Chenyi Ma, MSW, PhD
Cohort: 2011-2012
Advisor: Dr. Roberta Iversen
Dissertation: Home recovery in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
Research Interests
Social Epidemiology
Disaster Vulnerability and Urban Resilience
Chenyi Ma is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, a Research Associate at the Population Aging Research Center, a Faculty Fellow at the Environmental Innovations Initiative, a Penn Energy Expert at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and a guest lecturer at the Graduate School of Education.
By integrating both social and spatial epidemiological approaches, Chenyi’s research aims to contribute to interdisciplinary knowledge of disaster risk reduction and sustainable development. There are four key aspects of his research agenda. First, his research focuses on social determinants of health and behavioral outcomes in disaster contexts. Second, his research addresses social vulnerability in a discourse of disaster preparedness and interrogates the notion of resilience in disaster recovery. Third, his research emphasizes risk analysis for policy formulation for disaster mitigation. Finally, his research highlights the importance of philanthropic behavior as a public response to disaster survivors, and seeks to determine the psychosocial factors underlying such behavior.
Recently, Chenyi published articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, Social Science & Medicine, Journals of Gerontology: Series B, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Housing Studies, Traumatology, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, and Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. He has also frequently presented his research findings at annual conferences such as APPAM and SSWR.
Chenyi completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. Currently, he teaches quantitative reasoning and program evaluations to graduate students at Penn. Before joining Penn, Dr. Ma worked as a Program Officer for Education for Sustainable Development at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Contact
Phone
office: 215.746.8976
Address
3718 Locust Walk, McNeil Building
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6214
About
Department(s)
Faculty | Research Faculty | Associated FacultySelected Publications
Ma, C., Boddie, S. C., & Rosqueta, K., A. (2025). The Roles of Religiosity on Philanthropic Behavior after Natural Disaster. In Bratton, S., Boddie, S. C., & Özdemir, I. (Eds.), Handbook of Religion and the Environment. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Ma, C., Smith, T. E., & Culhane, D. P. (2025). The stress-buffering effects of received social support on posttraumatic stress disorder among Hurricane Ike survivors. Traumatology, 31(2), 276–284. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000526
Ma, C., Smith, T., & Culhane, D. (2025). Generalized Anxiety Disorder prevalence and disparities among US adults: The roles played by job losses, food insecurity, and vaccinations in the COVID-19 pandemic. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. http://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbae181
Zanti, S., Ma, C. (2024) Prevalence and Changes in Usage of Mental Health Services for Rhode Island Children and Youth Before, During, and After Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Psychiatric Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-024-10103-9
Ma, C., & Smith, T. E., & Culhane, D. P. (2024). The stress-buffering effects of received social support on PTSD among Hurricane Ike survivors. Traumatology. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000526
Ma, C., Culhane, D. P., & Bachman, S. S. (2024). Understanding the dynamic process of human behavior changes towards disaster preparedness: An application of the integrated TTM with SCT and PMT. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 104606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104606
Ma, C., & Culhane, D. P. (2024). Addressing low-income household sheltering needs after a disaster: A needs assessment among Hurricane Harvey housing victims. Housing Studies, 39(8), 1887–1902. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2022.2149704
Castro, A., Ma, C., Grinnell-Davis, C., & Cusack, M. (2022). Hope, mattering, and pathways toward economic agency among financially marginalized adults. Social Work and Society.
Ma, C., Castro Baker, A., & Smith, T. E. (2021). How income inequality influenced personal decisions on disaster preparedness: A multilevel analysis of homeowners insurance among Hurricane Maria victims in Puerto Rico. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 53, 101953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101953
West, S., Baker, A. C., Ma, C., & Elliott, S. (2021). Reversing the Gains of the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements: How Housing Strain and Market Exclusion Led to Wealth Depletion During the Great Recession. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 12(2), 263–282. https://doi.org/10.1086/714544
Castro Baker, A., Grinnell-Davis, C. L., Ma, C., & Bragg, J. E. (2021). Revisiting hope’s third pillar: Mattering, spirituality, and social connectedness among financially marginalized households. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2020.1799898
Ma, C., Smith, T. E., & Iversen, R. R. (2021). Mental illness prevalence and disparities among Hurricane Sandy survivors: A two-year retrospective. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.46
Ma, C., & Smith, T. (2020). Vulnerability of renters and low-income households to storm damage: Evidence from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.American Journal of Public Health, 110(2), 196–202. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305438
Ma, C., & Smith, T. E. (2017). Increased alcohol use after Hurricane Ike: The roles of perceived social cohesion and social control. Social Science & Medicine, 190, 29–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.08.014