Graduate
Students
Nichole Bayliss
nkb6@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2005-2006
Interests: I am interested in health disparities, racial segregation, sociology of health & illness, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis. I am specifically interested in the use of GIS technology to identify 'hot spots' of infant mortality rates and the determination of factors influencing infant mortality in Pennsylvania counties.
Assisted: Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of Everyday Life, Deviance and Social Control
Taught: Social Research Methods, Medical Sociology
Sheila Beasley
sbeasle@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-10
Interests: My interests include social inequalities particularly for urban populations. Previous studies include media affects on identity, cultural and social processes influenced by modernity and transnationality. I plan to do ethnographic research on the constructed formation of cultural and racial identity.
Nancy Matteuzzi Bruni
nmb33@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interests: I am interested in transnational social movements.
Assisted: Sociology of the Family, Introduction to Sociology
Taught: Introduction to Sociology, Peace Movements & Peace Education, Social Change
Kelsy Burke
kcb17@pitt.edu
MA Thesis Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interests: Social movements, religion, gender and sexuality. My Master's Thesis is a qualitative study focusing on a clergy group that advocates for abortion rights within the state of South Dakota.
Assisted: Sociology of Everyday Life, Deviance and Social Control Statistics
Jared Coopersmith
jscst39@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2003-2004
Interests: My primary interests are sociology of science, scientific controversies and quantitative methodology. My research is in the organizational study of social movements via social-network analysis. I am currently collecting data for my dissertation, a study of the organizational network of the intelligent design/scientific creationist movement in America.
Assisted: Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of the Family, Sociology of Everyday Life, Statistics, Deviance and Social Control
Taught: Sociology of the Family, and Social Research Methods
Kimberly Creasap
kac130@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interests: Interests: social inequalities, sub cultural studies, social movements, ethnography, Scandinavian studies. I am interested in the micro dynamics of urban social "scenes" (specific networks of people and sets of locations in cities), particularly dynamics of gender, sexuality, class, and ethnicity. I plan to do an ethnographic comparison of the extra parliamentary left "scenes" in the cities of Göteborg and Stockholm, Sweden.
Assisted: Sociology of Gender, Sociology of the Family, Introduction to Sociology, Deviance and Social Control
Taught: Sociology of Family
Garrett Dahl
gtd8@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: My master’s thesis focuses on “biketivist” contestation of space and collective identity empowerment against autopian and police opposition in the Critical Mass cycling event. In the future, I look forward to research involving gender, race, class, and the green movement, ecological feminism, cultural criminology, urban community agriculture, contested urban spaces, and risk society and late modernity.
Yven Destin
yvd2@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: I am interested in unraveling the “Undercover Haitian” phenomena and its effect among second generation Haitian immigrants in the U.S. who “go to great length to conceal any trace of their Haitian identity directly associated with Haiti” (Zephir, 2001). I think that variations of this phenomena manifest in other ethnic groups immigrating to the U.S. Thus, my research interests focus on Immigration and Ethnic Identity Formation in the United States, Sociology of Knowledge—how immigrants come to resolve their identity in everyday life, Sociology of Space & Place—whether identity is best characterized by the materiality or immateriality of spaces, Demography (particularly, patterns of human migration), emergent Social Inequalities and Social Movements; and applicable use of Statistics and Social Research Methods.
Maria Dillard
mkd15@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2007-2008
Interests: Connecting social science to issues of environment, health, and community development; Social change and collective action; Social inequality; Methodology
Assisted: Deviance and Social Control, Wealth and Power, Basic Statistics
Ervin Dyer
edyer@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My interests lean toward race, culture and migration and storytelling within social movements. Specifically, I want to explore the generational, economic, and educational and identity challenges and successes that meet African immigrants as they settle and build lives in Pittsburgh. I am interested in the qualitative methodologies that can enable me to build case studies in revealing their responses to these challenges.
Suzanna Eddyono
sue2@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: I am interested in culture and power; social inequality; citizenship and identity; and family, gender, and law
R. Spencer Foster
rsf2@pitt.edu
Overview Phase
Admitted: Fall 2003-2004
Interest: I'm interested in the use of expertise to enhance credibility in conspiracy theory movements. I'm also interested in the formation of new organizations in the environmental movement. I've additionally worked on occupational segregation in Brazil, the role of political contributions on DOD contracts, and using comic books to teach social issues.
Assisted: Deviance and Social Control, Sociology of Sports
Taught: Sociology of Sports, Social Research Methods, Marriage
Kathleen Gray
kab22@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2002-2003
Interests: My research interests include current social movements, organizational responses to poverty and racism within muliti cultural societies, and the dynamics of racial segregation and residential assimilation in American Cities.
Assisted: Societies and Statistics
Taught: Social Research Methods, Sociology of Gender, and Introduction to Sociology
Kai Heidemann
kaiheid@aol.com
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2003-2004
Interests: My research bridges social movement studies with the sociology of education and the sociology of language. My dissertation is a qualitative exploration of education-based minority language rights activism in France. In particular, I am looking at how grassroots actors have mobilized through quasi-public schooling organizations in order to achieve greater levels of cultural and political self-determination for minority language speakers.
Taught: Sociology of Gender, Sociology of Education, Special Topics – Ethnicity in Europe
Yolanda Hernandez-Albujar
yoh14@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interests: My interests focus on gender, migration, and identity. Specifically, I explore the reconstruction of identity among Latin American mothers who migrated to Europe. I am also very interested in qualitative methodologies and in the incorporation of visual methods, particularly video art, into social research.
