About

My research involves the development and application of mathematical, computational, and statistical techniques to theoretical and methodological problems within the areas of social and biophysical network analysis, mathematical sociology, quantitative methodology, molecular modeling/analysis, and human judgment and decision making.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Demography
• Economics
• Economic growth
• Demographic economics
• Gender studies
• Environmental health
• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Geography
• Law

Selected publications

• Racially tiered credit markets: the impacts of financial inclusion across black and white segregated neighborhoods during the 2000s subprime lending boom and bust

  Socio-Economic Review · 2025-08-26

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Financial inclusion advocates push for banks to locate and lend in financially excluded neighborhoods. However, these advocates assume that banks affect all neighborhoods equally and overlook how financial inclusion may become predatory inclusion in black segregated neighborhoods. To address this oversight, the present study investigates whether tiered credit markets persist across black and white segregated neighborhoods after a bank branch opens. Analyzing administrative data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), I estimate between-within negative binomial regression models to assess whether financial inclusion associates with increases in mortgage originations and decreases in subprime mortgages across black and white segregated neighborhoods during the 2000s subprime lending boom and subsequent housing crisis. The results indicate that financial inclusion’s effects vary across racially segregated neighborhoods and over time, but they do not support predatory inclusion.

  PublisherDOI

• Four More Years! or So What?

  Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race · 2024-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract This study investigated the mental health significance of Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential re-election among Blacks. Upon his re-election, we hypothesized Blacks would either feel symbolic empowerment or relative deprivation. They would feel symbolic empowerment because a man who identifies as Black won re-election to the nation’s highest office. His second victory should generate optimism, given his status as a historic first. Alternatively, they would feel relative deprivation because The Great Recession from 2007 to 2009 curtailed what Obama could achieve. More important, he withered when afforded opportunities to challenge White supremacy and championed individual responsibility. Using a quasi-experimental design with nationally representative survey data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), we predicted Blacks’ preelection and postelection poor mental health days. We found no time period main effects. However, Black men with less than a college degree experienced 1.11 more poor mental health days postelection whereas Black men with a college degree or more experienced 2.93 fewer poor mental health days postelection. These findings support relative deprivation theory.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Banking for the Culture: Black-owned banks as cultural assets during the subprime lending boom

  Social Science Research · 2024-05-11

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Wakanda forever! Consistency in correlates of black nationalist tendencies

  Social Science Quarterly · 2024-05-05 · 4 citations

  article

  Abstract Objective: This study investigates correlates of black nationalist tendencies , defined as endorsing sentiments consistent with black nationalism. Black nationalism is an ideology that advocates for cultural, economic, political, and social separatism, and/or community autonomy and self‐reliance as survival tactics. Warrant for this study arises from the opinion black nationalism is an anachronism—a throwback to the 1920s, late 1960s, or early 1990s. Methods: We review correlates from prior studies. Then, using regression models and nationally representative data from black adults participating in the Outlook on Life Surveys, 2012, we address whether those correlates link with black nationalist tendencies today. Results: Few correlates from prior studies predict black nationalist tendencies today. However, correlates such as white antipathy and common fate remain robust predictors. Additionally, views of Barack Obama, whose political ascendency challenges certain tenets of black nationalism, are important correlates. Conclusion: White supremacy makes black nationalism durable and attractive; consequently, certain blacks will always endorse it.

  PublisherDOI

• Changes in Racial Apathy Among White Young Adults: A <scp>Five‐Year</scp>National Panel Study

  Sociological Inquiry · 2022-06-24 · 2 citations

  article

  This study investigates changes in racial apathy among white young adults using nationally representative panel survey data from the NSYR. Our regression models include social background, social values, and academic orientation variables specified as important correlates of racial apathy in prior cross‐sectional studies. We also include interracial contact variables, which existing studies neglect. According to intergroup contact theory, interracial contact should predict decreases in racial apathy. We find variables specified as important correlates in prior cross‐sectional studies do not explain changes in racial apathy across time. Surprisingly, interracial friendship associates negatively with increases and decreases in racial apathy. Further, interracial dating predicts increases in racial apathy across time. These findings suggest racial apathy may be dissimilar to other forms of white racial prejudice and interracial contact may be an ineffective method to reduce contemporary forms of white racial prejudice.

