Zack W. Almquist

Zack W. Almquist

Associate Professor of Sociology, Adjunct Associate Professor of Statistics and Senior Data Science Fellow @ eScience

Profile

Biography

Zack W. Almquist is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics, and a Senior Data Science Fellow in the eScience Institute at the University of Washington. Before coming to UW in 2020, Prof. Almquist held a Research Scientist position at Facebook, Inc. and was an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Statistics at the University of Minnesota. He has held visiting scholar positions at Stanford University and the University of Washington. Dr. Almquist received his PhD from the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine, where he also received MAs in Sociology and Demography. He also holds an MS in Statistics from Northwestern University and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Oregon.

Awards and Grants

Prof. Almquist has received two major honors from the American Sociological Association (ASA): the mid-career Leo Goodman Award from the Section on Methodology and the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Section on Mathematical Sociology.

Dr. Almquist is a recipient of the NSF’s CAREER Award and the ARO’s Young Investigator Program Award. His research has been funded by the NSF, NIH, ARO, University of Minnesota, and the University of Washington.

Service

Prof Almquist was elected chair of the American Public Health Association’s Caucus on Homelessness (starting Fall 2025) and chair of the American Sociological Association’s section on Mathematical Sociology (starting Summer 2025). Dr. Almquist has also been elected and served as the Secretary-Treasurer of ASA’s Section on Mathematical Sociology from 2018-2021, and as a graduate student representative from 2013-2014.

He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Mathematical Sociology. He also served or serves on the Editorial Boards for the journals Social Networks, Sociological Perspectives, Population and Environment, and Sociological Methodology.

Research Statement

Professor Almquist specializes in developing and applying innovative methodologies to address complex social challenges. His research spans statistics and survey methodology, housing and homelessness, demography and population health, and environmental governance — united by a commitment to advancing both social science methods and real-world policy impact.

Central to his work is the use of advanced social network and statistical methods to improve data collection for populations that traditional surveys often miss. His research on homelessness, for instance, uses network-driven sampling to capture the mobility and needs of unhoused individuals, generating nuanced data that can directly inform housing policy. In public health, he applies similar approaches to study disease transmission and health disparities — work that has taken on new urgency in the wake of COVID-19. His environmental research, meanwhile, maps networks of influence within and across organizations and communities to understand what drives sustainable behavior and effective policy responses.

Across these domains, Almquist’s interdisciplinary approach bridges methodological innovation and practical necessity, producing tools and insights that help communities and policymakers make more informed, equitable decisions.

Public Outreach

Working Groups