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Graduate Students

Graduate Students in Sociology

Julia Bandini

BA, sociology, minor in French (College of the Holy Cross). Julia’s interests include medical sociology, aging, gender, and the family. Her previous research on widowerhood examined the gendered experiences of young widowers from the Harvard Bereavement Study of the late-1960s.  Julia’s undergraduate thesis evaluated the growing trend of medical tourism in a global world. 

Margaret Clendenen

BA, sociology and religious studies (The College of William & Mary). Margaret's research interests include religion, social movements, sexualities and gender.  She has previously researched liberal religious leaders' responses to Proposition 8 in California (the 2008 ballot initiative that defined marriage as between one man and one woman) and the relationships between atheism and sexualities.

BA, comparative history of ideas (University of Washington). MA, public policy and women's studies (George Washington University). Prior to attending Brandeis, Casey worked at the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) in Washington, D.C. where she was awarded the 2007-2008 IWPR/GW Fellowship in Women's Policy Research. Casey's general research interests include sociology of gender, sociology of culture and religion, and political sociology. Her current projects focus on service and community engagement among emerging adults; immigration, religion, and the social service sector; and intersections between social activism and religious vocation.

BA, English literature (Wesleyan University). Brian's general interests are gender, culture, medical sociology and work. He has done ethnographic research on high school wrestling and wrestlers' constructions of masculinity. He has also published on the  intersection of religion and health, and the diagnostic processes associated with the contested illness known as Morgellons. His dissertation research explores the relationship between sport and community in different neighborhoods in  the city of Boston.   

BA, women's studies and African American studies (University of California, Davis). MA, gender and global studies (State University of New York at Buffalo). Nicky's general interests include the sociology of gender, social movements, nationalism and the sociology of violence. Her present research includes projects analyzing post-conflict zones, particularly post-genocide communities. Nicky's master's thesis was on the intergenerational transmission of trauma and memory in the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Her current project is on Rwandan genocide survivors and how memory, commemoration and religion function in the process of reconciliation.

 

 

Amanda Gengler

BA, (University of Wisconsin-Madison). MSSW, (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Amanda's interests include race, class, and gender inequality; social psychology; the sociology of health and illness; and social change.  Her dissertation research explores how families of seriously ill children work to get the best possible care for their child through a combination of ongoing interviews and ethnographic observations at an elite private university research hospital. Her previous ethnographic research examined interactional processes of control and resistance at a battered women's shelter. Read more about Amanda's current and previous research here.

BA, sociology (Marlboro College). Jennifer's main areas of interest include political sociology, sociology of culture, sociology of law and communities of place.

BS, industrial and labor relations (Cornell University). MS, Labor studies (University of Massachusetts, Amherst). She is interested in the intersections of gender and union organizing in the contemporary U.S. labor movement. Her previous work looked at organizing among family child-care providers. She is currently working on completing QPDs in social movements, gender and work and occupations.

Jaleh  Jalili

BA, architecture. MA, urban and regional planning (University of Tehran).  Among her interests are social movements and social change, community and urban sociology, sociology of gender and historical sociology. 

Vanesa Lopes Munoz

Consuelo Alexandra Revis

Caitlin Orlandella Slodden

BA, anthropology and women's, gender, and sexuality studies (Colby College 2004). MA, American civilization (Brown University 2006). Caitlin's areas of interest include medical sociology, death and dying, gender and family, and emotional labor. She is currently researching hospice organizations and the causes and consequences of the medicalization and professionalization of death and dying. Her dissertation will explore dying as a social process, with particular focus given to the ways in which it is managed and organized by various death care professionals.

BA, humanistic studies (Johns Hopkins University). AM, history (Brown University), MA, applied sociology (University of Massachusetts, Boston). Jill's areas of interest include sociology of education, stratification/mobility, sociology of culture, and social theory. She is currently working on a study of the role of independent educational consultants in the college application process.  Jill has presented her work at annual meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS), Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), and the American Sociological Association (ASA).

