Di Di
Assistant professor
Department of Sociology
Santa Clara University
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Santa Clara University. I received my Ph.D. degree in the Department of Sociology at Rice University. Prior to enrolling at Rice, I earned a bachelor’s degree in law from Tongji University, Shanghai, China in 2012.
I published sixteen peer-reviewed articles and co-authored a book at Oxford University Press. I have also received four paper awards for my research, as well as six research grants. Broadly, my research examines social inequality, with a particular focus on gender inequality, in scientific and religious institutions from a transnational comparative perspective.
In addition to my academic training, I have also worked as a user experience researcher in Microsoft and Facebook. To learn more about my work as a sociologist, please refer to my CV.
How National Contexts SHAPE WHO WE ARE
Recent Highlights:
10/2023: Our paper, “Scientists Explain the Underrepresentation of Women in Physics Compared to Biology in Four National Contexts,” is published on Gender, Work & Organization. We ask: How do scientists in different societies explain why there are fewer women in physics than biology? Using survey data collected among biologists and physicists in four societies, we found that scientists tend to attribute the unequal gender distribution in physics and biology to women's individual choices. The manuscript is available open access here. This research is reported by SwiftTelecast, Diverse News, Futurity, and Science Daily.
07/2023: Our paper, “Religion, Spirituality, and Mental Health Among Scientists During the Pandemic: A Four-Country Study,” is published on Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. This study examines whether the relationship between R/S and mental health holds for scientists. Co-authors on this paper include Stephen Cranney, Brandon Vaidyanathan, and Caitlin Anne Fitzgerald. The paper is free to read and can be assessed here.
03/2023: Our project, “Atheism @ Virtual World: A Study of Atheist Influencers,” is funded by the Explaining Atheism Programme (£35,000/$39,896). I am collaborating with Esther Chan, Assistant Professor in Department of Sociology at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee on this project. We will interview atheist influencers on social media to understandings of atheism.
01/2023: Starting from January 2023, I will serve as the co-chair of the sociology of religion unit in the American Academy of Religion. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the American Academy of Religion.
01/2023: My manuscript, “Ethical ambiguity and complexity: tech workers’ perceptions of big data ethics in China and the US,” is published on Information, Communication & Society. The article can be accessed here.
03/2022: My research, “Religious Entrepreneurs and Social Media: Religious Influencers as Digital Entrepreneurs,” was funded by Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University ($36,711). This research will rely on interviews with religious ad spiritual influencers on social media to understand their perceptions of religion and spirituality.
12/2021: I presented my study, “Incorporating Sacredness: Religion in Tech Workplace in China and the US,” in American Academy of Religion annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
11/2021: My manuscript, “Surviving is Succeeding: How Tech Workers Handle Job Insecurity During COVID-19,” was published on American Behavioral Scientist. Data for this study came from 51 in-depth interviews with tech professionals employed in tech hubs on the west coast of the US.As the COVID-19 pandemic had diverse—and sometimes conflicting—impacts on the tech profession, this study offers an empirical understanding of how a group of relatively well-resourced professionals handle job market uncertainties associated with this pandemic. This manuscript is available here.
10/2021: I presented my study, “Seeing Sacred in Tech: Religion and the Tech Workplace in China and the US,” in Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting in Portland Oregon. This study relies on 97 in-depth interviews with tech professionals to understand whether and how they incorporate religion and spirituality in their workplace.
09/2021: I was invited to participate in a panel discussion entitled as “Science and Religion: Why Hong Kong and Taiwan Are Different.” This discussion was hosted by the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University and the University of Hong Kong’s Faith and Science Collaborative Research Forum.
08/2021: I published an Op-Ed, co-authored with Elaine Howard Ecklund, in Times Higher Ed. In this op-ed, we argue that science is a global enterprise and so are its inequities. Thus, we need global institutional solutions to achieve true equity in science. The op-ed is available here.
07/2021: Our manuscript, “Publishing and Parenting in Academic Science: A Study of Different National Contexts” was published on Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. Drawing on surveys of 5,756 respondents and follow-up interviews with 369 participants, we found that the relationship between family responsibilities and publishing operates differently for men and women. Other co-authors on this manuscript are Robert A. Thomson , Jr at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Elaine Howard Ecklund at Rice University. This manuscript can be accessed here.
01/2021: Starting on January 2021, I will serve as a steering committee member of the Sociology of Religion Unit in American Academy of Religion (AAR). The term lasts for three years. I look forward to working together with sociologists of religion in American Academy of Religion.
11/2020: I was invited to present as a panelist in the roundtable session, “An Open Conversation on Urban Religiosities in Chinese Buddhism Today,” in the 2020 Annual Meeting of American Academy of Religion. In this roundtable conversation, I shared learnings from my ethnographic observations and interview conversations in a Buddhist temple in mainland China.
11/2020: My manuscript, “Gendered Paths to Enlightenment: The Intersection of Gender and Religion in Buddhist Temples in Mainland China and the United States,” was published in Social Currents. This paper can be assessed here.
