Biography

Welcome! My name is Takun (rhymes with “tycoon”) and I am a Ph.D. student in Sociology and Social Policy at Princeton University.

My research interests lie at the intersection of social stratification and the sociology of education, with a focus on using quantitative methods—including causal inference, experimental designs, and computational techniques—to inform equity-promoting policies. My work seeks to address a central question: To what extent, and how, can schooling alleviate social inequalities? I have explored this question through three key dimensions:

Access to education, examined in my master’s thesis on parental school choice.
The effects of schooling, analyzed in a working paper on the heterogeneous impacts of schooling on cognitive and non-cognitive skills.
Institutional processes within schools, the subject of my published papers on curriculum development and AI in educational practice.

I graduated with a B.A. in sociology from National Taiwan University and subsequently worked as a secondary school teacher and administrator in rural Taiwan for three years. Prior to starting at Princeton, I received a M.A. in education from National Taiwan Normal University, where I earned a scholarship to visit UC Berkeley for the 2023-24 academic year.

Currently, I’m investigating the role of standardized testing in college admissions, addressing the debate on whether such policies promote equity or reinforce privilege.

Please feel free to get in touch via email or connect with me on X (formerly Twitter)!

Research

Working Paper

Wang, Takun. “Does Schooling Promote Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design.”

Paper Under Review

Wang, Takun. “Institutionalizing ‘Experimental Education’: Between Alternative Education and State-Led Educational Experiments.” (R&R, Bulletin of Education Research)

Published Papers

Fan, Hsin-Hsien and Takun Wang. 2025. “Exploring the Future Directions of Taiwan’s Curriculum Development From the Perspective of International Educational Trends.” Journal of Education Research 371: 118–32.
Lu, Ray and Takun Wang. 2023. “Crisis or Opportunity? The Disruption and Innovation of Artificial Intelligence in School Education——Starting with ChatGPT.” Journal of Education Research 355: 4–15.