BA, sociology/Latin American studies (Wesleyan University), MA, sociology (The University of Chicago). Tito's general research interests include race/ethnicity, popular culture, Latin America/Latino cultural production, stratification, inequality, globalization, critical pedagogy, and gender/sexuality studies. While at Wesleyan Tito was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and the recipient of the Janina Montero Prize for outstanding activism and commitment to the Latino community. His current research explores the formation and proliferation of tourism in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil and the central role that race plays in the construction of the tourist market. His work investigates how racialized cultural activities are marketed by the tourism industry as "authentic" to promote tourism to Salvador and the ways in which conceptions of blackness and citizenship are challenged and (re)negotiated. Tito is also a full- time volunteer and coordinator for the International Youth Leadership Institute (IYLI), a not-for-profit organization that prepares African American and Latino secondary students to assume active leadership roles in their community and global society. As a group leader with IYLI, Tito has traveled with high school students to several countries in Africa and Latin America.

BA, sociology (University of California, San Diego). MA, sociology (Columbia University). Catherine’s interests include medical sociology, culture, stigma, and qualitative methods. Her previous work examined how therapy providers maintain a sense of efficacy despite medical uncertainty.

Alexandria Vasquez

BA, Liberal Arts (New School). MS, Sociology (Virginia Commonwealth University). Alex's interests include the emotional process of seeking employment in connection to digitalized bureaucracies. Her most recent research seeks to examine the experience of users that search for employment via online career tools. Her general interests include empathic research for social change, motivational action, theory (in the broadest sense), data visualization, and economic sociology. Alex's previous research focused on public health and medical sociology. Her master's thesis examined the reasons why low risk women choose to undergo cesarean section delivery from a structure-agency standpoint.

BA, film and television studies (Tel-Aviv University, Israel). MA, sociology (Tel-Aviv University, Israel). Dana wrote her master's thesis on identity construction among Israeli street prostitutes, drawing on an ethnographic study of street prostitution and interviews with sex workers. Dana's dissertation examines the social experience of obstructive sleep apnea in Israel and the U.S. by interviewing medical professionals and patients. Her research interests include medical sociology, sociology of the body, and intersections of gender, class, and ethnicity.

BA, sociology/anthropology and mathematics (Swarthmore College). MA, Jewish history (Ben Gurion University, Israel). Emily's research interests include religion, culture and gender, with a specific focus on contemporary Jewish communities. Before coming to Brandeis, Emily spent nearly five years studying and working in Israel.

BA, Jewish studies (University of Virginia). MA, near eastern and Judaic studies and women’s and gender studies (Brandeis University). Rachel’s research interests include emerging adulthood and Jewish young professionals, Jewish culture and the arts, and gender and sexuality. Rachel has worked as a research assistant on projects examining new Jewish leadership, Jewish education, and gender and American Jewish families.

BA, community health with a focus in international health (Brown University). MSc, medical anthropology (Oxford University). MPH, (Brown University). C. Everett Koop Health Policy Fellow (Brown University). Meredith's interests include medical sociology, public health, mental health, environmental sociology and research methods. She spent several field seasons in the Samoan Islands assisting in research related to cardiovascular disease risk. Other past research surrounded psychosocial stress, ADHD, smoking cessation-related health policy and outcomes research. Before coming to Brandeis, Meredith worked as an epidemiologist at the Rhode Island Department of Health and as a research specialist at the University of Pennsylvania.

BA, anthropology (Yale University), MS, law, policy and society (Northeastern University), MA, social policy (Heller School, Brandeis University).  Sara’s interests include the sociology of work, culture, and the intersection of race and gender.  Sara is particularly interested in racial disparities in employment outcomes, and the experience of minorities in service sector work.  Sara is pursuing a joint doctorate in sociology and social policy, and works as a research assistant in the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at The Heller School.

BA, psychology and sociology (University of California, Los Angeles).  MA, child development and urban and environmental policy and planning (Tufts University).  MA, social policy (Brandeis University).  

Kim’s research interests fall at the intersection of sociology, economics, and social policy; she studies organizations’ development of demand-side workforce development strategies in low-wage sectors.  Her dissertation will explore how state policies, organizational structure, and community resources converge to provide support to early childhood educators as they develop their knowledge and skills.  Other projects include an ethnographic study of subcultures, organizations, and market economics in modern roller derby.  Currently, Kim works as the Senior Research Associate at BostonEQUIP.

