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The College of Arts & Sciences
The Center for the Study of Inequality (CSI) serves as the intellectual hub for inequality scholarship and research at Cornell. It supports research and knowledge that is evidence-based and systematic, whether it is “basic” research that develops formal models of the social processes that underpin inequality or “applied” research that assesses the intended or unintended consequences of policies that affect equality of opportunity.
Cornell College of Arts and Sciences professor Isabel M. Perera won the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize and the 2026 European Studies Book Award for “The Welfare Workforce.” Her book examines disparities in mental health care policy.
The loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits November 1 if the government shutdown holds benefits will have profound repercussions for democracy, says government scholar Jamila Michener.
The study by Cornell government scholars Suzanne Mettler and Trevor Brown spans five decades and includes every U.S. county.
Cornell researchers found that by prioritizing the perspectives of white Americans instead of those from underrepresented groups, studies of pandemic disparities likely missed important insights from those most affected by COVID-19.
Haowen Zheng, a doctoral candidate in sociology from Zibo, China, now studies why people move long distances within a country and how those moves shape their lives.
Annelise Orleck, Dartmouth College, will deliver the 2025 Alice Cook-Lois Gray Distinguished Lecture on April 15: “Poverty Wages, 'We're Not Lovin' It': Gender, Race and Inequality Rising in the 21st Century.”
The real economic and social value of the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences research won’t show up in DOGE’s metrics.
In 2016, CSI was honored to have received a 10 million dollar grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies, created by Charles F. Feeney ’56. The funding was designated to advance inequality research at Cornell University. Read the full story here.