Graduate
Students
Nichole Bayliss
nkb6@pitt.edu
Overview Phase
Admitted: Fall 2005-2006
Interests: I am interested in health disparities, racial residential segregation, sociology of health & illness, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis. My research seeks to identify 'hot spots' of racial disparities in cancer mortality and infant mortality across northern and southern US counties and to determine factors (such as racial residential segregation, access to food, air quality, access to health care, etc.) impacting cancer mortality and infant mortality.
Assisted: Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of Everyday Life, Deviance and Social Control, Statistics and Probability for Business Management
Taught: Social Research Methods, Medical Sociology, Deviance and Social Control, Health and Illness
Nancy Matteuzzi Bruni
nmb33@pitt.edu
Overview Phase
Admitted: Fall 2007-2008
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, Medical Sociology
Kelsy Burke
kcb17@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2007-2008
Interests: My research examines the intersection of sexuality, gender, and conservative Christianity in the contemporary United States. My dissertation is a mixed-methods study that focuses on how evangelical Protestants use the Internet to discuss and promote sex practices within marriage. I use interviews, surveys, content analysis, and observations of websites and face-to-face events to understand how some evangelicals grapple with sexual norms, regulations, and their own desires in the context of online communities.
Assisted: Sociology of Everyday Life, Deviance and Social Control, Basic Applied Statistics
Taught: Wealth and Power, Marriage
Gabriel Chouhy
MA Thesis Phase
Admitted: Fall 2010-2011
Interests: I am interested in four main topics, related to the issues that I have been researching the last years. Firstly, the sociology of homeless people, specifically how different trajectories influence the outcomes in terms of chance to escape homelessness. Second, I am interested in how school knowledge is socially distributed, and how some social classes produce the social conditions to accumulate more school knowledge than others. Third, I am interested in the effects of educational segregation over the later trajectories of the young. In other words, the question is how the process of social differentiation through education (acting together with class and residential segregation) affects the subsequent social stratification and ensures the persistence of inequalities. Finally, I am specifically interested in the school factors that cause differences in learning. Using multilevel models, and based on a recent longitudinal survey conducted Uruguay, I am planning to find those organizational models that prove to be empirically effective in reducing educational inequality, with their effects over subsequent student trajectories.
Kimberly Creasap
kac130@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interests:: urban sociology, subcultural studies, social movements, visual sociology, ethnography, Scandinavian studies. My research focuses on the (re)production of anti-capitalist "scenes" (networks of people and places), where people experiment with alternative culture as a means of resisting commercialization and gentrification of city space and creating participatory forms of everyday urban life. Between 2007-2011, I have conducted in-depth interviews with anti-capitalist activists, as well as ethnographic observations and photo studies of alternative political spaces (e.g. social centers, squats, radical bookshops, cafes, and collectives) in Sweden's three largest
cities: Stockholm, Göteborg, and Malmö.
Assisted: Sociology of Gender, Sociology of the Family, Introduction to Sociology, Deviance and Social Control
Taught: Sociology of Family, Social Problems, Marriage, Introduction to Women's Studies
John Cuda
MA Thesis Phase
Admitted: Fall 2010-2011
Interests: I am interested in political movements of the 17th and 18th centuries, the French Revolution, and in the history of democracy as it unfolded in both Europe and in the New World. In particular I am concerned with the early interactions between Europeans and Native Americans, wherein I am acknowledging the origins of the democratic themes in the west which largely arose during the Enlightenment period. Also how these themes relate to the Post World War II cultural and political upheavals occurring in Europe and America, particularly the beat and folk movements in the 1950s, and psychedelic revolutions in the 1960s. The effects of these counter-cultural movements, for example, as they manifested in the music and art of the period, but more importantly in the genuine attempts at creating alternative, communalist living situations which appeared then is of particular interest to me now, and has relevance to my thoughts about social change. Also the new age and ecological movements of the 1970s with their espousal of a return to a more natural existence, consciousness transformation, and in general the transcendental philosophies of this era have been an influence on my thought, along with the work of Emerson and Thoreau; Influences: Karl Marx, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, C. Wright Mills, Noam Chomsky, Michel Foucault, Alan Watts, as well as Timothy Leary, and Carlos Castaneda has been especially inspiring to me. With regard to anarchist theory and practice I've recently been looking at French theorists like Guy Debord and his group the “Situationist International” which influenced the Paris uprising of 1968.
Assisted: Introdction to Sociology, Societies, Sociology of Everyday Life
Yven Destin
yvd2@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests:
: I am interested in the tribal stigma of Haitian immigrants, the kind of stigma that remains with them from generation to generation. After an often traumatic struggle to settle in another society or host society, Haitian newcomers confront people with stereotypic views of them as impoverished and disease-ridden refugees—stigmas generally associated with the people of Haiti. Since available media and histories of Haiti reflect a nation of chronic political violence, economic instability, poor healthcare, and victims of unforgiving natural disasters, even the most informed foreigners are prone to think of these stigmas (impoverished and disease-ridden refugees) as ancestral- or tribal-like of all people of Haitian descent. In this sense, the word “Haitian” too becomes a mark of stigma! Haitian immigrants, thus, carry a second stigma of group membership. People discriminating against Haitians (toward their resettlement, employment, presence at school) are likely reacting to this tribal stigma of Haiti: They view Haitian immigrants as a collective deviance, where Haitians are regarded as deviant because, in certain social circles in a host society, it is stigmatizing to be Haitian (my working concept, adapted from Goode 2007). These social outcomes, therefore, focus my interests on the sociology of deviance and immigration.
