Mao-Mei Liu (University of California, Berkeley) is a National Institutes of Health-funded sociologist and social demographer who studies color, race, migration, and life course disparities in cognitive aging. A proud member of UAW Local 4811 and 2021-2023 NIH Re-Entry scholar, she trained at Yale (B.S.), Project Blythe in Blythe (CA), Four Corners in Dorchester (MA), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Ph.D.) and Brown (NICHD postdoc). A community organizer at heart, Mao-Mei leads Nurturing Diversity in Science As Resistance, the Demographers of Color collective and has trained students in Barcelona, Wellesley, Berkeley and in the NIH-funded R25 Advancing Diversity in Aging Research at UC Berkeley (Cal-ADAR). Mao-Mei is grateful for her community and the participants and teams of the European Commission-funded Migration between Africa and Europe (MAFE) and the NIH-funded Caribbean American Dementia and Aging Study (CADAS).

Mao-Mei is a research affiliate of the Berkeley International Migration Institute (BIMI), UC Berkeley Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging, and the Berkeley Population Center. She is passionate about mentoring undergrad students, grad students, and early career scholars in population research, in connecting to resources (mentors, grants, fellowships), and in thriving as scientists and people, especially those from underrepresented groups: e.g. first-gen, transfer, Black, Latine, Native, Pacific Islander, undocumented, survivors (family violence, foster care, incarceration, etc.).

Representative Publications:

Toma, Sorana, and Mao-Mei Liu. “Social Position and Migrant Networks in International Migration from Africa to Europe.” International Migration Review (2025): 01979183251343882. https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251343882

Liu, Mao-Mei, Jorge Llibre-Guerra, Chris Soria, Jing Li, Tania Zayas Llerena, Guillermina Rodriguez, Daisy Acosta, Ivonne Jiménez Velázquez, Juan J. Llibre-Rodriguez, and William H. Dow. “The Caribbean American Dementia and Aging Study: protocol for a population-based study of older adult health and dementia in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.” BMC Geriatrics 25, no. 1 (2025): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaf009

Liu, Mao-Mei, Ariana M. Stickel*, Wassim Tarraf, Lehan Li, Krista M. Perreira, Fernando Riosmena, Melissa Lamar et al. “Influence of birthplace and age at migration on cognitive aging among Hispanic/Latino populations in the US: Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (SOL-INCA).” The Gerontologist (2025): gnaf009. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaf009

Liu, Mao-Mei, Edward Telles, Katherine Tucker, Luis M. Falcon, Ivonne Z. Jiménez‐Velázquez, and William H. Dow. (2022). Race/Ethnic Differences, Skin Tone and Cognitive Aging among Older Latinos in the United States. The Journal of Gerontology, Series B: Social Sciences https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbac043

Liu, Mao-Mei, Michael Crowe, Edward Telles, Ivonne Z. Jiménez‐Velázquez, and William H. Dow (2022). Color disparities in Cognitive Aging among Puerto Ricans on the Archipelago. Social Science & Medicine – Population Health 17: 100998 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100998

Lindstrom, David P. and Mao-Mei Liu. (2019) Gender, Parents & Family networks in Adolescent Health-Seeking Behavior in Ethiopia. Journal of Marriage and Family https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12567

Riosmena, Fernando and Mao-Mei Liu*. (2019) Who goes next? Comparative perspectives on Timing & Sequencing of International Migration among Siblings in Mexico and Senegal. ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 684(1): 146-164 https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716219856544

Liu, Mao-Mei, Fernando Riosmena and Mathew J. Creighton. (2018) Family Position and Family Networks in Mexican and Senegalese Migration. Population, Space, Place 24(7)https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2161

Liu, Mao-Mei, Mathew J. Creighton, Fernando Riosmena, Pau Baizán. (2016) Prospects for the Comparative Study of International Migration using quasi-longitudinal and longitudinal micro-data. Demographic Research 35: 745-782. DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.26

Liu, Mao-Mei. (2013). Migrant Networks and International Migration: Testing Weak Ties. Demography 50:1243–1277. DOI 10.1007/s13524-013-0213-5

*Equal authorship