Alyssa B. Cahoy (she/hers)

Photos taken by J. Schully

Hello, and welcome! I am a Ph.D. student in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. I hold a B.A. in social/behavioral sciences and English literature from Rice University, where I graduated with honors.

My substantive areas of interest include Political Sociology; Collective Behavior and Social Movements; Sociology of Education; Asia and Asia America; and Digital Sociology. My current research uses multi-level modeling to examine how ethnic studies and gender studies course-taking during college politically socializes graduating students.

My research agenda is motivated by three broad theoretical questions:

1. Under what conditions do social identities, such as race, ethnicity, and gender, become politically salient?
2. How does mass digital and physical media shape how people learn and do politics?
3. What are the stakes of higher education institutions as politically contested sites?

For leisure, I enjoy watching psychological thrillers and K-dramas; doing digital photography; and visiting local bookstores, farmers’ markets, and coffee shops. I live in West Philly with my fiancé and our two large goldendoodles with even larger personalities. I am originally from Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, but grew up in Houston, Texas and rural Louisiana.