Diego F. Leal

Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Arizona

School of Sociology
University of Arizona
1145 E. South Campus Dr., 
Social Sciences, Rm. 400
Tucson, AZ, 85721
dflc [at] arizona [dot] edu

I'm an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona. I was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia.

I'm broadly interested in the analysis of social network dynamics. I focus on the social network aspects of relational inequalities, particularly as they manifest in the emergence and evolution of international migration systems and minority health outcomes. On those two fronts, my most recent research focuses on human rights violations by the U.S. government related to the enforced disappearance of international migrants and asylum seekers and on nicotine products use among adolescents. I use a variety of methods, from interviews and focus groups to inferential network analysis and agent-based computational models. My work has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, Social Networks, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, PLoS ONE, and several other outlets.

Among others, I'm currently the Principal Investigator (jointly with Dr. James Thrasher) of a $2.8 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant to study peer adolescent networks and nicotine products use in the U.S. and Mexico. My collaborators and I have been awarded over $8 million in research grants.