New center hopes to further its impact through next fellowship cohort

The Center for the Study of Guns in Society, which launched earlier this year, investigates social sciences and humanities-related approaches to guns. Focused on studying these issues, the center’s BRIDGS (Bringing Research and Innovation Into the Debate on Guns in Society) Emergent Scholar Fellows are innovating diverse and data-informed research projects.

Housed in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, the first-of-its-kind center prioritizes listening and learning from different perspectives. The center is home to 19 affiliated faculty members from across the state and hosted seven fellows from across the country in the inaugural 2024 cohort, including graduate and doctoral students from Princeton, Northwestern, Rutgers and more.

Graduate students from across the United States interested in the fellowship are able to research a variety of topics, such as social movements, gun markets and comparative and transnational approaches to guns.

“This is a fellowship that provides space to shape the next generation of gun scholars within the social sciences,” said Jennifer Carlson, professor of sociology and the center’s founding director.

“While gun scholarship has historically been dominated by criminological, legal and public health perspectives, we are in the middle of an exciting tipping point with regard to social science research on the significance of guns in society, especially the U.S. context.”

Carlson is a MacArthur Fellow and was honored with the Local Genius Award in Tucson, Arizona. Most recently, she was the principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant examining the experiences of gun violence survivors in Florida and California.

The BRIDGS program encourages investigating different perspectives on the significance of guns in society. Megan Kang, a PhD candidate from Princeton University, is currently working on an ethnographic dissertation on how the presence of guns impacts Chicago’s West Side. Meanwhile, Callie Cleckner, a PhD candidate from Indiana University Bloomington, is examining how gun shows operate as a source of community for enthusiasts and explores how different dynamics characterize those events.

“This Fellowship provides a crucial source of mentorship and community for graduate students who are raising innovative questions about guns in society and rigorously pursuing them.”

The 2025 cohort will meet virtually each month to discuss and provide on-going updates on their work and network with senior scholars. Participants will then be invited in January 2026 to the center’s Annual Guns in Society Symposium, where they’ll have the opportunity to present their work. The inaugural symposium will take place on Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, 2025.

The last day to apply for the 2025 BRIDGS Emergent Scholars Fellowship is Nov. 1, 2024.