Assisted: Societies
Taught: Social Research Methods
Maria Dillard
mkd15@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2007-2008
Interests: Most broadly, I am interested in the linkages between social science and issues of environment, public health, and community development. My doctoral research focuses on social-ecological resilience and the response of communities to change. This project has two goals - 1) to measure the social-ecological resilience of communities through the development of a conceptually grounded and consistent set of valid empirical indicators and 2) to provide communities with a means for evaluating their potential to implement, adapt, and/or support policies for change. I have a background in social movements and collective behavior research with a focus on organizations working for social change.
Assisted: Deviance and Social Control, Wealth and Power, Basic Statistics
Brittany Duncan
bjd42@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests:
Women's social movements, political sociology, anarchism, movements and the mass media, and transnational corporations/neoliberalism.
Assisted: Introduction to Sociology
Ervin Dyer
edyer@pitt.edu
MA Thesis 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.
Stephanie Eckstrom
MA Thesis Phase
Admitted: Fall 2010-2011
Interests:
I am very interested in the intersections of race, class, and gender; social movements, particularly the impact of technology on current and future functioning and infrastructure; gender studies; and feminist theory, particularly as applied towards sexuality and violence.
Suzanna Eddyono
sue2@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests:
My comprehensive paper focuses on citizenship education. At this point I see education as national instrument for forging new citizens in Indonesia, a Muslims country that is in transition from the authoritarian regime to a more democratic one. Particularly I am interested in the way democracy and citizenship are presented in schools’ text books, what values citizenship textbooks emphasize, and how this emphasizing can be useful as an entry point to understand Indonesian cultural and political change.
R. Spencer Foster
rsf2@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2003-2004
Interest:
: I am currently collecting data and working on my dissertation on the impact of expertise and credibility in the 9/11 Truth Movement. My master's thesis focused on the formation of new organizations in the North American environmental movement. I've conducted research on occupational segregation in Brazil, the role of political contributions on DOD contracts, the ethical dilemma faced by paleontologists over the sale of vertebrate fossils, and using comic books to teach social issues.
Assisted: Deviance and Social Control, Sociology of Sports
Taught: Sociology of Sports, Social Research Methods, Marriage
Piotr Konieczny
pik1@pitt.edu
Dissertation 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, Marriage
Mehr Latif
mel93@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2011-2012
Interests: I am interested in formal and informal social institutions in Pakistan, how they work, the influences that shape them, and their influence, in turn, on political access and democratic development. Over the past ten years, my research has focused on civil society development, decentralization policy, and social accountability models. My two countries of specialization include Cambodia and Pakistan.
Assisted: Sociology of the Family, Introduction to Sociology
Amy McDowell
adm60@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interests: My research examines how U.S. Christian and Muslim punk scenes use defiant imagery to express religious identity. I also analyze how religious differences, status differences, and religious and economic support shape how Christian and Muslim punk scenes challenge religious and political conventions in underground music subcultures.
Assisted: Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of the Family, Sociology of Everyday Life, Societies
Taught: Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of Gender
Mohammad Golam Nabi Mozumder
mnm25@pitt.edu
Comprehensive 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.
Assisted: Statistics, Societies
Daniel Nunez
dan25@pitt.edu
Overview Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My dissertation deals with the state-society struggle around issues of crime in Guatemala. I am interested in knowing what the state and society regard as “crime”, the types of actions they undertake against it, the ways in which they make sense of them, and how both collective understandings and the actions they lead to coexist, interact, and/or conflict with each other. In this sense, my dissertation addresses the broader topics of state-society relations and state-building in “post-conflict” societies.
Assisted: SOC 0005 Societies, STATS
Taught: SOC 0317 Global Societies
Corinne Ogrodnik
cro9@pitt.edu
MA Thesis Phase
Admitted: Fall 2010-2011
Interests: I am interested in the intersection of peasant movements, globalization, and how peasant societies have organized in response to changes engendered by globalization. This interest also expands to the impact of cultural processes on policymaking in peasant societies. Additionally, I am interested in the occurrence of violence against women in post conflict societies, and movements that have emerged in response. Last, my interests include micro-level analysis of social movements and how norms of behavior adopted within movement’s impact the efforts of movements as a whole.
Assisted: Sociology of Everyday Life, Statistics
Samantha Plummer
ssp19@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2011-2012
Interests: I am interested in religion and culture, specifically the religious and cultural dimensions of social cognition. Additionally, I am interested in the intersection of culture, politics and mental health treatment, particularly in the context of social and economic inequality.
