Yao Lu

Yao Lu is Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University, with faculty affiliations at the Data Science Institute (DSI), Columbia Population Research Center (CPRC), Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI), and Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP). She serves on the Computational Social Science Committee and holds a K01 Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health.

Her research centers on social stratification and inequality, with primary focus on gender, race/ethnicity, and nativity disparities in high-skilled labor markets. She employs advanced quantitative methods for causal inference and computational analysis of digital data sources, bridging sociology with data science to examine structural inequality mechanisms. Her work increasingly integrates pandemic-related social dynamics and East Asian migration contexts.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals three dominant trends: (1) education-occupation mismatch patterns among highly educated workers, (2) pandemic-induced health disparities and racial prejudice, and (3) computational analysis of migration and demographic change. Her work consistently applies rigorous causal inference methods to large-scale digital datasets while maintaining focus on intersectional inequality.

Scientific recognition includes:

• K01 Career Development Award (National Institutes of Health)

Her research program is supported by major grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Russell Sage Foundation, and Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Current projects examine labor market stratification through computational social science approaches, with particular attention to pandemic effects and East Asian contexts. She advises on computational methodology development through her DSI affiliation and committee work.

As a faculty affiliate across multiple interdisciplinary centers, she contributes to initiatives connecting sociology with data science, population studies, and East Asian research, fostering collaborative projects on inequality measurement and migration dynamics.