I am a sociologist and demographer. I examine how racial, ethnic and gender inequalities are perpetuated and sometimes undone in various institutional settings, such as the workplace, the dating/marriage market and in families. I am drawn to research conundrums. My major areas of scholarship include analyzing online dating behavior to better understand how interracial interaction contributes to continued racial hierarchies; taking advantage of unique social continuities in the U.S. military that provide insight into what drives racial disparities in health, family formation behaviors and other outcomes in larger society; tracing the development and impact on the American welfare system of the U.S. prison and military system “submerged states”; and better understanding how institutions and their policies impact the changing American life course in the post-industrial economy. By exploring alternative institutional contexts, I cast a number of important social problems in a new light.