Yingjian Liang

Yingjian Liang earned his PhD in Sociology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2025 and is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University. Yingjian’s research interests lie at the intersection of social stratification, migration, race and ethnicity, cultural sociology, and economic sociology. Specifically, his research seeks to better understand how individuals in marginalized positions navigate labor market barriers, thereby reproducing or reshaping patterns of workplace inequality. He is currently working on three major projects: 1) a dissertation on how highly educated international migrants navigate legal, social, and cultural barriers during career launch, 2) a qualitative study on how socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals make sense of limited opportunities for upward mobility, and 3) an experimental study, with Koji Chavez and Kate Weisshaar, on the interplay between perceptions of individuals, organizations, and workforces amidst contentious debates over diversity. 

As a postdoctoral research fellow, Yingjian co-leads research projects on inequality in housing, education, and the labor market, including 1) a mixed-method study of residential mobility and labor market outcomes, using the Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) program data; and 2) a mixed-method study of post-secondary educational trajectories and their associated labor market outcomes, combining administrative and interviewing methods.