Meg Austin Smith

maustin@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Classics, University of North Carolina

M.A. in Political Science, University of North Carolina

Specialty Areas:

I am most interested in the commodification of knowledge and education, but as a former ESL teacher, I am also interested in relationships between adult literacy, health outcomes, and informed consent. My Masters' research dealt with the development of political identification with the European Union as facilitated by educational opportunities, and during a Fulbright grant in the Czech Republic, I explored how children's literature can be used in adult second language acquisition.

Mark Gross

mgross@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Specialty Areas:

Valerie Haddad

vhaddad@socy.umd.edu.

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, University of Michigan

Specialty Areas:

My broad areas of interest include gender, race, social psychology, and social inequality.  I am specifically interested in how the intersection of race and gender affects the lives and experiences of women of color.

Crosby Hipes

chipes@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in International Relations/French, University of Arkansas

M.A. in Sociology, University of Arkansas

Specialty Areas:

My past research interests included veterans' issues, namely posttraumatic stress disorder in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.  I was focused on how the issue of PTSD is framed and thus socially constructed through the different narratives woven by the military, mental health workers, and veterans themselves.  I have also researched military edgework (voluntary risk-taking) and simulated edgework in the past.

Currently, I am gaining interests in group processes and the military self.

Susan Hong

shong@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, Lehigh University

B.A. in Psychology, Lehigh University

M.A. in Sociology, Lehigh University

Specialty Areas:

Stratification, Comparative-Historical

My research experience lies in stratification, urban, and medical sociology. My undergraduate thesis explored suicide rates and depression in American colleges and universities. For my Masters’ thesis, I used a mixed methods approach to study depression and future aspirations in low-income teenage mothers.

Joanna Kling

jkling@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, Muhlenberg College

Specialty Areas:

My current interest is in the labor force and how certain populations dominate certain areas of the labor market.  I am especially interested labor force participation by gender and race.

Eric Laun

elaun@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

M.B.A. University of Baltimore

Specialty Areas:

Theory and Comparative-Historical

My general academic interests are comparative sociology, globalization, historical sociology, political sociology, social stratification and sociological theory. Given these research interests, I plan to specialize in comparative sociology and sociological theory.
I plan to undertake academic research at the intersections between several areas of Sociology as well as other academic disciplines.

Patrick Liu

pliu@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.S. in Sociology, University of California, Riverside

Specialty Areas:

Social psychology

Patrick's interests lie in the domain of microsociology, although he's been known to dabble at other levels.

Sidra Montgomery

smontgomery@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, Beloit College

Specialty Areas:

My primary areas of interest are military sociology and gender, work, and family with an overall emphasis on the unique issues that military spouses and military families encounter. Generally, I am interested in the negotiations and constraints of military families. Some specific issues I hope to explore include the emotional stress surrounding frequent or multiple deployments; changing family rhythms due to relocations, extended separations, deployments or general occupational uncertainties; and the reintegration process for the service member and their family upon discharge or retirement from the military. Outside of military families, I am also interested in studying the rising rates of military suicide, and the complex social issues that lie behind the struggles of many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans today.

Alice Nixon

jnixon@socy.umb.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, Goucher College

M.A. in Sociology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Specialty Areas:

My areas of concentration are demography and development. Based on my previous work in the field of international health with a focus on developing countries, I am interested in the impact of epidemics (e.g. HIV/AIDS, malaria, influenza) and related public health initiatives on a country’s population, and economic and social development particularly with regard to health systems strengthening.

Sarah Phipps

sphipps@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

Specialty Areas:

My interests at present center on the fields of comparative/historical sociology and the military. Specifically, I am interested in what systems govern the violence in war-waging, what explains wartime atrocities and the distinction between combatants and noncombatants, and how the state frames and narrates conflict. In the past my interests have included religion and society, and online communication and social interaction, as well as self-presentation and gender in an online context.

Marek Posard

mposard@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Political Science, Loyola University of Chicago

M.A. in Political Science, Loyola University of Chicago

Specialty Areas:

Military and Comparative-Historical

My primary interests are in the fields of military and comparative-historical Sociology with a focus on interstate conflicts. My interests include research on the transformation of state-based and private military forces worldwide, including the United States. I am also interested in historical research on insurgencies and asymmetric warfare.

Lori Reeder

lreeder@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, Pennsylvania State University

Specialty Areas:

Stratification and Gender, Work and Family

I am interested in focusing on stratification, gender work and family, and gender inequality.

David Strohecker

dstrohecker@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, Texas A&M University

Specialty Areas:

I am most interested in forms of discrimination and prejudice as they relate to individuals. Particularly, I am interested in studies of white racism and white privilege, and how our historical legacy of overlapping oppressions implicates our current positions in American society. I am therefore interested in racial, gender, sexual, and ethnic discrimination, especially as they are connected to individuals and institutional forces. I am also interested in how the media plays into current debates on race, gender, and sexual orientation. In this regard, my interests lie at the confluence of race, politics, and the media. I would like to perform a qualitative research study on mass media framing and individual perceptions. More directly I would like to see how race, gender, and other ascribed statuses are presented in the media, and how these images influence one’s self-identity and their view of other groups (racial, ethnic, sexual, or other). On the collective level, I would also like to see how media images under gird socio-political discourse on race, gender, and sexuality. I would like to see how public discourse of these ascribed statuses influence political decision-making, voting patterns, and larger social movements for equality. I want to see how images in the media work in tandem with entrenched political interests, ultimately leading legislators and voters to pursue particular policies and action.

Joseph Waggle

jwaggle@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

B.A. in Sociology, University of California, Berkeley

M.A. in Sociology, University of Chicago

Specialty Areas:

My interests lie primarily in the intersection between social stratification and medical sociology. Specifically, I am interested in the relationship between socially dictated notions of class and how these relate to attitudes toward medicine and access to health care. I am also interested by the production and commoditization of knowledge as it pertains to the field of medicine, and how this knowledge spreads and changes over time. While I respect the ability of quanitative methods to paint broad strokes, I believe that no picture of a society can be complete without the subtle coloration of qualitative methods in complement. It is for this reason that the bulk of my research experience has been in ethnography, interviews, and participant observation.

William Yagatich

wyagatich@socy.umd.edu

Previous Degrees:

BA in Sociology, Coastal Carolina University

Specialty Areas:

My two areas of specialization are Theory and Stratification. My interests focus on the consumer culture and the concept of social distance.  In particular, I would like to study the intersection of the two, how consumption creates and reinforces social distance along strata.