Benjamin Rosche knows what it means to experience inequality up close. Growing up in a rural German village as one of five children in a single-parent household, he watched his mother juggle multiple jobs to make ends meet. “I saw inequality firsthand, just by comparing my family with others,” he recalls. “Those social and economic disparities shaped my interests later. What I’m doing now — studying inequality and family demography — comes directly from those early experiences.”
It is this personal vantage point that has propelled Rosche’s career, from his early days studying in Germany to his new role as Assistant Professor of Computational Social Science at NYU Abu Dhabi. “Research for me is, in some ways, me-search,” he says with a smile.
Rosche did not set out to be a sociologist. “I first enrolled in computer science as an undergraduate, but I left after a year,” he says. “It was very unidimensional, and I had bigger questions about society that weren’t being addressed.” That turning point led him toward sociology, though he later found a way to bring his computational skills back into the picture.
At Cornell University where he earned his PhD, he discovered the emerging field of computational social science. “It was a perfect fit,” he explains. “I could use methods from computer science, but apply them to research in the social sciences. So even though I left computer science, I feel like I eventually came back to it.”
His education reflects that dual path: a PhD in Sociology with a minor in Computer Science from Cornell, two MSc degrees in Methods & Statistics and in Sociology & Social Research from Utrecht, and a BA in Sociology with a minor in Economics from Mannheim.
The heart of Rosche’s work lies in finding new ways to quantify and understand inequality. His dissertation examined how friendships serve not only as emotional support but also as gateways to valuable resources. “I was interested in how friendships contribute to psychological well-being, but also how they provide access to the cultural and economic capital that our friends carry with them,” he explains. Using data from 128 US high schools, Rosche mapped networks of friendship to uncover patterns of segregation.
“Friendships across socioeconomic lines are relatively uncommon,” he says. “Overall, economic segregation is less stark than racial segregation, but when it comes to ties between low-income and high-income students, those friendships are as rare as cross-racial ones. That scarcity matters because these are the connections most likely to open up access to opportunities.”
Rosche’s scope extends beyond adolescence. Another project examines the links between billionaires and members of Congress, exploring how elite networks shape policies such as progressive taxation. “I make a conscious effort to draw policy implications from my research,” he says. This blend of statistical rigor and real-world relevance has earned him recognition, including a $240,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. His work has appeared in the Annual Review of Sociology and has been invited for revision at leading journals such as American Sociological Review and Political Analysis.
After a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University’s Office of Population Research, Rosche joined NYU Abu Dhabi in 2025. The move, he says, was instinctive. “When I saw the kinds of students I could teach here, I knew instantly this was the right place,” he explains.
“Of course, there are privileged students at NYU Abu Dhabi as well, but the mix is far broader than at the Ivy Leagues — students from many different countries and backgrounds. Teaching such a diverse group is deeply rewarding.”
For Rosche, teaching is about more than sharing knowledge.
My mission is to lift up students who may have backgrounds similar to mine, from working-class families, and give them opportunities. If I can play a part in helping them become leaders in their own countries, that would make me really happy.
Despite his growing list of achievements, Rosche remains candid about his own doubts. “I still feel a degree of imposter syndrome,” he admits. Yet his sense of purpose is clear. Rooted in his Alpine childhood and sharpened through years of study, his work aims not only to measure inequality but to challenge it — one dataset and one classroom at a time.
