On the Job Market (Grad Students and Alumni)

Graduate Students on the Market

Rui Cao

I am a trained sociologist and social demographer who studies gender, education, family, and health. My research is motivated by exploring the heterogeneity of gender practices across micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, and by how these dimensions align or come into conflict to shape individuals’ life chances. Building on this agenda, I examine how gender systems intersect with individual identities and broader social contexts to influence attitudes, decision-making, and well-being. My dissertation investigates how sexual orientation shapes women’s and men’s trajectories in STEM fields. In a recent sole-authored publication, I examined how children’s gender influences parental gender ideology across regions characterized by different levels of gender inequality. I also led a study on maternal sleep and intergenerational living that highlights racial-ethnic disparities. Additional collaborative projects explore the dynamics and consequences of family relationships. My work has appeared in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Journal of Family Issues, and Social Psychology Quarterly.

Mehr Mumtaz

mumtaz.4@osu.edu

Mehr Mumtaz CV

Mehr Mumtaz is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Ohio State University. Her research focuses on the intersections between sociology of (im)migration, intersectionality, and inequality, focusing on how individuals’ migration processes and incorporation outcomes are shaped by the U.S. immigration system both inside and outside the U.S. Mehr’s dissertation project draws on rich qualitative data from recent Afghan migrants, and U.S. based immigration attorneys, to examine how migrants navigate the U.S. immigration system in the post-2021 context. Mehr pays close attention to the ways in which immigration policies and bureaucracies differentially affect and (re)produce intersecting gender, ethnic, and class related (in)equalities in migrants’ experiences with (im)mobility within their country of origin, transit, and destination.

Mehr’s dissertation project is supported by the Russell Sage Foundation’s Dissertation Grant, and the Mershon Center for International Security Research Grant at Ohio State University. Some of her research has been published in Sociological Quarterly, Socio-economic Review, and Population Research and Policy Review. Outside of Ohio State University, she has worked as a research consultant at the West Coast Poverty Center at the University of Washington, Seattle. Additionally, in 2022 Mehr served as a Research Intern at the Migration Policy Institute, Washington D.C. Mehr uses both qualitative and quantitative data sources and methods to develop her research agenda centered around migration governance and its consequences for individuals navigating it.

Advisors: Eric Schoon & Reanne Frank

Jack Wippell

wippell.1@osu.edu

Website

Jack Wippell is a Ph.D. Candidate and Presidential Fellow in Sociology at The Ohio State University, with affiliations at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies and the Translational Data Analytics Institute. Jack’s research and teaching interests sit at the intersection of politics, culture, and collective identity, with a particular emphasis on social division and conflict. He also has expertise and interest in computational social science and research methods. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals across the social sciences, including Social Forces, Social Problems, Criminology, Political Psychology, Political Analysis, and Social Science & Medicine, among others. He also has a co-authored book under contract on mediation analysis in the social sciences, and several forthcoming chapters.

Akanne Torres Beltran

torresbeltran.2@osu.edu

Website

Akanne Torres Beltran is pursuing her Ph.D. in sociology with a supplemental specialization in demography. Her research focuses on the family dynamics and social mobility pathways of rural Mexican immigrant families, and she aims to provide insights into how emerging immigrant communities establish a foothold in a new rural environment to support upward mobility for future generations. Akanne plans to use her experience to tailor services and resources offered by local nonprofits and community centers to better meet the needs of their immigrant populations.

Sinem Esengen

esengen.1@osu.edu

Website

I am a sociologist and social demographer who studies reproduction, health, and gender. My research examines (1) how individuals think and learn about reproduction, reproductive health, and sexuality, (2) inequalities in access to reproductive health services (e.g., contraception, abortion, cesareans, etc.), and (3) how people utilize their social, cultural, and economic resources to mitigate barriers to care. This agenda is motivated both by advancing social theory in the sociology of reproduction and medical sociology, and by helping communities and policymakers better understand reproductive and sexual health inequities, improve access to care, and address the underlying causes of unequal access.

My prior and ongoing work focuses on women's sexual and reproductive health, while my dissertation turns to an understudied population: men's sexual and reproductive health care. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, I investigate associations between men's contraceptive use and masculinity, their access to reproductive health information, and how they discuss reproductive health within their social networks. My solo-authored work has appeared in Social Science & Medicine, Culture, Health & Sexuality, and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Steven Bao

bao.345@osu.edu

Website

Steven Z. Bao is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at The Ohio State University, whose research spans social movements, political sociology, conflict and violence, social theory, and methods. His work centers on social action—how collective action generates social change and how it is shaped and constrained by structural conditions. His dissertation draws on an original dataset of social movement organizations in the U.S. to examine patterns of collaboration, funding, and legislative lobbying, and how these network structures shape movement persistence and political outcomes. Beyond the dissertation, he pursues a broader research agenda on contentious politics, including work on atrocity forecasting and theoretical work on power and legitimacy. His work has appeared in The Sociological Quarterly, and Critical Studies on Terrorism.

Nahrissa Rush

rush.345@osu.edu

Website

I am a sociologist and multidimensional thinker committed to challenging and expanding the discipline through research and asking hard questions. I am equally committed to supporting the next generation of scholars through the teaching and mentorship of budding undergraduate sociologists.

My primary research interests are rooted in race and identity, particularly those of mixed-race ancestry. These interests are reflected in my dissertation project which examines the ways that racial identity is experienced across the life course for those with one Black parent and one white parent. The project also grapples with how those of mixed-race ancestry complicate our understandings of the social construction of race and racial categorization, especially given the complex sociohistorical context of Black and white relations in the United States. Data for this work is derived from semi-structured interviews and participant surveys. Along with this work, I also have research interests in teaching and learning in sociology, as well as the consequences of AI in education and the world at large.

Along with research, I am a dedicated educator and find great joy in teaching and engaging with students. I have won several awards for my teaching which have filled me with immense pride. However, nothing gives me a greater sense of satisfaction than helping students to increase their intellectual capacity and watching them succeed when they thought they would not. I have experience as an instructor of record teaching undergraduate research methods in all modalities, and in Fall 2026, I will be teaching Introduction to Sociological Theory.