Sophia Catsambis, PhD
GDI Associate--Data Analytics and Applied Social Research
Sophia Catsambis is Professor Emerita of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). She received her Ph.D. from New York University. For over 30 years, she trained undergraduate and graduate students in data analytics and statistics. At Queens College, she served as Director of the MA Program in Data Analytics and Applied Social Research. Her work addresses national equity concerns in education through large-scale longitudinal survey data. Catsambis has studied gender and race differences in STEM performance and opportunity; inter-relationships among family, community, and school; ability grouping and tracking in elementary and secondary education; parental involvement in secondary education; and social equality in higher education access. Her work has received national attention and has been published in major educational peer reviewed journals.
Catsambis has received major research awards, including a National Institute of Health (NICHD) Research Award, National Institute of Health (NICHD) Collaborative Research Award, NSF Research Awards, and the AERA Jeanne Griffith Fellowship at NCES, U.S. Department of Education. She has also received an AERA Research Award and research contracts from various organizations related to education, including a Ford Foundation Diversity Initiative and a Queens College Research Mentoring Grant.Â
Catsambis has served in many honorific positions such as Research Associate and then Visiting Scholar, Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) at Johns Hopkins University, and Research Consultant at the Office of Institutional Research, CUNY. As author of dozens of articles and research reports in the field of education, she has also served on the editorial board of Sociology of Education, the NSF National Review Panel, the National Advisory Research Panel for NHES Survey, NCES, U.S.DOE, and the National Advisory Research Panel, AAUW. Catsambis, a dual Greece-US citizen,  lives in Hilton Head, South Carolina.