Janelle Wong Honored by American Academy of Political and Social Science

The UMD professor is one of eight scholars inducted into the prestigious academy this year.

By ARHU Staff 

UMD Professor Janelle Wong is one of eight new fellows inducted into the American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS). Wong, a professor of American studies and government and politics and director of the Asian American Studies Program, was elected as the academy’s W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow.

Wong, who specializes in muliti-ethnic, multilingual surveys of Asian Americans and other groups, was honored for her “pathbreaking research on Asian American public opinion, religion and immigrant integration, and the civic engagement of immigrant populations.” 

"I am so grateful for the opportunities that my career at UMD, especially the support of so many colleagues, has provided to me,” she said. “I've been able to pursue new scholarly avenues and connect my research to issues I care deeply about in the real world."

Wong was a co-principal investigator on the 2016 National Asian American Survey, a nationwide survey of Asian American political and social attitudes, and co-principal investigator on the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-election Survey, funded by the National Science Foundation. She is a senior researcher with AAPI Data and on the Board of Directors of the Public Religion Research Institute. 

“It is a privilege to welcome another highly accomplished cohort of social scientists as fellows of the AAPSS,” said Marta Tienda, the academy’s president, in a press release. “At this pivotal moment in our nation’s democracy, we must look to social science thought leaders to help us reimagine American world leadership and secure economic opportunity for future generations.”

Founded in 1889, the AAPSS promotes the use of social science to address challenges in society and to inform policy making. The academy elects a small number of fellows each year to recognize their contributions to social science and their work’s ability to deepen public understanding of social dynamics.