Penn State Graduate School alumnus Matthew S. Hall received the Graduate School Alumni Society (GSAS) Early Career Award on March 25 at the annual GSAS recognition dinner. This award was established to recognize alumni who have demonstrated exceptional success in their chosen field within the first ten years after obtaining their graduate degree.

Matthew S. Hall is the associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University. His early promotion and tenure at Cornell are testaments to exceptional performance and contributions in the areas of teaching, research and service.

Hall is a sociologist and demographer, whose research focuses broadly on racial and ethnic inequality, immigration, and neighborhood change.

Hall’s recent research has followed three main veins:

• the rise of “new destinations” where immigration has been recent and rapid, and its consequences for intergroup relations;
   
• the incorporation of low-skill and unauthorized immigrants into U.S. labor and housing markets; and
   
• changes in the nature of racial inequality and segregation in residential areas.

In addition to these research efforts, Hall teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in demography, immigration policy, and statistics.

After receiving his doctoral degree in sociology at Penn State in 2010, Hall joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago as assistant professor of sociology and public policy. Hall began his tenure at Cornell in 2012, when he accepted a position as assistant professor of policy analysis and management.

One nominator identified Hall as “an extraordinarily accomplished early-career scholar.  His wide array of research projects has already yielded publications in top journals, and will likely continue to do so in the coming years. He is making important intellectual contributions in the areas of racial and ethnic inequality and immigrant incorporation.”

Another nominator described Hall’s research as “technically rigorous, of great current policy importance, and highly acclaimed and sought after in national and state policy circles.  At such an early career stage, it is rare to find a social scientist who can speak both to a wide range of academic disciplines and also effectively translate his research in service to the public good through effective public engagement.”

Hall’s career achievements are a proud reminder of the countless ways Penn State Graduate School alumni are advancing solutions to our most pressing societal problems and global challenges.