Amelia Branigan

Amelia Branigan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research focuses on social demography, with central interests in inequality, health, and the criminal justice system. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Northwestern University and a B.A. in History and Journalism from New York University.

Her current research includes three main projects: (1) studying the social consequences of visible phenotypes like body mass and skin color, (2) analyzing Scandinavian registry data to explore infertility’s impact on children’s outcomes, and (3) examining health-criminal justice interactions, including parental incarceration effects and neighborhood violence dynamics.

Notable publications appear in Demography, Social Forces, and Sociology of Education. She joined the University of Maryland’s Sociology Department in 2018 following postdoctoral training at Cornell University’s Population Center.