A social demographer, Sharon Sassler’s research examines factors shaping the activities of young adults and their life course transitions into school and work, relationships, and parenthood, and how these transitions vary by gender, race/ethnicity, and social class.

Her published research on family demography explores various facets of union formation and how contemporary relationships contribute to growing levels of family inequality in the United States. Her work has assessed how rapidly relationships progress into cohabitation or marriage, whether transitions into marriage are beneficial for women and children’s health and well-being, how the household division of housework is associated with couple well-being, and the role of children in re-partnering behavior.

A second stream of her work examines the retention and advancement of women in STEM occupations.  She is currently engaged in a 5-year NSF funded grant that examines the early career transitions of recent graduates with STEM degrees into the labor force and graduate training programs.

Professor Sassler received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University in 1995 and joined the Cornell faculty in 2005