Hilary Davidson, a Visiting Research Associate in the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University, is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Her dissertation explores aspirations during times of transition and uncertainty. Specifically, she draws on longitudinal and nationally representative in-depth interview and survey data to examine how cultural narratives and material opportunities shape what Americans coming of age aim to achieve with their lives in the midst of precarious economic conditions. Her research interests include cultural sociology, emerging adulthood, generosity and altruism, religion, gender, social movements, and social class.

Ms. Davidson’s work appears in the Journal for the American Academy of Religion and Sociology of Religion. She is also the co-author of two books, Lost in Transition (2011) and The Paradox of Generosity (2014). She regularly presents her work at academic conferences and shares her work with the broader public.

As an aspiring teacher-scholar Ms. Davidson has benefitted greatly from the Gender Studies Predoctoral Teaching Fellowship as well as the opportunities to teach Introduction to Gender Studies and Introduction to Social Problems at the University of Notre Dame.

Ms. Davidson is the recipient of an Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts American Dream grant and the William V. D’Antonino award for graduate student excellence in the sociology of religion.