Student Research Opportunities
At NEIU Sociology, research is more than an academic exercise, it is an opportunity to investigate real-world social issues, develop valuable career skills, and deepen your understanding of society. Students design and conduct original research projects in our sociological methods course, gaining hands-on experience with research design, data collection, data analysis, and data presentation.
Many students go on to present their work at the annual John S. Albazi Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium at NEIU, as well as regional and national conferences such as the Midwest Sociological Society and the American Sociological Association. Students can also collaborate one-on-one with NEIU Sociology faculty to expand class projects into independent research.
Whether you are interested in graduate school, community engagement, policy, nonprofit work, research experience helps you build the analytical and problem-solving skills that employers value while preparing you to be an informed and engaged member of society. The examples below highlight the range of topics, methods, and social issues that NEIU Sociology students have investigated through their research.
Charlie Anloague and Mariam Khalid
John S. Albazi Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium
Research Award Recipient, Sociology Session
Many people with disabilities are also sexual beings, just like people without disabilities. This is human nature, however, much of dominant society still looks upon disabled bodies as nonsexual. This is called desexualization; a type of ableism that strips away a sexual identity and suppresses sexual agency. This research analyzes how people within the disabled community might use sexualacts within the kink community as a way to have positive sexual experiences. Using a focus group of a few disabled individuals within the local kink community we analyze how people with disabilities interact and navigate within the kink community to take back agency and sexual power. Looking at positive and negative interactions experienced with interacting with kink play, and within kink spaces.
Jasmine Anuntarungsun, Ada Garcia, Jonathan Ladalla, Anabella Salgado-Gonzalez, and Vivian Baldwin
John S. Albazi Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium
Research Award Recipient, Themes of Government Session
Recent increases in United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity have significantly impacted urban communities, particularly in the Chicagoland area during Operation Midway Blitz in September 2025 (Hawley 2026). Many communities, especially small, immigrant-owned businesses, have experienced economic and social disruptions, including declining customer activity, business closures, staff reductions, and ongoing fear that keeps residents at home (Savchenko 2025). Jane Jacobs’ (1961) “Eyes on the Street” concept suggests that neighborhoods remain safer when public spaces are active and regularly observed by residents, workers, and business owners. When restaurants and other small businesses close or reduce activity during periods of enforcement, informal social monitoring decreases, weakening community cohesion and perceived safety.
Guided by a social constructionist approach, this study uses semi-structured interviews to examine how increased Immigration Enforcement activities have affected restaurants and will explore the strategies restaurant owners employ to maintain their businesses and support employees. Interviews will take place in the Lawrence Avenue Corridor, a pseudonym used to protect the neighborhood’s identity. Using purposive and snowball sampling, restaurant owners are engaged to assess the impacts of workforce disruptions, reduced customer traffic, and heightened fear. Cultural information, such as food served and community practices, will be retained to highlight community vibrancy and explore patterns of racialized targeting. Any person names and any identifying information will not be included in the research, as pseudonyms will be used as a marker for such information. Recordings and notes will be securely stored and will only be accessed by the researcher. All data will be permanently deleted after the project is completed. The information collected will be used for class purposes, and research findings and general themes may be shared at the Northeastern Illinois University’s undergraduate symposium after receiving Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval in accordance with ethical guidelines; however, no identifying information will be included or disclosed.
Although data collection is ongoing, we expect findings to reveal operational adaptations, emotional and social impacts on workers and families, and variations in perceived safety and access to support within these communities.
Jasmine Anuntarungsun
John S. Albazi Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium
Research Award Recipient, Poster Session I: Humanities and Social Sciences
When a community loses a meaningful place, the damage goes far beyond the physical. Displacement fractures social networks, erodes shared identity, and cuts off access to vital resources. When a neighborhood park disappears, where do children play; and where do neighbors gather? A place is not just location; it is created through the people, relationships, and everyday experiences that give it meaning (Chen et al. 2018). The story of the Pilsen Food Pantry (PFP) in Chicago illustrates this clearly. Founded in 2018 in a vacant church, PFP was more than a food distribution site; it was a hub of social connection for longtime residents and newly arrived migrants. As gentrification intensified, the pantry was forced to relocate after its founders’ bid to purchase the building was rejected, prioritizing market value over community need (Chen et al., 2018; Paynter, 2011; Small, 2006). PFP’s displacement reveals how profit-driven redevelopment restricts access to essential services and weakens neighborhood cohesion. Zoning disparities and the sale of culturally significant properties further expose how structural forces push out long-standing residents while making way for wealthier newcomers, deepening inequality under the guise of progress (Curran 2018; Paynter, 2011). When community anchors like PFP are displaced, the effects ripple outward, disrupting relationships, diminishing trust, and undermining long-term resilience. Protecting these spaces requires sustained, collective action rooted in housing justice, equitable development, and mutual aid. Safeguarding these community anchors keeps neighborhoods resilient, equitable, and rooted in collective well-being, demonstrating that community-centered development isn’t optional, it’s essential.
