(Sociology & Social Policy, May 2011)
Thesis Title: Rethinking Culture and Structure: Race, Class and Assimilation in Multi-Ethnic America
Committee: Mary C. Waters (Chair), Christopher Winship, William Julius Wilson, and Orlando Patterson
Initial Placement: Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar, University of Pennsylvania (2011-2013)
Current Position: Associate Professor of Sociology and Deputy Director for the Center for Urban Research, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Van C. Tran is a sociologist whose research and writing broadly focus on the incorporation of Asian and Latino immigrants and their children, as well as its implications for American culture, politics and society. Tran’s research adopts a multi-disciplinary and multi-methods approach to the study of immigrant and urban life. Specifically, his research contributes to three scholarly debates: the integration of the post-1965 immigrant second generation, neighborhood gentrification and urban inequality, and hyper-selectivity and racial mobility. As an immigration scholar and urban sociologist, Tran’s research and teaching to date are deeply intertwined with the vibrancy and diversity of New York City. He follows a long tradition of scholars who engage with the city as a social laboratory for original research that seeks to inform urban policy.