Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng (程华宇)
I am Vice Dean of Research and Equity, responsible for both NYU Steinhardt's Office of Research and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging, and Professor of International Education at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. I received my PhD in Education Policy and Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. My interests include comparative perspectives on race, ethnicity, and (im)migration, focusing on the US and China. My earlier work examined the social support in the lives of marginalized youth, and revealed how resources such as teacher support can be more critical to non-dominant youth but are often less readily available. My current work unpacks educational "truths," such as the notion that high test scores early on predict later STEM outcomes or college advising as an equalizing force for students of color. My scholarship has appeared in journals such as the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, Social Forces, and Teachers College Record, and I've garnered over $11 million in grants from funders such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation. In popular presses, my work has appeared in over twenty mainstream media outlets, including CNN, NPR, TIME, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Metro, and Essence.
Before my return to higher education, I taught algebra and geometry at a public charter school and Upward Bound in San Francisco and was co-founder of a technology start-up based in Shanghai. I received my bachelor's degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.