Grace Tien

Grace Tien is a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University’s Golub Capital Social Impact Lab and a research affiliate at Princeton University’s Center on Contemporary China. She holds a PhD in sociology from Princeton University, completed on an accelerated track with the Dean’s Completion Fellowship. Her work bridges economic sociology and cultural studies, focusing on entrepreneurship in global/transnational contexts and economically distressed communities.

Education:

• PhD in Sociology, Princeton University (accelerated track)
• Bachelor’s in Politics and Economics, Wellesley College

Research Interests: Grace examines how social forces shape economic development, particularly through entrepreneurial dynamics. Key themes include transnational tech startups navigating regulatory challenges, racial capitalism’s role in urban/rural revitalization, and cultural/religious ethics influencing business practices in China. She employs mixed methods: ethnography, interviews, surveys, and text analysis.

Awards & Grants:

• American Sociological Association 2020 Best Student Paper Prize
• Funding from Kauffman Foundation, Princeton’s Center on Contemporary China, and others

Labs & Projects: Currently leads a long-term study on wealth-building via social entrepreneurship in America’s poorest urban/rural communities using a racial capitalism framework. Prior work included fieldwork in China’s startup ecosystem and advising tech founders.