Our graduate students go on to hold academic appointments and research positions at various institutions. This is a sample of recent placements. Read more about our program in the graduate section.

Academic Appointments

NameGrad YearDissertation TitleJob Placement
Samantha Agarwal2023Dalit Defection to the BJP in Communist-Ruled Kerala: Caste and the Limits of Redistribution without RecognitinChangemaker Postdoctoral Fellow, School of International Service, American University
Rhiannon Miller2023Educational Hypogamy in Cohabitation and the Transition to MarriageAssistant Professor, Provicence College
Jiwon Lee2023Social, Demographic, and Political Change in AmericaPost-Doctoral Fellow, Cornell University
Corey Payne2023Making Endless War: Neoliberal War-Making and the Social Transformation of the U.S. Military-Industrial ComplexPost-Doctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
Shirley Lung2022Hyphenated Identities: Taiwanese Churches and Transitional Taiwanese Identity FormationInitial: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Current: Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Criminology, University of Denver
Alvin Camba2021The Strong Leader Trap: The Unintended Consequences of China’s Global Investment StrategyAssistant Professor, University of Denver, Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Xiao Yu2021Responding to the Demand Side? Delayed Postgraduate Pursuit and the Labor Market Earnings among College-Educated Natives and ImmigrantsInitial: Data Resource Analyst, Michigan State University

Current: Assistant Professor, Maternal Health Equity Lab, Michigan State
Minhyoung Kang2021Precarious Work, Labor Force Dualism, and Labor Movements in South KoreaPost-Doctoral Fellow, Yonsei University, Seoul Korea
Smriti Upadhyay2021Organized Labor and the Politics of Hindu Right-wing HegemonyInitial: American University in Cairo

Current: Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College
Ricado Jacobs2020The Agrarianization of Urban Space in South Africa: Historicizing the Insurgent PresentAssistant Professor, UC Santa Barbara
Christine Jang2020Managing Disinvestment: Race, Neighborhood, and Real Estate in BaltimorePost-Doctoral Fellow, Princeton
Allison Young2020Making it Count: Resources, High School Context, and the Life Course in Students’ College Decision MakingPost-Doctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
Yige Dong2019From Mill Town to iPhone City: Gender, Labor, and the Politics of Care in An Industrializing China (1949-2017)Suzanne Wilson Barnett Chair of Contemporary China Studies, University of Puget Sound
Robert Francis2019Left Behind? Working-Class Men in Rural AmericaAssistant Professor, Whitworth University
Elizabeth Talbert2018Balancing the Three-Legged Stool: Sustainable Childrearing Routines, Family, and Work in Two American CitiesPost-Doctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Anne-Marie Livingstone2018Racial Politics and Social Policy in Urban CanadaPost-Doctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Center at Harvard
Phil Garboden2018Dear Landlord: How the Ownership and Management of Rental Properties Matter for Tenants, Neighborhoods, and the Cities Initial: HCRC Distinguished Professor in Affordable Housing, University of Hawaii at Mānoa

Current: Associate Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, University of Chicago
Sefika Kumral2018Democracy and Violence: Social Origins of Anti-Kurdish Riots in TurkeyAssistant Professor, Sociology Department, William & Mary
Lingli Huang2017Between Food Security and Profitability: A Multilevel Analysis of the Agricultural Water Crisis in ChinaPost-Doctoral Fellow, Nanyang Center for Public Administration at Nanyang Technological University
Anna Rhodes2017Bridging the Opportunity Divide: How Poor Families Navigate Suburban Communities and SchoolsAssistant Professor, Rice University
Erik Westlund2016The Origins and Implications of Postsecondary Academic MismatchInitial: Visiting Professor, University of Iowa

Current: Research Scientist, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health
Sol Espinoza2015Women’s Labor, Money, and Modern Marriage in America: A Mixed-Methods Socio-Historical Study of Gender, Race, Class, and the Shifting Economics of MarryingVisiting Assistant Professor, Catholic University
Burak Gurel2015The Role of Labor Mobilization in the Divergence of the Rural Economies of China and India (1950-1990)Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology at Koç University (Istanbul, Turkey)
Yao Li2015Informal Norms and Protest Space: Why the Chinese Regime Remains Stable despite Rising ProtestsInitial: Lecturer, Center for East Asian Studies, University of Kansas

