Stefanie DeLuca

Research Principal, Professor of Social Policy and Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

Stefanie DeLuca is the James Coleman Professor of Social Policy and Sociology at the Johns Hopkins University, where she directs the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab.

Dr. DeLuca uses sociological perspectives to inform education and housing policy, and conducts mixed-methods studies that combine qualitative research with experimental or quasi-experimental designs. Some of her work focuses on the effects of programs to help low-income families relocate to safer neighborhoods and better schools through housing vouchers. Based on some of this work with young adults in the Baltimore site of the Moving to Opportunity program, Professor DeLuca wrote a book, Coming of Age in the Other America (with Susan Clampet-Lundquist and Kathryn Edin), which was named an Outstanding Academic Title from the American Library Association, and won the William F. Goode Award from the American Sociological Association. Additional research examines how young adults make postsecondary decisions. Her work has been funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Spencer Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Abell Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, National Academy of Education, Gates Foundation and the Department of Education.

In 2021, Dr. DeLuca received the ASA Publicly Engaged Scholar award and is an elected member of the Sociological Research Association. She currently serves on a NASEM consensus study on economic and social mobility in the U.S.

Dr. DeLuca earned a B.A. in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University.