Zack W. Almquist

Zack W. Almquist

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

Profile

Biography

Zack W. Almquist is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Statistics, a Senior Data Science Fellow in the eScience Institute, and a Faculty Fellow in the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington (his promotion to Professor is effective September 16, 2026). Before joining UW in 2020, Almquist was a Research Scientist at Facebook, Inc., an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Statistics at the University of Minnesota, and a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Almquist received his PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Irvine, where he also earned MAs in Sociology and Demography; he holds an MS in Statistics from Northwestern University and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Oregon.

Awards and Grants

Almquist has received two major honors from the American Sociological Association (ASA): the mid-career Leo Goodman Award (2021) from the Section on Methodology and the Outstanding Dissertation Award (2013) from the Section on Mathematical Sociology. He is also a recipient of the NSF’s CAREER Award (2022) and the ARO’s Young Investigator Program Award (2014). His research has been funded by the NSF, NIH, ARO, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, King County, WA, and Los Angeles County, CA.

Service

Almquist is chair of the American Public Health Association’s Caucus on Homelessness (since Fall 2025) and chair-elect of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Mathematical Sociology, where he will become chair in August 2026. He previously served as Secretary-Treasurer of ASA’s Section on Mathematical Sociology (2018–2021) and as its graduate student representative (2013–2014). He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Mathematical Sociology and serves on the editorial boards of Social Networks, Sociological Perspectives, and Population and Environment; he previously served on the editorial board of Sociological Methodology (2018–2020).

Research Statement

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 gained particular urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic. 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