Nan Feng is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. She received her doctorate from Cornell University, where her research focused on how social inequality shapes the structure of social networks and access to resources. Feng’s work combines large-scale population surveys, quantitative modeling, and computational methods to examine how patterns of social connection influence outcomes such as economic opportunity, wellbeing, and aging. She is a co-author of Friends and Fortunes: Social Capital Inequality in America (Cambridge University Press, 2026), which examines how social capital is unequally distributed across the United States using more than two dozen survey datasets. Her research has also appeared in journals including Sociological Science, European Journal of Ageing, and The Prison Journal. Through her work, Feng seeks to better understand how relational structures reproduce social inequality and how social connections shape opportunities across the life course.
Recent Publications
2026 Cornwell, Benjamin, Cristobal Young, Barum Park, and Nan Feng. Friends and Fortunes: Social Capital Inequality in America. New York: Cambridge University Press.
2025 Young, Cristobal, Benjamin Cornwell, Barum Park, and Nan Feng. “Inequality and Social Ties: Evidence from 15 U.S. Data Sets.” Sociological Science 12: 294-321.
2025 Feng, Nan, and Benjamin Cornwell. “Long-Term Impacts of Incarceration Exposure and Social Network Stability in Later Life.” The Prison Journal 105(3): 263-287.
2023 Feng, Nan. “Social Disadvantage, Context and Network Dynamics in Later Life.” European Journal of Ageing20(1): Article 19.
Recent Talks
“Public Spaces, Network Formation, and Social Inequality in Diverse Cities.” International Network for Social Network Analysis Conference (Sunbelt). June 2026.
Book Talk: Friends and Fortunes: Social Capital Inequality in America (Cambridge University Press). Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University, April 2026.
“Quantitative Approaches to Social Connectedness in Social Infrastructure: Comparative Case Studies in New York State.” Institute for Public Knowledge Research Lunch, New York University. May 2025.
Nan Feng 