I am a PhD Candidate in Sociology at Yale University. I am on the 2025-2026 job market.

As a sociologist and social demographer, my primary research centers on U.S. high-skilled immigration policy, and my broader areas of expertise include stratification and inequality, immigration, race and ethnicity, family, labor market, and organizations. I primarily apply quantitative methods to analyze large-scale administrative and nationally representative data.

My dissertation examines how U.S. immigration policy and employers shape the lives of high-skilled immigrants. I show how temporary visa programs, such as the H-1B, operate both as the primary pathway to skill-based immigration and a mechanism of stratification—binding migrants to employer control, restricting access to permanent residency, and reinforcing racial/ethnic inequality. Drawing on population-level administrative records from government agencies, nationally representative survey data, and a longitudinal interview study of 70 elite immigrant youth, I develop the concept of the paradox of deservingness: the disjuncture between immigrants’ presumed merit and their paradoxical exclusion from stable employment and legal membership, revealing how the system undermines the promise of meritocracy.

My broader research examines family inequalities and social stratification in global contexts. I have studied fertility and childcare disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, union formation in China, and the influence of family background on educational outcomes in both the U.S. and China.

My articles are published in journals such as Sociology, Demographic Research, Population Research and Policy Review, Journal of Family Issues, and Chinese Journal of Sociology. I received my B.A. in Sociology and Economics from Grinnell College.

You can view my CV here.