Education, Empirical microeconomics, Environment, Fertility, Health, Households, Human capital, Institutions, Labor economics, Marriage

Rachel Franklin

Geography

Migration, Population diversity and composition, Population loss/decline, Spatial analysis, Spatial Demography

Rachel Friedberg

Economics

Economics of immigration, Jewish social science, Labor economics

John Friedman

Economics

Education, Healthcare, Political economy, Public economics, Retirement, Taxation

Elizabeth Fussell

Population Studies and Environment and Society

Migration, Environmental Change, Disasters, and Social Inequality

Omar Galárraga

Public Health

Conditional economic incentives, economic evaluation and economic efficiency of health programs, HIV, Social Health Insurance

Oded Galor

Economics

Evolutionary economics, Growth and development, Population economics

Diana Grigsby-Toussaint

Public Health

Social and environmental determinants of health, Social epidemiology, Sleep, Obesity, Food environments and health, Green space and health

Matthew Gutmann

Anthropology

Cultural anthropology, Gender and sexuality, Health, Migration, Reproductive health

Abigail Harrison

Public Health

Fertility and family planning, Gender, HIV/AIDS, Qualitative research

Patrick Heller

Sociology

Comparative political economy, Democratization, Development, Political sociology, Social movements

J. Vernon Henderson

Economics

Urban and regional economics

Dennis P. Hogan

Sociology

Disability, Family lives, Fertility and family planning, Transition to adulthood

Joseph Hogan

Public Health

Behavioral medicine, Causal inference, HIV/AIDS, Longitudinal data analysis, Missing data

Peter Hull

Economics

Education (Middle/high school quality), Healthcare (Hospital / insurance plan quality), Discrimination (especially in employment / lending / healthcare / criminal justice), Applied econometrics

Nina Joyce

Public Health

Built environment and access to health care, End of life care, Long-term care, Mental health, Palliative and hospice care, Pediatric pharmacoepidemiology

David Kertzer

Anthropology

Anthropological demography, Contemporary Italian society and politics, Demography, European historical demography, Political economy and family systems, Politics and culture, Religion, Vatican

Aditya Khanna

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Computational Epidemiology; Simulation and Computational Modeling for Public Health Planning; Social Network Analysis; Incarceration; Addiction

Matthew Kraft

Education

Economics of education, Education policy analysis, School organizational capacity, Teacher effectiveness and evaluation, Teacher-parent communication

Jessaca Leinaweaver

Anthropology

Adoption, Aging, Anthropological demography, Caregiving, Childhood, Family, Gender, Migration, Reproduction

David P. Lindstrom

Sociology

Contraception, Fertility, Migration, Reproductive health

John Logan

Sociology

Family, Immigration, Migration, Political sociology, Race and ethnicity, Spatial analysis, Urban sociology

Laura López-Sanders

Sociology

Immigration, Organizational and institutional processes and outcomes, Public policy, Race and ethnic relations, Social Inequality

Eric Loucks

Public Health

Biomarkers, Coronary heart disease, Education, Epidemiology, Health

Glenn C. Loury

Economics

Cognitive theories of racial stigma, Dysfunctional social identity, Race and inequality, Racial affirmative action, Status transmission across generations

Mark Lurie

Public Health

Antiretroviral therapy, HIV/AIDS, Infectious diseases, Mathematical modeling, Migration

Elisa Macchi

Economics

Development and behavioral economics; determinants of health behavior, especially related to nutrition and exercise, and mental health

Katherine A. Mason

Anthropology

Anthropological demography, Bioethics, Global health, Health equity, Infectious disease, Mental illness, Migration, Population health, Postpartum period

Stephen McGarvey

Public Health

Global health, Human population biology, Non-communicable diseases, Nutrition transition

Stelios Michalopoulos

Economics

Culture, Development, Economic growth, Ethnicity, Folklore, Inequality, Institutions, Islam, Religion

Kevin Mwenda

Interim Director of S4 | Population Studies

Population Health and Environment, Spatial analysis, Spatial demography

Emily Oster

Economics

Development economics, Health

John Papay

Education

Consequences of state tests, Postsecondary education choices, Teacher career growth, Teacher hiring and evaluation practices

