Amy Hsin

Biography & Research

Amy Hsin is professor of migration in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and a core-affiliated faculty member of the Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights.

A sociologist and social demographer, Hsin researches the intersection of immigration, race and ethnicity, education and social inequality in the United States. Her work examines how structural forces — such as immigration policy, immigration status, racial stratification and economic inequality — shape educational outcomes, labor market trajectories and family life. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative methods, Hsin's research illuminates how individuals navigate institutions that reproduce inequality and how these dynamics vary by race, immigration status and social class.

Hsin's book, "Beyond Dreamers: Transitions to Adulthood in an Uncertain Age" (with Sofya Aptekar), uses a life course perspective to examine experiences of illegality among a diverse group of undocumented young adults in New York City, drawing on a decade-long, mixed-methods study to show how immigration policy sorts individuals into unequal legal categories with vastly different prospects for stability and mobility.

Her current project examines, through qualitative interviews, ethnography and computational methods, how new immigrants in the United States develop their political sensibilities and sense of belonging.

Her research has been featured in media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, The Economist, NPR and the Los Angeles Times, and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

Hsin was president of the Asia and Asian America Section of the American Sociological Association and has previously served on the editorial boards of the American Sociological Review, International Migration Review and Sociology of Education. She sits on the advisory board of the Sheldon Danziger Pipeline Award at the Russell Sage Foundation and on the selection committee for the William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Program. She was named to City & State New York's Education Power 100 list and was appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to the School Diversity Advisory Committee. She has co-authored amicus briefs defending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and birthright citizenship, including in Trump v. Barbara, and her work continues to inform public debates around immigration and education equity.

Courses

• Foundations of Cultural Analysis (undergraduate course)

News & Media

• "Limiting public education access would hurt U.S. workforce and harm child welfare, migration scholar warns"
• "Conference in Rome underscores theology’s crucial role in migration research and policy"