Dr. Jessica Houston Su is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and a Faculty Fellow in the Carolina Population Center. Her research focuses on social inequality in American family life. At first glance, family formation may seem very individualized; decisions about whom we marry, when we have children, and how we raise them are personal. Her work investigates how social inequality contributes to patterns of family formation at the population level, and subsequently affects the development and well-being of parents and children. Her research appears in leading peer-reviewed journals such as Demography, the Journal of Marriage and Family, and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Cornell University and her B.A. in Sociology from Dartmouth College.