Sharon Quinsaat
smq5@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: My areas of research interest are in social movements and revolutions, transnational activism, and migration. Specifically, I am interested in how state policies on immigration and integration in host countries affect migrants as transnational subjects for revolutionary struggles in the homeland. I intend to examine how these policies (1) shape the opportunities for the transnational activism of migrants, (2) define the type of migrants that can be mobilized for such activity, (3) facilitate or hinder the embeddedness of migrants in the host country, and (4) determine the strategies and practices of migrant activism. In addition, I explore discourses on the migrant as a revolutionary subject. I would like to conduct a comparative study of migrants in the United States and Western Europe as it can reveal interesting insights into variations in the relationship between locality and political mobilization.
Marie Skoczylas
mbs@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2009-2010
Interests: I am currently studying constructions of contemporary anarchist theories and practices. My other research interests include women's liberation movements, intersectionality and identity construction, queer theory, oral history, grounded theory, and participatory collective research.
Assisted: Societies, Sociology of the Family, Deviance and Social Control
Taught: Deviance and Social Control, Sociology of the Family
DaShanne Stokes
dps26@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My research focuses on big-picture questions on issues of recognition, the nation, ethnic identity, law and society, and power. Current projects include: 1.) Law, identity, and the power of recognition: domination and resistance in Native American federal acknowledgement; 2.) Native American identity politics and the eagle feather law (50 CFR 22); 3.) Cultural imperialism; and 4.) My dissertation research, exploring the political recognition of nations as part of a larger “opportunity structure of recognition.”
Assisted: Sociology of the Family, Societies, Statistics
Taught: Political Sociology
Jeffrey Tienes
jmt114@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2010-2011
Interests: I am interested in culture, globalization, democracy, theory, and the political economy. My Master’s Thesis utilizes the work of Pierre Bourdieu to create a framework with which to examine contradictions in rap music. In future research, I would like to explore youth perceptions of rap music and hip-hop culture.
Assisted: Societies
Ryan Torack
rmt22@pitt.edu
MA Thesis Phase
Admitted: Fall 2010-2011
Interests: History, Globalization, Political Culture, Social Theory, Economic/Social Elites, and Educational Philosophy and Structures. For a Master’s Thesis I would like to write about undergraduate college choice/experiences and how they are related to business models of maximizing profit in a modern day, capitalist, economic order.
Chen Jye (Phebie) Thum
cht51@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My academic interests include social movements, transnational activism, political sociology, and race/ethnic relations. My dissertation will be examining the factors that help the Tiananmen Mothers to operate and survive.
Assisted: Sociology of the Family, Sociology of Gender, Basic Applied Statistics, Statistics and Probability for Business Management
Taught: Social Problems
Tim Vining
tjv2@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2005-2003
Interests: I am interested in Social Movement Strategies and how personal stories are used to frame and convey demands for social change. My M.A. Thesis was on the impact of hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans healthcare movement. My Ph.D. dissertation is "Spinning a Tale: Storytelling Strategies of Post-Katrina Louisiana Social Movements"
Assisted: Wealth and Power, Statistics
Taught: Social Change, Sociology of Sports
Suzanne Wagner
sew61@pitt.edu
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2011-2012
Interestes: I am interested in examining the apparent analogy between the social movement phenomenon and the groups of actors involved in civil war and other regional international conflicts.
Jane Walsh
jmw129@pitt.edu
Dissertation Phase
Admitted: Fall 2006-2007
Interested:My dissertation research analyzes how the Coalition of Immokalee Workers
(CIW) and its allied organizations, which include the Student Farmworker Alliance (SFA), Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida (IA), Just Harvest USA (JH) and the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF), work together while preserving CIW autonomy. Specifically, I am interested in the experiences of allies in the CIW's movement for Fair Food. I use qualitative methods including participant-observation of both aggrieved (CIW) and allied (SFA, IA, JH and AFF) organizations, interviews with staff, former staff and members of these organizations and archival documents.
Assisted: Sociology of the Family, Introduction to Sociology, Statistics
Taught: Social Change, Social Theory, Social Research Methods, Sociology of Gender
Selman Yilmaz
sey17@pitt.edu
Overview 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
Carolyn Zook
clz10@pitt.edu
Comprehensive Phase
Admitted: Fall 2008-2009
Interests: My areas of interest include political sociology, war and peace, and culture and ideology. Specifically, I am interested in exploring how government leaders mobilize public support for war by looking at the intersection of structure and culture. I will focus on media as a vehicle of conveying messages of legitimation, justification, and authority.
Assisted: Sociology of Gender, Sociology of Family
Taught: Sociology of the Family, Social Theory
Robert Zysk
Preliminary Phase
Admitted: Fall 2011-2012
Interests: My interests are in social movements, political sociology, social change, philanthropy, and social theory. More specifically, I am intrigued by the boundaries within anarchist thought, the right-wing "Libertarian" movement in America, and the effects of government programs on things such as charity.
Assisted: Societies, Deviance and Social Control