Current: Assistant Professor, Florida State University
Mike Reese2015Changing Course: The Influence of Social Position and Social Networks on College Faculty’s Adoption of Educational InnovationsDirector, Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation, Johns Hopkins University
Rachel Core2014The Fall and Rise of Tuberculosis: A Study of How Institutional Change Affected Health Outcomes in Shanghai, 1972-2013Assistant Professor of Sociology & Anthropology at Stetson University
Sahan Savas Karatasli2014Financialization, Hegemonic Transitions and Nationalism: State-Seeking Nationalist Movements in the Longue DuréePost-Doctoral Fellow, Princeton University
Robert Nathenson2014Children of Mexican Immigrants’ Academic Achievement and Socio-Emotional Development in Traditional and Non-Traditional U.S. Destinations: Legislation, Schools, and NeighborhoodsLeonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania
Daniel Pasciuti2014Political Economy and Urban Development: Why Hegemonic Regimes are also Urban SystemsAssistant Professor, Georgia State University
Laila Bushra2013Globalization and the Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in PakistanAssistant Professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan
Elizabeth Dayton2013First in My Family: Family Relationships and Educational MobilityPostdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford School of Education and Center for Education Policy Analysis
Felipe Amin Filomeno2013The Social Bases of Intellectual Property Regimes: Biotechnology in South American Soy Bean AgricultureAssistant Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Kevan Harris2013The Martyrs Welfare State: Politics and Social Policy in the Islamic Republic of IranAssistant Professor, UCLA
Benjamin Scully2013Development in the Age of Wagelessness: Labor, Livelihoods and Decline of Work in South AfricaAssistant Professor at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa
Erdem Yoruk2013The Politics of the Turkish Welfare System Transformation in the Neoliberal Era: Welfare as Mobilization and ContainmentAssistant Professor Koc University in Turkey
Shaohua Zhan2013A Second Industrious Revolution: Examining Contemporary Rural Development in China through the Lens of the 18th CenturyAssistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Yin Yue2012Attained Social Position and Personality Among Rural Migrants to Urban ChinaAssistant Professor in the School of Public Economics & Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
Mindelyn Buford II2011Outside of the Gateway, Just off the Beltway: Nigerian and Ghanaian Immigrants in the United StatesAssistant Professor, Northeastern University
Peter Rosenblatt2011The Renaissance Comes to the Projects: Public Housing, Urban Redevelopment, and Racial Inequality in BaltimoreAssistant Professor, Loyola University Chicago

Research Positions

NameGrad YearDissertation TitleJob Placement
Rachel Butler2023Making the Call: Race, Poverty, and Police Utilization During Domestic Conflict
Kiara Nerenberg2022Out-of-Zone Enrollment and the Informal School-Choice Market in Baltimore CityStatistician, National Center for Education Statistics
Charlie Mitchell2020Modeling the Human Capital Development of Young Poor ChildrenMaryland Department of Education
Stephanie D’Souza2019Effects of Family and School Institutions on Child Outcomes from Early Childhood through Elementary SchoolResearcher, American Institutes for Research
Daniel Thompson2019Employment, Wage Growth and Inequality in Rich Democracies in the Post-Golden Age EraStatistician, US Census Bureau
Julie Lee2017Too Much, Too Fast: The Trials & Triumphs of Poor Urban Youths in the Transition to Adulthood
Han Soo Woo 2017Black-White Difference in Performance Discounting: Academic Self-concept and Achievement and Student-Teacher Racial Mismatch in the Classroom in U.S. Elementary and Middle SchoolsBiostatistician, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Nazish Zafar2016Synergy between Government and Small BusinessNUS Enterprise & INSEADERS
Matt Messell2016Profiles in ResilienceSocial Security Administration
Sika Koudou2015Who Can I be the Best Parent to? An Analysis of US Race Relations through the Lens of International AdoptionSocial Science Research Analyst, Social Security Administration
Siri Warkentien2015Racial School Segregation and the Transition to CollegeAdvanced Quantitative Education Researcher at RTI International in their Center for Equity and Evaluation
Wei-ting Chen2015Private Dinners, Public Families: Low-Income Mothers’ Accounts of Family FoodworkBanyan Communications
Barbara Condliffe2015Summer Learning in the City: How Schools, Families, and Neighborhoods Influence Urban Elementary School Students’ Opportunities and AchievementsResearch Associate, MDRC
Christian Villenas2014Explaining the Disability Gap in Access to Postsecondary Education: The Role of Social FactorsAdvocates for Children of New York
Astra Bonini2012Raw Material Wealth and Economic Mobility: A World-Historical PerspectiveResearch Specialist, United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report Office