Christina Paxson

Economics

Aging, Child health and well-being, Health, Inequality, Labor economics, Life course

Mark M. Pitt

Economics

Adult outcomes, Gender, Health, Households, Micro-credit programs, Migration, Nutrition

Louis Putterman

Economics

Comparative economic development, Human interaction, Income inequality, Inter-ethnic interactions, Social norms and institutions

David Rangel

Education

Educational inequality, Race and ethnicity, Social psychology, Social stratification

Megan L. Ranney

Emergency Medicine

Violence, Injury prevention, Digital technologies, Adolescent health

Emily Rauscher

Sociology

Stratification, Education, Health, Demography

David A. Savitz

Public Health

Fertility, Health risks from environmental exposures, Pregnancy

Andrew Schrank

Sociology

Migration, Health, Education and Training, Latin America

Jesse Shapiro

Economics

Industrial organization, Political economy

Daniel Jordan Smith

Anthropology

Anthropological demography, Corruption, HIV/AIDS, Medical anthropology, Migration, Pentecostal Christianity, Political culture

Maria Steenland

Population Studies

Maternal and child health, Econometrics, Family planning, Impact evaluation

Bryce Steinberg

Economics

Development, Education, Health, Labor, Urban economics

Neil Thakral

Economics

Behavioral economics, Housing policy, Labor markets

Matthew Turner

Economics

Cities, Climate change, Transportation infrastructure, Urbanization

John Tyler

Education

Economics of education, Evaluation research, Quantitative methods

Leah VanWey

Sociology

Environment and development, Land change development, Migration, Population and environment

David Weil

Economics

Economic growth, Health, Population aging

Michael J. White

Population Studies

Demography, Environment, Immigration, Population distribution, Social policy, Urban sociology

Meghan Zacher

Population Studies

Health; Health disparities; Aging; Cognitive health and ADRD; Biomarkers; Genetics; Education; Sex/gender and women’s health; Disasters

Postdoctoral Fellows

Kate Burrows

Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

Environmental migration; climate change and mental health; health disparities and environmental justice

Ting Deng (Grazia)

PSTC | Postdoctoral Fellow

Transnational migration, Intercultural dynamics, Social inclusion/exclusion, Urban encounters, Migration and health, Chinese diaspora, Italy

Rachel E. Freeman-Wong

PSTC | Postdoctoral Research Associate

Education Equity, Migration, Race and Ethnicity, LGBTQ rights, Community Organizing, and Qualitative Research

Isabel García Valdivia

PSTC | Postdoctoral Fellow

Immigration, Latinx Sociology, Family, Race and Ethnicity, Aging and Life Course, Qualitative Research

Kathryn McConnell

PSTC | Postdoctoral Research Associate

Environmental migration, climate change adaptation, spatial inequality, disasters, built environment

Rachel McKane

Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences (S4)

Environmental justice, political economy, built environment, spatial inequality, mutual aid, quantitative methods

Chantel Pheiffer

PSTC | Postdoctoral Research Associate

Social Demography, Social Determinants of Health, Stratification, Migration, Residential Mobility, Social Policy

Sonia Rupcic

PSTC | Postdoctoral Fellow

Legal anthropology, Medical anthropology, Gender, Ethnicity, Violence, Humanitarianism, Criminal justice, Legal pluralism

Daniel Schleith

PSTC/S4 | Postdoctoral Fellow

Urban and transportation geographies, Accessibility, Commuting, Geographic Information Science, Spatial statistics, Big data

Nora Schwaller

PSTC | Postdoctoral Research Associate

Household-level climate change adaptation; risk communication strategies; the relationship between historic inequity and vulnerability exposure

John Sullivan

PSTC | Postdoctoral Research Associate

Residential segregation, Residential mobility, Age structure, Aging and environment

Jongho Won

Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences (S4)

Scholarly Interests: Urban and Spatial Inequality, Residential Segregation, Affordable Housing Policy, Neighborhood Change, Community Development, Built Environment