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Curriculum Vitae

Current Research

My research focuses on social inequality, with special emphasis on changing structures and practices to increase equity and wellbeing. 

Through collaboration with Arthur L. Greil I am studying over time change in fertility and social and behavioral outcomes (e.g. relationship instability) using the German longitudinal Pairfam dataset, with colleagues at the German Federal Institute for Population Research (Martin Bujard and Jasmin Passett-Wittig).

I led a National Institutes of Health funded Science Education Partnership Award, Worlds of Connections, that engages youth with network science for health research for bio-behavioral and biomedical careers. Through collaborations with UNL Undergraduates and colleagues at UNO who lead NE STEM 4U, we published four informal activities for youth to explore network science for health. Through supplemental funding we invited artists to create pro-vaccination posters that are available for free on the worlds of connections web page and will be in a forthcoming book from the University of Nebraska press. In collaboration with professor and artist Ash Smith and creative technologist Sam Bendix, our team created a VR experience called MuMU: Worlds of Connections that is free from the meta store. We have several articles forth coming about the methodology behind co-constructing the VR experience with youth and communities.

I enjoy collaborations that bring sociological perspectives to a variety of questions and fields, focusing on social structures at individual, interactional, and institutional levels of analyses using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. In the 2021 “Nebraska Lecture” I make the case for why sociologists are valuable for any team seeking to tackle “Grand Challenges”.

I am co-PI on a USDA NIFA funded  Center for Scalable and Intelligent Automation in Applied Poultry Processing with the University of Arkansas, Georgia Technical Research Institute, and Fort Valley University. My role focuses on perceptions of the robotics and automation innovations among current poultry workers, industry experts, and economic development stakeholders. As Co-PI on an NSF funded Global Hub called Food Innovation and Diversification for the Bioeconomy in collaboration with VTT, a research institute in Finland, I get to collaborate with team members at UNL and Southeast Community College faculty on institutes for teachers, lessons for middle school youth, mixed reality exploration of biotechnology for the bioeconomy, and a Biodesign Challenge club for high school.

Areas of Specialization

• Human – robot collaboration
• Food system change
• Art informed community engaged research
• Science communication
• Fertility and Infertility

Current Teaching

Sociology (SOCI 101).

Selected Publications

McQuillan, J., Hill, P.W., Jochman, J.C., & Kelly, G.M. 2022. Decline is not inevitable: Changes in science identity during the progression through a US middle school among boys and girls. Socius. 9, https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231152195

McQuillan, Julia, Jennifer A. Andersen, Terceira A. Berdahl, and Jeff Willett. 2022 Associations of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Depressive Symptoms over Time: Are there Differences by Education, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender? Arthritis Care and Research.  Online-first June 2021. https://doi-org.libproxy.unl.edu/10.1002/acr.24730

McQuillan, Julia, Jasmin Passet-Wittig, Arthur L. Greil, and Martin Bujard.2021. Is perceived inability to procreate associated with life satisfaction? Evidence from a German panel study, Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbms.2021.09.004

McQuillan, Julia and Nestor Hernandez. 2021. Real Life Conundrums in the Struggle for Institutional Transformations. Gender & Society. 35(3), 300–329. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211013147

Hill, P. W., McQuillan, J., Spiegel, A.N., & Diamond, J. (2018). Discovery orientation, cognitive schemas, and disparities in science identity in early adolescence. Sociological Perspectives 61(1), 99-125. doi:10.1177/0731121417724774

Recent Grant Activity

2022  “Manufacturing USA Technology Roadmap for Cellular Agriculture: Initiative for Convergent-manufacturing Agriculture for Food for Equity (I-CAFÉ)”. National Institutes of Standards and Technology. Role: Co-PI. PI: Michael Sealy. $300,000.

2021   “The Worlds of Connections: Vaccine Hesitancy” Julia McQuillan (PI), Judy Diamond (Co-PI), Patricia Wonch Hill (Co-PI), Elizabeth Van Wormer (Co-PI). 6/1/2021. National Institutes of Health. Science Education Partnership Award, Supplement. $54,000.

2020   “RAPID: Using Popular Media to Educate Youth About the Biology of Viruses and the Current COVID-19 Pandemic” Judy Diamond (PI), Julia McQuillan (Co-PI), Patricia Wonch Hill (Co-PI), Elizabeth VanWormer (Co-PI). 5/8/2020 NSF COVID-19 DRL 2028026. $200,000.

2018-2023  “Worlds of Connections: Engaging Youth with Health Research through Network Science and Stories in Augmented Reality” (PI). $1.2 Million. SEPA NIGMS National Institutes of Health.

Other information

I was previously chair of the department and, before that, director of the Bureau of Sociological Research. I have enjoyed several service roles with Sociologists for Women in Society and the American Sociological Association.