Matthew Grydzuk
John S. Albazi Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium
This project examines the renaming of Chicago’s historically gay neighborhood from “Boystown” to “Northalsted” as a contested moment in the ongoing negotiation of queer space. Drawing on Sharon Zukin’s work on authenticity and commodification, Japonica Brown-Saracino’s scholarship on preservation and neighborhood change, and research on gayborhood formation and transformation, I situate the renaming within broader processes of gentrification, urban branding, and neoliberal governance. The central question guiding this study is how symbolic acts of inclusion intersect with material inequalities to shape belonging in historically queer neighborhoods. Methodologically, the project uses qualitative content analysis of Reddit discussions across LGBTQ+ and Chicago-based forums. Through iterative open and focused coding, I developed fifty open codes that were consolidated into key themes, including symbolic versus material inclusion, vernacular resistance to official naming, institutional legitimacy, place attachment, boundary policing, and political economy. These findings are designed to be triangulated with semi-structured interviews conducted with bartenders, managers, owners, and long-standing patrons at four institutional bars in the neighborhood. Preliminary findings suggest that debates over renaming function as proxy conflicts about commercialization, displacement, and the governance of queer space. Some participants frame “Northalsted” as a meaningful expansion of representation beyond cisgender gay men. Others describe the change as performative and disconnected from material concerns such as affordability, racial exclusion, and the loss of queer density. Across positions, strong expressions of nostalgia, safety, and coming-of-age narratives indicate that “Boystown” operates as a condensed symbol of collective memory and identity. Rather than reducing the controversy to a culture war dispute, this project argues that the renaming reveals how symbolic politics, market forces, and emotional place attachment converge in the transformation of historically marginalized urban neighborhoods.
Stacey Panner
John S. Albazi Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium
Poster Session I: Humanities and Social Sciences
Cyberbullying is a widespread and normalized issue in adolescent digital life, often concealed from adults and underestimated by institutions. This paper reviews research on how parental intervention can disrupt online harm, emphasizing the importance of emotional trust, cultural understanding, and equitable access to digital tools. Drawing on sociological frameworks from Durkheim, Mills, and Putnam, the paper frames cyberbullying not as a private misbehavior, but as a systemic issue shaped by structural inequality, institutional gaps, and evolving digital norms. It examines how family communication, sociocultural context, and resource access shape parental capacity to intervene. The review calls for equity-driven, collaborative solutions involving families, schools, tech companies, and policymakers. A shift from individual responsibility to collective action is critical for creating safer digital environments for all youth.
Dan Maurer
John S. Albazi Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium
Masculinity is performed in many different ways across a variety of social settings and contexts. This performance is particularly pronounced in the context of bar karaoke. Where bars are already settings of gendered consumption and performance, the karaoke performance serves to magnify this performance aspect. Men, in particular, perform masculinity in this context with the intent to embody hegemonic masculinity or challenge it through their performance of karaoke. One type of challenge can be considered hybrid masculinity, an incorporation of icons of femininity and marginalized masculinities that seems to expand and dilute what is acceptably masculine, but more often serves to surreptitiously reaffirm hegemonic masculinity (Bridges and Pascoe, 2015). This exploratory study uses participatory observation in the role of a karaoke host at a suburban bar outside of a large, Midwestern city to examine the manifestation of hybrid masculinity through an easily observable phenomenon: that of the (somewhat) humble karaoke show. As IRB approval was not sought prior to the beginning of the study, this presentation will be on literature and methodology only.
Kenneth Garcia
John S. Albazi Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium
Analyzing how masculinity is represented in media is crucial in understanding how media supports or resists the patriarchy. This media analysis will focus on the power fictional characters have to influence young boys and men's behavior. Vinland Saga created by Makato Yukimura depicts healthy and unhealthy masculinity through characters such as Thor's and Thorfinn. The story follows Thorfinn who's toxic masculinity fueled by revenge directly supports the patriarchy within the context of the narrative. Later in the story it depicts how he resists the patriarchy through self reflection and growth. Just as Thorfinn rejects gender norms; many men in real life may see this and admire his behavior reject negative gender norms learned from media they grew up with. It is important to acknowledge that tv shows, video games, movies and anime continue to evolve so do representations of masculinity. Vinland Saga is but one of several examples of media in recent years that challenges the patriarchy. Social expectation's of what it means to be a real man are passed down from one generation to the next. Through this perspective one can not expect positive masculinity to become the norm overnight. It is a generational process of learned habits, beliefs and rituals that result in hegemonic masculinity. Media is one tool in a toolset to promote positive masculinity. To say that media is the only tool used to set societal expectations for men is to undermine the role that fathers, male sport coaches and male teachers play in shaping a boys image of a real man. Perhaps future research can survey fathers chosen fictional role model while they raise their boys. Analyzing what traits they admire from their chosen role model. To see how these idealized traits influences what traits are important for their boys to have. This may give a clearer picture of what long term affects fathers chosen role models have on guiding social expectations for their young boys.
Dan Maurer, Aria Nebenzahl, and Caitlin Burkey
Midwest Sociological Society
Thematic Roundtable: Media Coverage/Media Impacts
Israel's response to Hamas’ October 7, 2024 attack and subsequent invasion of Palestinian territories leading to the killing of over an estimated 40,000 Palestinians and nearly 100,000 wounded, spurned world wide outcry and claims of genocide. This was most evident across U.S. college campuses, whereby supporters of the Palestinian people, and particularly college students, participated in campus demonstrations to denounce the Israeli government’s actions, demand a ceasefire, and calls for divestment from Israel. Yet, despite a long-history of being sites of social justice activism and free speech, some college administrators have denounced Pro-Palestinian student activists’ actions and claims. This raises interesting questions about why there is a marked shift in college administrative criticism of Pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations and sanctions against students who participate in them. Thus, our exploratory research aims to uncover how college administrators interpret Pro-Palestinian campus activism, frame activists’ claims and actions, and respond to them. Employing content analysis of newspaper articles from March 2024 to June 2024, we find college administrators critical of Pro-Palestinian student led campus demonstrations often framed these events as violating university policy and, in some instances, protestors claims as hate speech. As a result, college officials responded to activists actions and claims with punitive sanctions, ranging from dorm evictions to campus expulsion. We also find evidence that external pressures and college type may play a role in how college administrators respond to these demonstrations. Specifically, private and elite colleges were more likely to formally denounce and enact sanctions against student protestors than public institutions of higher education. We infer that both political and economic pressures play an important role in how colleges respond to student-led campus protests.