Department of Sociology

My research focuses on financial and other corporate decision-makers and their interactions within and among global cities, especially in Asia. I travel to Hong Kong regularly for research and have interviewed many financiers, senior corporate leaders, and government officials. Since the publication of my book, Hong Kong as a Global Metropolis , by Cambridge University Press in 2000, my research has focused on Asian business networks, especially financial, and their role in the economic development of the region. I also study nineteenth-century urban-industrial growth in the United States . My book, The Roots of American Industrialization, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2003, and my new book, Networked Machinists: Forging High-Technology Industries in Antebellum America, will be published by Johns Hopkins in 2006. I teach courses on Corporations and Global Cities , Business Networks in Asia , Social Capital and Social Networks, Downtown Development, and Introductory Statistics for Social Research.