Emma Zang, Ph.D. Department of Sociology Yale University, USA
Contact 493 College St, New Haven, CT 06511 emma.zang@yale.edu
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Yale University, with secondary appointments in Biostatistics and Global Affairs. I completed my Ph.D. in Public Policy in 2019 and my MA in Economics in 2017, both from Duke University. During the academic year 2021-22, I was a Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Health and Wellbeing within the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In the upcoming Spring of 2024, I will be a Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
My research interests intersect health and aging, family demography, and inequality, with a particular focus on examining these dynamics in both the United States and China. My work strives to enhance our understanding of the following key areas: 1) Examining the patterns and underlying causes of health disparities based on factors such as race/ethnicity, nativity, and socioeconomic status; 2) Investigating causal spillover effects within households; 3) Examining the influence of policies, including marriage laws and flexible work arrangements, on gender inequality within households; 4) Quantifying the impact of cognitive impairment on both care recipients and caregivers
I am interested in developing and evaluating methods to model trajectories and life transitions, aiming to understand the impact of demographic and socioeconomic inequalities on individuals' health and well-being from a life course perspective. My research primarily focuses on employing Bayesian approaches to model trajectories and construct multi-state life tables using high-dimensional survey data. Additionally, I am involved in evaluating classic sociological methods, including the Age-Period-Cohort Intrinsic Estimator and the Diagonal Mobility Model. My work has appeared in journals such as the American Journal of Sociology, Demography, Social Science & Medicine, Psychological Methods, Sociological Methodology, Journal of Marriage and Family, International Journal of Epidemiology, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Nature Human Behaviour. Multiple of my projects have been funded by the National Institute of Health.
My research has received media coverage from notable outlets in the United States, China, South Korea, India, and Singapore, including CNN, NBC, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Harvard Business Review, ThePaper.cn (China), and the Straits Times (Singapore). I have been interviewed for my expertise on flexible work arrangements and population policies in the US and China by BBC World News, China Global Television Network, and MoneyToday (South Korea).
If you're interested in learning more about me and my academic journey, you can read an insightful interview article written by Aimee Bronfeld at Princeton University.