Meet our mentors!
Hi, my name is Elinore Avni. I am a PhD student in the Sociology department, now in my second year in the graduate program. Originally from Tel Aviv, Israel, I went a long way until I decided to go to graduate school, as I embarked on my journey in academia. I enjoy reading, traveling, baking and most of all- I love meeting new people, hearing their stories, and expanding my horizons as I try to see the world from different points of view. As a researcher, I am interested in Medical Sociology, Aging and the Life course, Comparative and International Sociology, Quantitative Methods and many more. As a mentor in the program, I hope I will be able to facilitate interactions that are benevolent and supportive to all of us, as human beings and scholars- in these challenging and confusing times we are living in.
My name is Landon Lauder (he/him) and I am a PhD student in Sociology coming up on my sixth year. I mainly specialize in Community and Urban Sociology, and Sociology of Sexualities. I am originally from eastern Kentucky and went to the University of Louisville, where I majored in Political Science and Psychology. It was there that I became interested in sexuality and gender, a sort of coming out of two closets: one personal, and one professional. I decided to attend BU for my PhD to pursue my interest in studying place/space and sexuality. My current research looks at how sexuality affects perceptions and uses of urban spaces, particularly when traveling between cities. I have published in Ethnography, co-authored a book chapter on sexuality and urban sociology, and I am working on a new article on Boston and Providence. I live in Brighton with my void (black cat), Bix, who is 5. I enjoy video games as well as occasionally embroidering.
A first-gen student, Meghann is interested in consumption, excess, inequality, medical sociology, and how these intersect. More specifically, she studies the medicalization of consumption and accumulation patterns, namely, hoarding behaviors, and representations of normative consumption. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Wyoming and a M.A. in Liberal Studies: American Studies from The Graduate Center, CUNY.
I am currently a third-year sociology PhD student specializing in social inequality & stratification, education, and medical sociology. Trained in quantitative methods, I am also actively extending my methodological toolkit to qualitative and mixed methods. I would like to connect and work with mentees in either quantitative or qualitative methods who share similar interests, and to provide insights and guidance both in academic training and professional preparation.
I am originally from Sweden and received my MA in Sociology from Columbia, where I was a Fulbright scholar. I am now a 7th year PhD candidate and part-time RA and the Center for Antiracist Research. I am Interested in qualitative methods and community collaborations and have worked in community organizing and refugee integration in Sweden.
Elif has a B.S. in Economics from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and a M.A. in Cultural Studies from Sabancı University in Istanbul, Turkey. Broadly, her research and teaching interests include economic sociology, cultural sociology and sociology of work and organizations.
A former community college student, Sara is currently a sixth year Sociology PhD candidate interested in healthcare and new markets in wellness. She received her BA in Cultural Anthropology from St. Mary’s College of California and her MA in Gender Studies from Central European University, formerly in Budapest, Hungary. If you have any questions about the program, please contact her at sarajs@bu.edu