
Contact Information
Urbana, IL 61801
Biography
Sinyee Lu is a fifth-year PhD student from Sociology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She holds a B.A. in Economics (Jinan University, Guangzhou) and an M.A. in Sociology (Renmin University of China, Beijing). She is the elected Student Representative for the ASA Section on Population (2025-2027) and previously served as the section’s newsletter coordinator (2023–2025). In summer 2025, she was an intern at the United Nations Population Division, contributing to the next edition of World Population Prospects.
Her research examines the future of work and occupational inequality in the United States, with projects on precarious employment, non-standard scheduling and hours, and the rise of remote/hybrid work. She studies downstream consequences for economic stability and hardships, physical health and mental well-being, time use, and social interaction, especially their impacts on socio-economically disadvantaged subgroups. Empirically, she works with large-scale U.S. surveys (e.g., CPS, ATUS, HPS), cross-national surveys (e.g., WVS), census, and aggregate data (e.g., SIGI). Methodologically, she uses longitudinal and panel models, sequence analysis, cohort-based demographic estimation and projections, text-as-data, and survey experiments. In collaborative work, she also studies health disparities, immigrant integration and assimilation, family and marriage, both in East Asian and global contexts.
Research Interests
Organizations, Occupations, and Work; Labor Market Inequality; Social Stratification & Mobility; Demograhy; Sociology of Health; Immigrants and Migration; Family & Marriage; Quantitative Methodology.
Education
M.A. in Sociology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Bachelor in Economics, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
Awards and Honors
2025, Summer “Boost” Scholarships ($7,666.68), Department of Sociology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2024, ASA Student Forum Travel Fund award for the Annual Meeting, American Sociological Association
2024, Beslow Graduate Paper Award, Department of Sociology, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
2024, CFP ASA Participation Scholarship, Department of Sociology, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
2023 & 2022, Graduate College Conference Presentation Award, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
2022, Qualifying Exam of Social Inequality and Stratification: High Pass
2022, Department Conference Presentation Award, Department of Sociology, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
Courses Taught
SOC 384: Impacts of Globalization (TA), 2025 Fall
SOC 100: Introduction to Sociology (TA), 2024 Fall & 2025 Spring
SOC 280, Introduction to Social Statistics (TA), 2024 Spring & 2023 Fall
SOC 350, Technology and Society (TA), 2023 Spring
SOC 378, Sociology of Law (TA), 2022 Spring
SOC 310, Sociology of Deviance (TA), 2021 Fall
Additional Campus Affiliations
Graduate Mentor for the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (2025 Fall - 2026 Spring) — selected through a competitive, university-wide process by the Graduate College and Illinois Office of Undergraduate Research, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign