Sonya Chen is a Panda Express Postdoctoral Fellow in the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and teaching interests include race and ethnicity, Asian American politics, social movements and organizations, and interminority politics.

Sonya’s book project examines the Stop Asian Hate movement and the broader contemporary movement against anti-Asian violence. Her research has been published in Politics, Groups, and Identities and recognized by awards from the Western Political Science Association (Asian Pacific American Caucus) and the Association for Asian American Studies (Social Science Caucus). She is the recipient of the American Political Science Association Diversity Fellowship and the George Kateb Preceptor Award for excellent teaching at Princeton. 

Sonya co-created and co-facilitated the Asian American Studies Faculty-Graduate Reading Group at Princeton. Her public engagement has included co-organizing the Asian American Studies Multi-Media Reading Group in Central New Jersey, which eventually became a launching pad for organizing for Asian American studies in K-12 public schools in the state; building mutual aid infrastructure with Princeton Mutual Aid; and conducting community-led research on racial violence and healing with Asian Health Services.

Sonya received her Ph.D. in Politics and Social Policy at Princeton University and her B.A. with high honors in Political Science and minors in Sociology and Statistics from Swarthmore College.

In July 2025, she will join the Department of Political Science at Barnard College as an Assistant Professor.