  PublisherDOI

• Intergroup Contact and White Racial Apathy: Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR)

  Sociological Perspectives · 2022-07-14 · 3 citations

  article

  Scholars theorize racial apathy is one form contemporary white racial prejudice takes. Racial apathy signals not caring about racial inequality. Invoking intergroup contact theory, we hypothesize interracial contact would predict less racial apathy among whites. To test our hypothesis, we analyze survey data from white teenagers participating in the 2003 National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). We find interracial contact matters and its inclusion improves model fit over and above previously specified correlates. Specifically, interracial friendship and dating, and having a different race mentor predict the tendency to care about racial equality. Furthermore, any interracial contact and a count of interracial contact experiences across five settings, respectively, predict less racial apathy. We encourage scholars to investigate further the sociological significance of racial apathy and its correlates, including interracial contact.

  PublisherDOI

• The Racially Unequal Impacts of Disasters and Federal Recovery Assistance on Local Self-Employment Rates

  Social Currents · 2021 · 5 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Demographic economics

  This study examines racial inequalities in changing self-employment rates associated with natural hazard impacts and federal recovery assistance in ethnoracially diverse metropolitan counties between 2000 and 2010. It advances the viewpoint that such inequalities can stem from hoarded opportunities tied to white privilege in addition to commonly highlighted social vulnerabilities tied to racial inequities and exclusion. To test that proposition, we conduct change-score analyses using county-level data from the US Census Bureau, the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Results indicate that (a) overall, self-employment rates increase with local property damages from natural hazards, especially among white and Latino workers; (b) those increases are largely explained by the amount of federal public assistance received for disaster recovery, not property damages themselves; and (c) white workers experience the most positive and consistent increases in self-employment from federal recovery assistance. Implications for understanding racial inequities stemming from current and future disasters and government assistance are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• When and Where Residential Racial Segregation Matters for the Black Self-employment Rate

  The Review of Black Political Economy · 2021-05-14 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Scholars debate whether residential racial segregation associates positively, negatively, or at all with the Black self-employment rate in the United States. This study engages that debate using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) 1980, 1990, and 2000 5% sample and 2006–2010 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year sample. Specifically, I investigate the county-level association between residential racial segregation and the Black self-employment rate, and whether this association varied by region in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. Using fractional logit models and net of control variables, I find that residential racial segregation positively predicts Black self-employment in the South. Implications for understanding how time and region condition Black self-employment opportunities are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• The Prevalence, Correlates, and Consequences of Racial Apathy Among Black Teenagers

  Journal of African American Studies · 2020-10-31 · 4 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• A Descriptive Study Using the Comprehensive Race Socialization Inventory: Findings From the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent Supplement

  Journal of Black Studies · 2020-02-04 · 2 citations

  article

  This study examines race socialization, defined as the process whereby individuals learn about the meaning and significance of race and racism. With data from the 2001–2004 National Survey of American Life-Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), we analyze responses to the Comprehensive Race Socialization Inventory (CRSI) among 1,170 African American and Caribbean Black adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years. The CRSI captures sources, frequency, content of messages, and prevalence of the most useful message, among other components (e.g., onset and recency, anticipatory socialization, and socializing behaviors). We find 90% of respondents report someone talked with them about what being Black means. In addition, most respondents report receiving messages from all four sources specified in the CRSI (i.e., parents, relatives, friends, and other adults). We find little evidence to suggest sources differ by sex, age, ethnicity, or U.S. region. The question assessing the most useful message is open-ended. Over 60% of respondents recall content supporting “Race equality,” maintaining a “Positive self-attitude,” or emphasizing “Black pride” as the most useful message. We conclude race socialization is commonplace among Black adolescents because racism necessitates it.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Julian Culver

  Brown University

  10 shared

• Tony N. Brown

  9 shared

• Quintin Gorman

  6 shared

• Raul S. Casarez

  Rice University

  1 shared

• Kiana Wilkins

  Rice University

  1 shared

• Chase L. Lesane‐Brown

  Rice University

  1 shared

• Aly M. Alvis

  Rice University

  1 shared

• M Miranda

  University of Southampton

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• Leo A. Goodman Award
• Linton C. Freeman Award
• William Richards Awards
• Kavli Fellow
• Fellow of the AAAS