Jennifer Laird is an assistant professor of sociology at Lehman College in the City University of New York. Her research uses quantitative and qualitative methods to understand poverty, hardship, and inequality. She has published articles that investigate the sources of poverty differences across U.S. states, employment inequality in the public sector, and immigrant labor force participation. Her research has been published in Demography, Social Science Research, and the American Sociological Review. Since beginning her position as assistant professor in 2018, Laird has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator in external grant awards totaling more than $1.3 million, with sources including the National Science Foundation and the New America Foundation. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington in 2016.