Kjersten Bunker Whittington
Professor of Sociology
Sociology Department
Division of History and Social Sciences
Kjersten Bunker Whittington is Professor of Sociology at Reed College. A quantitative and network methodologist, her research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of gender and work, scientific careers and science-based organizations, networks and social structure, and the knowledge economy. Her primary line of research focuses on sex disparities in scientific and technical careers. A second research focus investigates regional dynamics and the science economy; in particular, the influence of inter-organizational network structure on firm-level outputs, and the determinants of successful regional clustering in the biotechnology industry. Kjersten received a B.S. in Physics from North Carolina State University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University. She joined the Reed faculty in 2007, and teaches courses on gender, networks, science, and social science methodology. Most recently, Kjersten served a year away as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, with a placement in the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) at the National Institutes of Health working for the NIH Associate Director for Research on Women's Health. Her fellowship work at ORWH included the development and formulation of NIH policy to enhance consideration of sex as a biological variable in NIH-funded biomedical research.