Welcome to my website!
I am a postdoctoral associate in the Institute of Human Development and Social Change at the New York University. I am on the 2023-24 job market.
I study the organizational decisions of educational institutions and how they contribute to (or mitigate) the social stratification of educational opportunities, primarily across racial lines. I concentrate on the formation of unequal educational experiences within schools, looking at organization practices—such as curriculum differentiation, special education identification and school discipline—which sort students into different academic experiences, and can produce racialized organizational hierarchies. Central to my research is the use of innovative computational approaches—such as agent-based modeling and machine learning—to address questions which have imposed methodological challenges to traditional techniques.
In my dissertation (advised by L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy and with support from NYU’s agent-based modeling lab), I designed qualitatively-informed agent-based models to address questions concerning the emergence of educational inequalities—defined as access to advanced coursework—between Black and White students who attend the same school. I investigated the role of racial composition on Black students’ educational opportunities and explored how educational opportunities are hoarded within schools.
As a postdoctoral researcher, I work with Rachel Fish (NYU) and Kenneth Shores (University of Delaware) investigating methodological issues concerning the existing quantitative evidence on the disproportionate representation of Black students in special education programs.
Please navigate across the pages to learn about my research; teaching; and to access selected resources.
Organizations
Education policy
Racial
inequality
Computational
methods
Ph.D. Sociology of Education, New York University. 2023.
M.Phil. Sociology of Education, New York University. 2021.
B.A.
Economics with mathematical emphasis, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2017.
For research/publication purposes, I hyphenate my last name: Souto-Maior.
My research concentrates on the design and application of innovative computational approaches to address methodologically-challenging questions related to how the organizational decisions of educational institutions contribute to (or mitigate) the social stratification of educational opportunities. This work is defined by two main areas of research, detailed below.
Rachel Fish, Kenneth
Shores and
New York
University — from Spring 2019 to Spring 2021
New York University — Fall 2022
New York University — Fall 2022
New York University — Spring 2022
University of Wisconsin-Madison — 2016-17
University of Wisconsin-Madison — 2015-16
Essays on the dynamics of
Black-White advanced course-taking inequalities
Areas of concentration:
school organization; quantitative methods.
Website last updated on December 20, 2023