Sharon Sassler

Sharon Sassler is a Professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University's Brooks School of Public Policy. She joined the Cornell faculty in 2005 and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology/Demography from Brown University (1995). Her research examines life course transitions of young adults across education, work, relationships, and parenthood, with critical attention to gender, race/ethnicity, and social class disparities.

Education:

• Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Population Dynamics (1995-96)
• Ph.D. in Sociology/Demography, Brown University (1995)
• M.A. in Sociology/Demography, Brown University (1991)
• B.A. in English & American Literature and Politics, Brandeis University (1984)

Professor Sassler's research spans two interconnected domains: family demography and STEM gender dynamics. In family studies, she investigates cohabitation, marriage, and non-marital childbearing through publications like Cohabitation Nation: Gender, Class, and the Remaking of Relationships (2017), which demonstrates how cohabitation patterns exacerbate family inequality. Her work reveals how union transitions affect maternal health, child educational outcomes, and relationship stability across racial and socioeconomic lines. Concurrently, she examines women's retention in STEM fields, analyzing gender wage gaps, occupational attrition, and the impact of family formation on career trajectories in science and engineering professions.

Her 2022-2025 publications reveal intensifying focus on cross-national comparisons of union formation and STEM career dynamics, with growing attention to policy impacts. Notable trends include state abortion policy effects on pregnancy outcomes, the retreat from marriage among college-educated STEM professionals, and intersectional analyses of job search strategies. Her work consistently centers gendered power dynamics within cohabiting relationships while documenting how racial and class inequalities shape family formation and STEM participation.

Scientific Awards:

• No specific awards mentioned in source materials

Professor Sassler actively mentors through collaborative research projects like Collaborative Research: Early Career Transitions into STEM Employment (2014), indicating grant-funded work examining structural barriers for women in technical fields. Her extensive co-authorship network suggests significant graduate student supervision, though formal advisee lists aren't documented. She teaches core sociology courses including Population and Public Policy (SOC 2030) and Population Controversies in Europe (SOC 3620), connecting demographic theory with contemporary policy debates.

Based in Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, she contributes to Cornell's interdisciplinary research ecosystem through affiliations with both the Sociology program and Policy Analysis and Management department, bridging demographic methods with public policy applications to address pressing social inequalities.