Research & Faculty

A 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Reuben Jonathan Miller's research examines how racialized and poor people experience law, crime control, and social welfare policy. His first book, "Halfway Home: Race, Punishment and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration" is based on 15 years of research and practice with currently and formerly incarcerated men, women, their families, partners, and friends in Chicago, Detroit, and a number of cities across the United States.

Marwell's research examines a range of questions about urban governance, with a focus on the diverse intersections between nonprofit organizations, government bureaucracies, communities, and politics. 

As a social work scholar, Dr. Bouris's research is broadly focused on the relationship between social context and health, with a particular emphasis on understanding how social inequality, social networks, and social support shape the health and well-being of historically excluded and marginalized youth and adult populations. The overall goal of Dr. Bouris's research agenda is to develop effective and sustainable interventions that can address existing inequities in mental health, HIV/AIDS, and substance abuse.

Robinson’s research interests include the role of social identity in marginalized students’ educational experiences, aspirations, and outcomes; empirical investigations of marginalized student achievement and underachievement; inequities in the distribution of educational resources; and the history, culture, and social organization of K-12 educational institutions.

Henly’s scholarship advances understanding of the economic and caregiving strategies of low-income families, with particular attention to the prevalence and consequences of volatile and unpredictable work schedules, the impact of parental work schedules on children's care arrangements, and how well child care subsidies and other public benefits serve low-income families.

Zarychta's research focuses on the politics of social services in Central and South America, especially in the areas of public health and environmental policy. Most broadly, he investigates the sources and effects of institutional reforms aiming to improve local service delivery—how public sector reforms are targeted, the contextual conditions that shape their effectiveness, and whether such reforms can fundamentally alter local governance systems.

Lambert’s research focuses on employer practices and how they shape the quality of hourly jobs, the lives of low-paid workers, and inequality in society. Her research includes comparative organizational case-studies and randomized workplace experiments as well as analyses of national data on the prevalence of precarious scheduling practices in today’s US labor market.