Honors & Awards

  • J. Warren Nystrom Award, American Association of Geographers (2026)
  • Gilbert F. White Dissertation Award, American Association of Geographers (AAG) Hazards, Risk and Disasters Specialty Group (2026)
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Arizona State University (2025)
  • National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, National Sciece Foundation (2024)
  • IPCC Scholarship, Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) (2023-25)
  • Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy Fellowship, Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy (2024)
  • Gilbert F. White Environment and Society Fellowship, Arizona State University (2021-2025)

Stanford Advisors

Contact

  • Academic
    University - Scholar Department: School of Medicine Position: Postdoctoral Scholar

Additional Info

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All Publications

  • Big cities fuel inequality within and across generations PNAS NEXUS Connor, D. S., Xie, S., Jang, J., Frazier, A. E., Kedron, P., Jain, G., Yu, Y., Kemeny, T. 2025; 4 (2): pgae587

    Abstract

    Urbanization has long fueled a dual narrative: cities are heralded as sources of economic dynamism and wealth creation yet criticized for fostering inequality and a range of social challenges. This paper addresses this tension using a multidisciplinary approach, combining social sciences methods with satellite imagery-based spatial pattern analysis to study the US urban expansion over the past century. We examine the impact of physical urban spatial characteristics (size, population density, and connectedness) on equality of opportunity, measured through intergenerational mobility, as well as its association with levels of income, wealth, and social capital. Our findings confirm that contemporary cities, particularly population-dense and expansive ones, are indeed divisive forces-acting as centers for income and wealth generation but failing to deliver equal opportunities for economic mobility. Perhaps surprisingly, this polarizing dynamic is a recent phenomenon. In the past, the most urbanized regions performed well in terms of income creation and equality of opportunity. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that the mid-20th century marked a pivotal shift toward more unequal and less inclusive patterns of urban growth.

    View details for DOI 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae587

    View details for Web of Science ID 001413805200001

    View details for PubMedID 39906309

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11792075

  • The social construction of systemic risk: towards an actionable framework for risk governance DISASTER PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT Maskrey, A., Jain, G., Lavell, A. 2023; 32 (1): 4-26

    View details for DOI 10.1108/DPM-07-2022-0155

    View details for Web of Science ID 000973307500001

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7991-4865