I research the intersection of family and wealth, focusing on intergenerational extended families, and develop novel computational methods for the social sciences. Having received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022, I have joined Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research as a 2022-23 postdoctoral fellow.

Research projects include the function of extended families (or “clans”) in patterns of wealth distribution, and the community characteristics of individuals named in the Panama Papers. I am particularly interested in families as mechanisms that sustain wealth inequality. For my dissertation research, I studied the role of relationships between professionals and extended family members in intergenerational wealth transfers. I used the context of family offices, which manage the finances of wealthy families.

My research on wealth and families uses qualitative interviews, ethnographic methods, and quantitative methods including spatial and longitudinal analyses.

In my second major line of research, I develop novel computational approaches to study core questions in the social sciences. With an interdisciplinary team, I am developing 3D Social Research (“3DSR”) – a new computer vision technique using 3D cameras and machine learning to measure body movement during social interaction. This approach provides a variety of scalable and precise measures, enabling the study of large video datasets, to study questions like how race and class shape embodied cultural capital (i.e., body language); how such cultural capital moderates the influence of race and class on job attainment; and how the body language of elites is learned in different institutional settings.

Before pursuing a Ph.D. in sociology, I worked as an educator and counselor with children of migrant workers and refugees in Tel Aviv. I hold an M.A. in Global Thought, organized by Columbia University’s Committee on Global Thought, and a BA in political science and East Asian studies from Brown University.