Michaela Ruppert is a criminologist whose teaching and research interests include delinquency, justice, and criminal punishment.

I graduated from Utah State University with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Biology. While there I worked primarily with West Nile Virus in a virology laboratory.

Louise Seamster is a sociologist whose research examines contemporary mechanisms for the reproduction of racial and economic inequality. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology and the program of African American Studies at the University of Iowa.

Yongren Shi is a computational sociologist working in the areas of social networks, organizations, social psychology, and culture. He is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Iowa.

In 2018 and 2019, I received my BS in Psychology and my BA in Sociology with a minor in LGBTQ+ studies from Louisiana State University. I then went on to get my MA in Sociology from the University of Central Florida.

I graduated in May of 2022 from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology, with a minor in Spanish. My undergraduate thesis examined the effectiveness of three sexual assault prevention education programs completed before or during attendance at the University of Iowa, by analyzing reported bystander intervention actions.

I’m a post-comprehensive exam PhD student in the department of sociology and criminology. My primary research interests are gender, sexualities, masculinities, and the sociology of culture, especially media and popular culture.

Major/Year Graduated: Criminology, Law and Justice, Spring 2019 Hometown: Chicago, IL Current Position: Community Outreach Assistant with the Iowa City Police Department Skills Gained While at Iowa: Examining various criminological theories and their real world applications was very useful, as was learning about trauma and victimization. I was able to refine my communication skills though the Practicum in Policing and Internship course.  What Were your Favorite Classes While a Student in the Department?: Practicum in Policing and Juvenile Delinquency. The practicum was a great introduction to the hands on aspects of policing. In Juvenile Delinquency we explored theories and discussed real-life applications of the material - that made the class interesting and applicable to my current position.  Hobbies – Pets – Family: With the pandemic, I've taken up reading again. I'm a big fan of historical fiction and nonfiction as well as a good thriller. Luna, a stray my family took in, made her way up to Iowa with my partner and I after I graduated. My family lives in a suburb of Houston – I love to visit them when I have time off in the Winter.

I obtained an MA in Sociology at Portland State University and wrote my thesis on how racial heterogeneity in adolescent friendship networks impacts mental health outcomes.

Major/Year Graduated: Sociology 2016 Hometown: Ankeny, Iowa Current Position: Austin is a PhD Candidate in the Sociology Department at Stanford University. He studies affective polarization in the United States, organizational culture, and generally how the meanings of symbols (e.g. coronavirus, racial categories) organize human action. He uses a broad array of computational methods (e.g. text analysis, machine learning, and network analysis) as well as more traditional methods (e.g. experiments, web surveys, and causal inference). For more information on Austin and his research, feel free to check out his website https://sites.google.com/view/austin-van-loon Honors Thesis Topic/Advisor: For his University of Iowa honors thesis, Austin performed an online experimental study to investigate the meanings and values associated with different sections of the University of Iowa marching band (e.g. percussion, trumpets, clarinets etc.) under the guidance of Professor Alison Bianchi. He specifically sought to understand whether meaning associated with these groups imbued them with status value in line with status construction theory. Hobbies: When he’s not working on research, Austin likes to play and write music, cook (he used to work for the University, cooking for their catering services as well as for the now-closed restaurant Atlas as a line cook), and watch copious amounts of cable news.

Bogdan Vasi's research focuses primarily on how social movements contribute to the diffusion of technological innovations, organizational change, and policymaking.

Professor Wo’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of criminology, urban sociology, and planning and public affairs.

Major/Year Graduated: Criminology (Theatre minor), 2019 Hometown: Rancho Cucamonga, CA Current Position: MSW graduate student, currently doing my advanced practicum at the Iowa City Police Department as the Victims Services Coordinator working with victims of crime. As a Criminology major I learned that in order to fully understand things I often must look at them from a different lens and perspective – micro or macro - outside of my own. Favorite Class: Juvenile Delinquency and American Crime Hobbies: Eating, singing, writing, creating, and performing music. I enjoy anything that involves music. Oh, and living vicariously through dog owners until I have my own someday in the near future!

Hannah is a recent graduate from the University of Iowa with a B.S. in sociology. For their undergraduate thesis, they developed a case study of a racialized medical algorithm to study how ideas about race travel through citation networks.

Marina Zaloznaya joined the Sociology faculty at the University of Iowa in 2012, after she received a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University.

Major/Year Graduated: Sociology, 2015 Hometown : Shanghai, China Current Position:  I am currently pursuing a PhD in sociology at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. My quantitative line of work focuses on health inequity. My dissertation is a school ethnography of multilingual students.  Honors Thesis Topic/Advisor and Favorite Class: My honors thesis explored the identity formation of 1.5 generation Americans under the supervision of Prof. Mary Noonan and Prof. Steve Hitlin. I really enjoyed the social psychology and statistics courses offered by the department. Outside sociology, the creative writing courses contributed to my personal growth as well.  Hobbies: I enjoy watching standup comedies and taking walks by the lake. I currently live with my puppy Mushu who has taught me the joy of just sitting on the sidewalk watching cars.