Samantha Friedman

Professor, Sociology Link

Faculty Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies
Director, Center for Social and Demographic Analysis

CAPS Biography:

I am a Professor and Internship Director of Sociology and the Director of the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the University at Albany, SUNY. I am a scholar in urban sociology and social demography whose main research interests are focused on residential segregation, mobility, health, and disaster preparedness. My research uses quantitative methods and seeks to investigate stratification in residential attainment and how residential inequality affects health and preparedness, while also speaking to policies that affect these outcomes, thereby aligning with the health and well-being signature theme of CAPS as well as the cross-cutting themes of the role of policy and the importance of place. I am currently studying racial and ethnic disparities in eviction among renters and disaster preparedness among vulnerable populations, including older adults and households with disabled persons. In addition, I have just started a project using HRS data that examines variation in all-cause mortality as it relates to discriminatory policies that caused residential segregation. I have received funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Fulbright Scholar Program to support my research. I have authored 40 articles, book chapters, and commentaries and am a co-author of The Housing Divide: How Generations of Immigrants Fare in New York’s Housing Market (2007) and lead author of the HUD report, An Estimate of Housing Discrimination against Same-Sex Couples (2013).