Draft Visiting Scholars 2024-2025

Anna R. Haskins’ research examines how three of America’s most powerful social institutions—the education system, the family, and the criminal legal system—connect and interact in ways that both preserve and mitigate social inequality, with emphasis on early educational outcomes, intergenerational impacts, and disparities by race/ethnicity.

Haskins is visiting the Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy, at the University of California, Irvine.

X: @AnnaRHaskins, Department of Sociology: @sociologyND

Dr. Brian Holzman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University. His research examines the pathway to college, paying particular attention to first-and second-generation immigrants, English learners, students of color, and students from socioeconomically marginalized backgrounds. He completed an M.A. in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Sociology of Education and Higher Education Administration at Stanford University.

Holzman is visiting the Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy, at the University of California, Irvine.

X: brianholzman, Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development: TAMUEAHR

Bluesky: brianholzman.bsky.social

Dr. Ekjyot Saini earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science from Auburn University, as well as a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan. Her program of research utilizes an interdisciplinary approach, including family systems perspectives and biopsychosocial models, to understand how family and sociocultural contexts contribute to the well-being of children and families across developmental periods. Saini is particularly interested in how relational (e.g., parenting, attachment) and regulatory processes (e.g., sleep, autonomic nervous system functioning) operate within stressful contexts such as socio-economic adversity, neighborhood and family environments, and social contexts of discrimination. She also examines how these factors contribute to socio-emotional and relational outcomes, as well as disparities in these domains.

Saini is visiting the Center for Poverty and Inequality Research, at the University of California, Davis.

X: @Ekjyot_Saini, Health and Human Development College: @pennstateHDFS

Dr. Kathryn Thompson is an Assistant Professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health (BUSPH) in the departments of Community Health Sciences and Health Law, Policy, and Management. Thompson’s research leverages economic frameworks to quantitatively study how social, demographic, and policy contexts shape health and disparities for women, people of color, and Medicaid populations. Her research provides evidence that social identities-like race/ethnicity-and social positions—like socioeconomic status—combine in unique ways to structure health care access, health service utilization, and health outcomes among vulnerable populations. Prior to joining BUSPH, she completed her PhD in Health Services Research at the Brown University School of Public Health.

Thompson is visiting the Institute for Research on Poverty, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

X: @Kathryn_DThomp, School of Public Health: @busph