Callie Burt

University of Georgia, Ph.D. Sociology

Callie Burt is a Professor of Criminology at Georgia State University. She has a BA, MA, and PhD in Sociology from the University of Georgia. Dr. Burt’s research focuses on understanding the individual biopsychosocial mechanisms linking social inequalities to development and disparities in risky behavior from a life-course perspective. The bulk of her research addresses the question of why individuals who face some of the most challenging situations often seem to respond in ways that only seem to exacerbate their situations. To that end, her work focuses on explaining how social experiences in development shape enduring but malleable internal states, which influence perceptions and actions (such as crime and health risk behaviors) influencing life trajectories, with a particular focus on socioeconomic and racial disparities.

In the current research, Dr. Burt investigates how social forces shape changes in impulsivity and sensation-seeking during adolescence, building on recent work highlighting adolescence as a second sensitive period for change—one of vulnerability and opportunity. With the support of an MRSD K01 award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2018-2023), she is studying genomics and biostatistics to incorporate gene-environment interplay (especially epigenetic mechanisms of embodiment) into her research program.

Dr. Burt has a longstanding research interest in sex differences, how these differences are shaped by gender as a social force, and the ways in which law and social policies reflect, reinscribe or challenge these differences. In a recent article in Feminist Criminology, she scrutinizes the US Equality Act (HR5) and in so doing raises concerns about the implications of sex and gender (identity) in the law.

Her research has been published in various outlets, including the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Criminology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Forces, Social Problems, and Justice Quarterly.

Dr. Burt comes to GSU from the University of Washington after having spent the last several years as an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and an affiliate of the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology and the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences. Dr. Burt was the recipient of the Ruth Shonle Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology in 2014.