Narayan Sastry

Narayan Sastry is a Research Professor affiliated with the Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. His work focuses on the social and spatial dimensions of health, development, and well-being among children and adolescents in both the U.S. and less developed countries. He holds a PhD from Princeton University and has extensive expertise in large-scale demographic surveys.

Dr. Sastry leads research in areas such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), neighborhood effects on child development, and methodological innovations in survey design. He has contributed to major longitudinal studies like the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (LA FANS). His recent work explores how positive childhood experiences mitigate the impacts of adversity and the effects of disasters like Hurricane Katrina on population health.

His recent publications emphasize mixed-mode survey methodologies, data integration challenges, and the application of statistical techniques like gradient boosting to resolve census data linkage issues. He collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to address socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes and policy-relevant demographic trends.

Dr. Sastry’s research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and other agencies. He advises on survey design for national studies and contributes to the development of weights and statistical frameworks for longitudinal datasets. His work bridges demography, public health, and social policy, offering critical insights for evidence-based interventions.