Title: Postdoctoral Fellow

Email: sarahrya at cmu.edu

Webpage: http://cmart.stat.cmu.edu/sr.html

Research Interests:

Sarah Ryan’s research concerns the application of statistical methods to investigate problems related to educational and social inequality, as well as how policy might be devised to ameliorate such disparities. Sarah is particularly interested not only in the exploration of the causal associations underlying the production of educational outcomes, but also in the investigation of the social processes that may serve to moderate and/or mediate those associations. More specifically, Sarah uses social capital theory as a lens through which to better understand when, where, and to what extent social relationships may either facilitate or hinder educational success.

Bio:

From a substantive perspective, broadly speaking, my own research interests focus on the impact on youth of educational and social inequality. This includes how to understand the persistence of inequality in a richly-endowed nation, particularly at all levels of its systems of education, and how policy can be devised to ameliorate inequality while promoting excellence. My current work uses longitudinal secondary data from the National Center for Education Statistics to focus on rates of postsecondary access and persistence among student populations that have traditionally experienced substantial barriers along the educational pipeline. I am especially interested in the experiences of Latina/o students. As a part of this work, I use structural equation modeling techniques to investigate a potential mechanism mediating the intergenerational transmission of various types parent resources, both observed and latent, during the college choice process among Latino and White students. This work has been supported in part through fellowships from the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) and the University of California Office of the President.