The PSTC is highly regarded as a site for cultivating junior scholars – outstanding postdoctoral fellows and early-career investigators who are poised to become leaders in their scientific fields. The PSTC provides diverse forms of support to help these junior scholars establish their research agendas, such as seed funding, working groups, and mentoring. We spoke with four junior scholars who are already making their marks in their respective fields to learn more about their work and some of the benefits of being PSTC faculty associates.

The work of Assistant Professor Kevin Escudero (American Studies and Ethnic Studies) examines the relationship between immigration, comparative racial and ethnic studies, social movements, and the law. In light of the recent publication of his book, Organizing While Undocumented (NYU Press, 2020), Escudero reflected on the role of PSTC support when he was presenting the book’s preliminary findings: “The feedback and support I received from the members of the PSTC community helped facilitate the completion of the book and get me started on my next project looking at immigrant students' educational trajectories across legal statuses.” Escudero is also a Public Voices Fellow at the OpEd Project, the former Special Advisor to Brown’s Provost for Undocumented and DACA Students, and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, UC-MEXUS Institute, and the American Sociological Association. 

Katherine Mason, an assistant professor of Anthropology, explores a wide range of health-related topics, frominfectious disease control to postpartum mental health. Her book, Infectious Change: Reinventing Chinese Public Health after an Epidemic (Stanford University Press, 2016), which examined China’s response to the SARS epidemic, won the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize from the British Sociological Foundation in 2019 and is receiving considerable renewed attention in light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak. 

Mason expressed gratitude for PSTC funding that allowed her to hire a Research Assistant to assist with her work on Infectious Change, as well as support for a more recent project on postpartum mental health in the U.S. and China. “The PSTC has been instrumental in supporting me both financially and professionally for all of these projects. They have provided financial seed support, and a collegial environment for exchanging ideas with colleagues in other disciplines, such as through a reproductive health working group,” she said. 

Assistant Professor Jayanti Owens (International and Public Affairs and Sociology) studies child behavior and academic achievement, and has most recently investigated ADHD, the most common behavioral disorder among U.S. children. In a recent Sociology of Education publication, Owens found that ADHD diagnosis can bring beneficial pharmacological treatment and social supports, but it can also trigger negative social and psychological processes. Owens noted that, “This work has benefited tremendously from conversations with colleagues and staff at the PSTC and from interactions with external scholars visiting the PSTC.” In addition to Sociology of Education,Owens’ work has appeared in Social Science Research, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Sociology of Religion.

The work of T32 Postdoctoral Fellow Maria Steenland looks at postpartum care and health policy, with a particular interest in how variation in state Medicaid coverage and payment policies affects use of recommended postpartum health services. Steenland has received a Robert Wood Johnson Data for Action Award for this research, and has also received a National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation Award for her current project that extends this work to a recent Medicaid expansion in Arkansas. Steenland credits much of her success as a Postdoctoral Fellow, and her growth as an independent researcher, to the PSTC, remarking, “The academic environment at the PSTC is diverse and energetic, which makes it a great home.”