09/2020: My manuscript, “Are Religious Women More Traditionalist? A Cross-National Examination of Gender and Religion in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,” was published in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. In this research, I rely on cross-national survey data to identify whether and how the relationship between women’s religiosity and gender ideologies on conditioned upon the national contexts where they live. This paper is published online and can be assessed here.
09/2020: I was invited to write a featured essay published on Sociology of Religion. In this essay, I reviewed “Family Sacrifices: The World Views and Ethics of Chinese Americans” by Russell M. Jeung, Seanan S. Fong, and Helen Jin Kim. I further argue that this framework is not only helpful to the scholarly understanding of ethnic Chinese’ religiosity and spirituality, but also informative for future understandings of alternative spirituality.
04/2020: My work, “Alternative Spirituality Among Global Scientists,” co-authored with Simranjit Khalsa, Bob Thomson and Elaine Howard Ecklund was recently profiled in Covalence Magazine. Read more here.
02/2020: Our manuscript, “Alternative Spirituality among Global Scientists,” co-authored with Simranjit Khalsa, Robert Thomson, and Elaine Howard Ecklund is accepted for publication in the Sociological Quarterly. This manuscript relies on both surveys and interviews to understand whether and how scientists’ construction of spirituality is conditioned upon the national contexts where they live and work. This paper is published online and can be accessed here.
10/2019: I was invited to present in the presidential theme session on Diversifying the Study of Religion and Science Through Global Perspective. My presentation addresses how the studies of science and religion in East Asian societies contribute to the current scholarly understanding.
10/2019: I presented my study, “Work, Luck, Prayer: Religion: A Cross-National Study on Religion and People’s Perceptions of What Brings Secular Success” in in the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion annual meeting. This research relies on cross-national survey data to understand how religiosity is related to people’s beliefs in hard work and success.
05/2019-08/2019: I worked as a User Experience Researcher through my internship with Facebook.
04/2019: I was invited to participate in the workshop on “Religion, Reverence and Tolerance” organized by the Baker Institute Center for the Middle East and the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, both at Rice University. A summary of my presentation is published on the Baker Institute website and can be accessed here.
01/2019: I did a podcast interview with the associate editor of Sociology of Religion. In this podcast interview, I talked about my paper, “Paths of Enlightenment: Constructing Buddhist Identities in Mainland China and the United States.” The podcast interview can be accessed here.
10/2018: I presented my paper, “Oppression or Empowerment? A Cross-National Examination of Gender and Religion” in the 2018 annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. In this paper, I adopt multi-level statistical modeling to understand the relationship between religiosity and women’s gender perspectives in 38 different countries.
09/2018: My paper, "Navigating Gender Norms: Gender Agency in Buddhist Temples in Mainland China and the US" was awarded the best graduate paper award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR). I will receive this award in the 2018 annual meeting in Las Vegas.
06/2018: My paper, "Navigating Gender Norms: Gender Agency in Buddhist Temples in Mainland China and the US" was awarded the best graduate paper award from the Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA). I will participate in the reception for the religion section to receive this award.
05/2018: I was awarded the Lodieska Stockbridge Vaughn Fellowship. This award is given to a very limited number of Rice University graduate students who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and promise.
04/2018: I was awarded a student travel grant from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. I will present a paper that uses multi-level methodology and analyzes the relationship between gender and religion in 38 national contexts at the 2018 annual meeting of the SSSR.
03/2018: My paper, "Paths to Enlightenment: Constructing Buddhist Identities in Mainland China and the United States" was accepted for publication at Sociology of Religion. The full article can be found online here.
10/2017: I presented a portion of my dissertation at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
10/2017: My article, "Creating Sacredness and Defending Secularity: Faith in the Workplace of Taiwanese Scientists" (co-authored with Elaine Howard Ecklund) is published on Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 3:1-15. The full article can be found online here.
08/2017: I presented a portion of my dissertation research findings, "Navigating Gender Norms: 'Doing Egalitarianism' in Mainland China and the US" at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion.
Serving as the program chair for the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, I organized 67 sessions and attended two council meetings during the conference. This role is usually assigned to a tenure-track faculty member.
07/2017: I was awarded the inaugural Senior Graduate Student Fellowship from the Religion and Public Life Program (RPLP) at Rice University.
This fellowship is provided to a student in their 6th or 7th year of a PhD program, whose work involves some aspect of religion in public life, and who can meaningfully contribute to the research, training, and outreach missions of the RPLP.
06/2017: I was awarded a Constant H. Jacquet Research Award from the Religious Research Association to support my dissertation research, "Getting Enlightened: A Comparative Study of Buddhist Temples in Mainland China and the US."
05/2017: I was awarded the Seth Balkishan Das Singhal Award for my paper, "Navigating Gender Norms: 'Doing Gender' in Buddhist Temples in Mainland China and the US."
This award, given by the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (CSWGS) at Rice University, is for an undergraduate or graduate paper that addresses social justice issues, with special consideration for those papers that substantively address issues of faith and religion as they influence individual and collective behavior.
02/2017: My research, "A Gendered Approach to Science Ethics for US and UK Physicists" (co-authored with Elaine Howard Ecklund, published in Science and Engineering Ethics) is quoted by Inside Higher Ed and Times Higher Education.