About
Sofia Hiltner, MA, MSW, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at University of Michigan. Her work has been published in Social Forces, The American Sociologist, and the Journal of Environmental Psychology. Her research lies at the intersection of health and medicine, inequality and poverty, and public policy, with a focus on how social problems are framed and responded to.
Prior to University of Michigan, Hiltner conducted research at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund and lived in New York City and Buenos Aires, Argentina. She completed her B.A. in Psychology and certificates in Environmental Studies and Latin American Studies at Princeton University. While at Princeton, her studies took her to Greece, Cuba, Namibia, Spain, and across South America. She completed her Master of Social Work (MSW) at University of Michigan and is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) in New Jersey.
Publications
Hiltner, S. (2024). Limited Attention to Climate Change in U.S. Sociology. The American Sociologist.
Reported in Times Higher Education and Michigan News.
Hiltner, S. & Cech, E.A. (2024). The View from Above and Below: Subjective Mobility and Explanations of Class, Race, and Gender Inequality. Social Forces, 103(2).
Hiltner, S. Eaton, E., Healy, N., Scerri, A., Stephens, J., & Supran, G. (2024). Fossil fuel industry influence in higher education: a review and a research agenda. WIREs Climate Change.
Reported in Financial Times, The Guardian, Grist, and Inside Climate News.
Cech, E.A. & Hiltner, S. (2022). Unsettled Employment, Reshuffled Priorities? Career Prioritization among College-Educated Workers Facing Employment Instability during COVID-19. Socius.
Song, H., Lewis, N., Ballew, M., Bravo, M., Davydova, J., Gao, H.O., Garcia, R., Hiltner, S., Naiman, S., Pearson, A., Romero-Canyas, R., Schuldt, J. (2020). What counts as an environmental issue? Differences in issue conceptualization by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 68, 100943.
Romero-Canyas, R. & Hiltner, S. (2020). Scaling Up and Out: Psychological Science in the Service of Promoting Sustainable Consumption.” Journal of Social Issues, 76(1). Special Issue “Sustainable consumption: The psychology of individual choice, identity, and behavior;” Matthew B Ruby, Iain Walker and Hanne M Watkins (Special Issue Editors)
Lu, H., Romero-Canyas, R., Hiltner, S., Neltner, T., McCormick, L., & Niederdeppe, J. (2019). Research to move toward evidence-based recommendations for lead service line disclosure policies in home buying and home renting scenarios. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(6), 963.
Hiltner, S., Romero-Canyas, R., McCormick, L., & Neltner, T. (2019). Using online tools to publicize lead service line locations and promote replacement. AWWA Water Science, 1(1), e1124.
See summary by Hiltner et al. (2019) here.
Other Publications
