Mentor Areas
Family sociology, demography, secondary data analysis in the United States.
Description:
I am a sociologist and family demographer. I study how families change through events like childbearing, cohabitation, marriage, divorce, and widowhood and the consequences of these changes for adults, children, and communities. I am particularly interested in how family life reflects and reproduces social and economic inequality. I use quantitative methods and data visualizations to answer research questions. Most of my work is focused on the contemporary and historical United States. Examples of recent research questions include: Does parents' military service increase children's chances of finishing college and/or becoming homeowners? How many years do grandparents and grandchildren share before grandparents die, and how does this differ by race and social class? And, do children get less schooling when their parents divorce?
Preferred Qualifications
Familiarity with family sociology, basic training in statistics, some classroom experience with data analysis (Excel, R, Stata)
Project Website
Learn more about the researcher and/or the project here. https://sociology.sas.upenn.edu/people/paula-fomby
Details:
Preferred Student Year
Second-Year, Junior
Academic Term
Spring, Summer
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
No
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.