Assisted: Societies, Introduction to Sociology
Taught: Social Theory
Sambriddhi Kharel
sak43@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2003-2004
Interests: My interests lie broadly in gender studies and development, post-colonial feminist (intersection of race, caste, class, nation, and gender. I am also interested in looking at the “Dialectics of Identity and Resistance among Dalits in Nepal”.
Assisted: Sociology of Sports, Wealth and Power
Taught: Societies, Working Women, and Marriage
Piotr Konieczny
pik1@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2005-2006
Interests: I am interested in the history of democracy, especially the impact of technological progress (especially in the area of communication) on this process. I am also studying the historical aspects of the political system of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its impact on the more know, western pro-democratic thinkers in social movements.
Assisted: Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of the Family, Sociology of Everyday Life, Societies, Statistics
Taught: Societies, Sociology of the Family, Global Society
Matt Landry
msl37@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: I am interested in Ideology and Stratification. For my dissertation, I plan to study conservative and right-wing social movements.
Amy McDowell
adm60@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interests: Youth Culture, Born Again Evangelicalism, Music, Medical and Social Movements
My thesis analyzes the construction of symbolic boundaries in Pittsburgh's East End grassroots music and arts scene. My preliminary dissertation fieldwork explores Christian Rock Ministry, music subcultures and the formation of the "new church."
Assisted: Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of the Family, Sociology of Everyday Life, Societies
Taught: Introduction to Sociology
Mohammad Golam Nabi Mozumder
mnm25@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: I am interested in tradition and modernity, religion in the contemporary societies, social change, culture and power, social movement, education, urbanization etc.
Daniel Nunez
dan25@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My interests right now include History, Violence, and Social Theory. For my Master's thesis, I will be conducting research on lynching mobs in Guatemala.
Assisted: Societies
Marie Skoczylas
mbs@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: I am interested in social movements, social inequalities and globalization, gender and women’s studies, anarchist theory and practice, oral history and ethnography.
Sharon Quinsaat
smq5@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: My areas of research interest are in social movements, transnational activism, and immigration. Specifically, I would like to analyze the discourses, ideologies, and framing processes of immigrant rights movements in United States and Spain by drawing not only on social movement paradigms, but also on theories on immigrant assimilation, transnational’s, and post colonialism.
DaShanne Stokes
dps26@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: I will conduct research in the areas of culture and politics, focusing on the power/history/social change and culture/knowledge sub-fields interfacing colonialism and empire, global and transnational politics, and indigenous cultural-political conflict. I am currently studying American cultural imperialism as expressed in the early U.S. Peace Corps, the thematic identification of cultural imperialism, and is developing a line of inquiry that will examine the impact and identity politicking of Native American religious freedom in the “eagle feather law” (50 CFR 22.22).
Veronica Szabo
veronika@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 1999-2000
Interests: I am interested in social change in communist and post-communist societies. I focus on social movements, specifically the anti-communist revolutions of 1989. I am also interested in post-communist social movements, democratization, post-communist feminist movements, and nationalism.
Assisted: Deviance and Social Control, Social Problems, Sociology of the Family
Taught: Sociology of Everyday Life, Introduction to Sociology, and Sociology of the Family, Marriage, and Social Theory, Separation Divorce and Custody
Chen Jye (Phebie) Thum
cht51@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My academic interests are social movements and race/ethnic relations. I propose delving even deeper into framing theory and outcomes of the social movements. I also plan to analyze dynamics of race, class, and gender in social movement organizations.
Tim Vining
tjv2@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2005-2003
Interests: I have been heavily invested in social movements and the intersection of race class, gender, and sexual orientation. My MA thesis and dissertation will be investigating the impact of Hurricane Katrina.
Assisted: Wealth and Power, Statistics
Taught: Social Change, Sociology of Sports
Jane Walsh
jmw129@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interested: Social movements, immigration, labor, qualitative methodology and Latin American studies. While a Pitt, I hope to continue my research of farm labor movements within the United States through comparative and historical research.
Assisted: Sociology of the Family, Introduction to Sociology
Amy White
amw75@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2005-2006
Interests: I am primarily interested in the areas of sociology of development and women and development. I hope to study how micro-credit loans to women in developing countries affect their lives, such as their decision-making power within the household and community and their overall wellbeing.
Assisted: Societies and Wealth and Power, Statistics
Taught: Societies
Selman Yilmaz
sey17@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My interests include Sociology of Religion, Social Movements, and New Religious Movements (NRMs).
Xi (Cecilia) Zhang
xiz30@pitt.edu
Overview Phase
Admitted: Fall 2005-2006
Interests: I am interested in demography (particularly, migration), social inequality and stratification, class analysis, comparative sociology, globalization, and contemporary China studies. I use both quantitative methods and qualitative methods (e.g. ethnography, content analysis, archive analysis). Currently I am preparing for my dissertation overview on the topic of internal labor migration in China.
Assisted: Sociology of Everyday Life, Introduction to Sociology, Wealth and Power, Societies
Rachel Zheng
yuz38@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: I am interested in cultural exchanges between countries. Currently my research interest is: Comparative Study of the US and Chinese Private Charitable Donations: from Cultural, Economic and Organizational Perspectives.
Carolyn Zook
clz10@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My main area of interest is in social movements. Specifically, I am interested in exploring the social impact of genocide and other human rights violations in various countries throughout Africa and Europe. I am also interested in how the media frames messages about these events.