BA, psychology and French studies (Wesleyan University, CT). MPH (Boston University School of Public Health). MA in social policy (Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University). Tom's general interests include the sociology of health and illness, sociology of public health, organizational theory and behavior, and mixed-research methods. His ongoing research explores the use of psychotropic medications among children and youth in the child welfare system, and state-level systems for coordinating healthcare to children in out-of-home placements.

BA, public policy and photography (Hamilton College, NY). Degree in documentary photography (The Salt Institute of Documentary Studies, ME) and is a joint Ph.D student with the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Alexis's general interests include urban sociology, sociology of work and occupation, community development and mixed-research methods. Her ongoing research explores the intersection of occupation, class and gender.

BA, social work and political studies (Gordon College, MA). MA, sustainable international development (Brandeis University). MA, social policy (Brandeis University).  Diana's QPD areas include the sociology of youth and social movements. Her current dissertation work focuses on youth civic engagement and climate change.

BA, human development and family studies with adolescence concentration (Cornell University's College of Human Ecology). MA, urban and environmental policy (Tufts University). Tom's research interests include social movements, immigrant political action, the social construction of youth and youth civic engagement. Tom has worked as a professional program evaluator at the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University for eight years where he has developed and conducted mixed-methods program evaluations for organizations and schools that work to build youth civic engagement, especially service-learning, and youth entrepreneurship of middle school, high school and college youth. In addition, he has developed university-community partnerships that engage youth in participatory action research projects.

MPP, (Brandeis University). BS, psychology (Birmingham-Southern College). Allison is pursing a joint Ph.D. in social policy and sociology with the Heller School. Allison’s research interests include youth civic engagement, policy design and political voice, and participatory research methods. She has previously served as the Assistant Director of the Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility at the University of Alabama, and completed internships and consultancies with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the Massachusetts Service Alliance (MSA), and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

BA, sociology & American studies (Wesleyan University). MA, sociology (Boston College). MA, social policy (Brandeis University). Rebekah's interests include social inequality, aging and long term care, work-family balance, the sociology of marriage and family, health policy and research methods. Her MA thesis entailed an ethnographic study of in home elder care providers and she has co-authored articles published in Gender & Society (2007) and the Gerontologist (2008). Rebekah is the recipient of an Altman Fellowship in Health Policy and has worked as a research associate for projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Metro-West Foundation, Commonwealth Fund and Ford Foundation.

To be updated.

BA, sociology and anthropology (State University of New York at Buffalo, 2011).  Julian’s current primary interests are in medical sociology, public policy, and political sociology.  His research interests also include gender and education.  His past research has explored gendered motivations in pursuing higher education as well as inequalities in access to women’s health services in the US and UK.

To be updated.

Skye Miner

BA, sociology (Gonzaga University, 2012). Skye's research interests include medicalization, and theory. She is primarily interested in researching the medicalization of women's reproductive cycles.  In the past she has interviewed women about their experiences with hormonal contraception as well as analyzed the representations of different contraceptive methods in medical school textbooks.

BA, sociology (Brandeis University). Ilana is currently pursuing her degree part-time while she works at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Brandeis. Her primary concentration is sociology of aging.

Sonali Reese

To be updated.

Rachel Rodriguez

To be updated.

Xueqing Zhao

BA, Sociology (China Youth University for Political Sciences). Xueqing's undergraduate research included lyrical analysis of underground rock bands. She is also interested in post-modern theory, adolescent deviant behavior and the success or failure of popular music in an artificial online market. 

Aly Fields

BA, sociology and anthropology with minor in women’s/gender studies(Elon University, 2011). Aly’s interests encompass gender, LGBTQI identities and movements, intersectionality, identity, embodiment, and social theory.  Her previous research includes embodied approaches to transgenderism, experiences of LGBTQ-identified atheists, and an undergraduate thesis on feminine nerd identities.

BS in Sociology, minors in women's studies, political science, and dance (Wilson College, PA). Sierra is interested in issues of gender, deviance, performance, and mass media. Her recent research focused on the connections between women's colleges, feminist consciousness, and community activism.

BA, Sociology (Hamilton College, 2011). Caty's previous research has focused on feminist thought and gender roles in Colombia, alternative food movements in Central New York, and family planning policies in Central and Eastern Europe. She currently leads a volunteer performance organization that establishes testimonial theatre for women in various communities. Her areas of interest include masculinity, gender performance, sexual health education, and testimonial theatre as a form of feminist activism.