SARA ELIZABETH GRINESKI portrait
  • Co-Director, Center for Natural and Technological Hazards, College of Social and Behavioral Science
  • Professor, Sociology Department
801-581-6153

Research Summary

I am a sociologist with training in geography who works on health and environment research. I use a variety of methods to address research questions of interest. My research expertise and contributions fall into several areas • Incorporating Health Outcomes into Environmental Justice (EJ) Research • Intra-ethnic Inequalities • Advancing EJ Methods • Broadening the Scope of EJ Research • Socioenvironmental Disparities in Asthma • Undergraduate Research and Mentoring

Education

  • B.A., Sociology and Biology, Concordia College (Minnesota)
  • M.A., Sociology, Arizona State University. Project: Science, Advocacy, and Environmental Knowledges: A Case Study
  • Ph.D., Sociology, Arizona State University. Project: Social Vulnerability, Environmental Inequity, and Childhood Asthma in Phoenix, Arizona

Biography

Sara Grineski is a Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at the University of Utah. Her research interests are in environmental health disparities, children’s health, and environmental justice. Her doctoral education was funded by a five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) fellowship in urban ecology at Arizona State University. As a Master’s student, she collaborated with a neighborhood on a community-based participatory research project on children’s environmental health, an experience that set the course for Dr. Grineski’s future career. After graduating in 2006 with her Ph.D. in Sociology with a minor in Geography, she became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).  While at UTEP, she was a Principal Investigator (PI) on the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) award, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). On this award, Dr. Grineski developed and directed the academic year and summer research mentoring programs for undergraduate student and faculty mentees, which spanned across 15 colleges and universities. Separate from the NIH BUILD award, Dr. Grineski has received external research funding as a PI or Co-PI from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Health (NIH) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She has published in outlets ranging from Social Science & Medicine and Social Forces to Environmental Research Letters and Environmental Research. Throughout her faculty career, Dr. Grineski has set as a top priority involving students in her research; over half of her publications involve student authors.