Elaine Howard Ecklund is the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences, Professor of Sociology, and director of the Boniuk Institute at Rice University. Her current research addresses how individuals use race, gender, and religious identities to bring changes to religious and scientific institutions.
She is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, seven books, and numerous op-eds. She has received grants from the National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, Templeton World Charity Foundation, and Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Her research has been cited over 5,000 times by local, national, and international media. In 2013, she received Rice University’s Charles O. Duncan Award for Most Outstanding Academic Achievement and Teaching and in 2022 the Rice University Presidential Mentoring Award. She received a PhD in 2004 from Cornell University, where she was the recipient of the Class of 2004 Graduate Student Baccalaureate Award for Academic Excellence and Community Service.
