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Kerry Ard

Graduate Student

  • Affiliation(s)
    • Doctoral Student School of Natural Resources and the Environment Graduate Research Assistant at School of Natural Resources and the Environment
  • Fields of Study
    • Social Demography
    • Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration
  • About

    I am currently a Ph.D. candidate completing a dual degree in Sociology and Environmental Policy and Behavior.  I have designed and taught three courses in Sociology (Urban Inequality, Social Stratification and Principles of Sociology) and taught courses in Biology (Genetics and Animal Physiology).  In my previous work, I have examined congressional environmental voting scores and political campaign donations, as well investigating indicators of childhood health and pollution exposure.  This work is now published in the journals Health Affairs and Environmental Practice.   For the geographic analysis portion of this work I was granted the Google Earth KML Research Global Competition award.  That competition was open to students in 20 countries and judged for the best visualization of scientific research and its educational value. I have also recently been awarded the Environmental Justice Award for Outstanding Scholarship from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources & the Environment.
    My Ph.D. dissertation expands on my previous work and, together with my other research projects, follows the progression from policy to pollution to health.  In my dissertation I determine how exposure to industrial toxins has varied across time and space for different racial and economic groups, as well as the social systems and policies that have led to these patterns.  I use sociological concepts to illuminate environmental issues with a focus on how race, class and environmental policy led to inequalities in exposure to risk.  

  • Education
    • MS, Environmental Policy: University of Michigan (2006)
    • BS, Biology: San Francisco State University (2002)
  • Research Areas of Interest
    • Environmental Sociology; Inequality; Race & Ethnicity; Urban Sociology; Demography; Health Inequality; Stratification
  • Dissertation Title
    • Explaining Changes in Exposure to Industrial Air Pollution Over the Last Three Decades for Different Racial and Economic Groups
  • Dissertation Chairs
    • Sarah Burgard (Chair-Sociology), Dorceta Taylor (School of Natural Resources), David Harding (Sociology), Dan Brown (School of Natural Resources)