Contact Information
3120 Lincoln Hall
Urbana, IL 61801
Office Hours
Wednesdays 2-4 pm
Research Interests
Global and Transnational Sociology
International Migration
Global Social Movements
Research Description
My research interests are at the intersection of international migration, social movements, and global and transnational sociology. Focusing on countries of origin, particularly their laws and administrative actions, I examine how migrants’ life outcomes are shaped by the states they leave behind. I study the reach of state power over diaspora and refugee communities and collective resistance movements in the diaspora. My projects have benefited from numerous grants, culminated in peer-reviewed journal articles, and received awards.
Education
Ph.D. 2022– Sociology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Graduate Minor in Global Studies
M.A. 2021 Chinese Politics, Foreign Policy, and International Relations, Tsinghua University
B.A. 2016 Sociology, The City University of New York
Grants
2026 Thurston Fellowship, Department of Sociology, UIUC ($12,000)
2026 Midwest Sociological Society Research Award ($3,500)
2026 Research Grant, Center for Islam in the Contemporary World (CICW), Shenandoah University ($1,500)
2026 Znaniecki Best Graduate Paper Award, Department of Sociology, UIUC ($500)
2026 ASA Annual Meeting Travel Award, Department of Sociology, UIUC
2025 Graduate College Dissertation Travel Grant, UIUC ($5,000)
2025 Bastian Dissertation Fellowship (Summer), Department of Sociology, UIUC ($4,000)
2025 Training Travel & Participation Grant (Ethnography Workshop) ($900)
2025 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) Summer—Uyghur ($3,500)
2025 ASA Annual Meeting Travel Award, Department of Sociology, UIUC
2024 Problem-Solving Sociology Dissertation Proposal Development Workshop, Johns Hopkins University ($500)
2024 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS)—Uyghur ($23,500)
2024 ASA Annual Meeting Travel Award, Department of Sociology, UIUC
2023 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS)—Chinese ($23,500)
2021 Xie Bing Education Fund, Tsinghua University—Research Award
2019-21 Chinese Government Scholarship (CGS)—Graduate Studies ($17,000)
2018 Ministry of Education (Turkey) Overseas Graduate Scholarship—($20,000)
Awards and Honors
2026 American Sociological Association, International Migration Section, Best Student Paper Award
2026 Znaniecki Best Graduate Paper Award, Department of Sociology, UIUC
Courses Taught
Graduate Teaching Assistant—UIUC
Global Inequalities and Social Change (Fall 2026—Instructor of Record)
Introduction to Sociology (Fall 2025*; Spring 2026*—Head Teaching Assistant)
Introduction to Sociology (Fall 2023*; Spring 2024*—Discussion Section Leader)
*UIUC Graduate School, List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent
Guest Lecturer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2025 Introduction to Sociology
2025 Introduction to Middle East Studies
2025 Sociological Theories
2024 Introduction to Sociology
2023 Religion and Society in the West II
2023 Impacts of Globalization