Hui (Cathy) Liu
- Director, Center on Aging and the Life Course // Professor of Sociology
Office and Contact
Pillars of Interdisciplinary Research Excellence
Social Contexts and Policy for Optimal Aging; Preserving Cognitive Function
Education
PhD - The University of Texas at Austin - 2008
Research Interests
Population health and mortality, family and marriage, bio-demography of aging and the life course, social relationships, LGBTQ+ population, gender and race-ethnicity, demography of sexuality, quantitative methodology
Selected Grants
2025 - National Institute on Aging (2) - (MPI), (Co-I)
2024 - University of Texas at Austin, Center on Aging and Population Sciences Pilot Program - (Co-I)
2023 - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Institutes of Health - (Co-I)
2022 - MSU Consortium for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Faculty Seed Grant - (PI)
Selected Publications
Cong, Yan, Jingying Hu, Timothy Reese, and Hui Liu. 2026. “How Robust Are Linguistic Markers of Aging? The Case of Aging-related Social Media Text.” Natural Language Processing Journal.
Copeland, Molly, Wencheng Zhang, Hui Liu, and Mingui Gao. 2026. “Social Network Structure and Composition Predicting Cognitive Impairment: Racial/Ethnic Differences Among Older Adults.” The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
Wang, Juwen, Hui Liu, and Wencheng Zhang. 2026. “Sibling Status and Dementia Risk in Later Life.” The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
Gao, Mingui and Hui Liu. 2025. “Religious Attendance and Depressive Symptoms in Later Life: The Mediating Role of Church-Based Social Ties.” Aging and Mental Health.
Liu, Hui, Wencheng Zhang, and Juwen Wang. 2025. “A National Dyadic Study of Spousal Education and Hypertension among Older Couples in the United States.” Research on Aging.
Copeland, Molly, Gerald R. Nowak III, and Hui Liu. 2025. “Changes in Network Size and Older Adults’ Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Applied Gerontology.
Wang, Yiwen and Hui Liu. 2025. “Marital Dynamics and Daily Memory Among Aging Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples.” Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
Liu, Hui, Juwen Wang, and Wencheng Zhang. 2025. "Spousal Education and Memory Decline: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing." The Gerontologist.
Niino, Kerri, Molly A. Patapoff, Brent T. Mausbach, Hui Liu, Alison A. Moore, Benjamin H. Han, Barton W. Palmer, and Dylan J. Jester. 2025. "Development of Loneliness and Social Isolation After Spousal Loss: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies on Widowhood." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 73(1): 253-265
Liu, Hui, Callie Jo Zaborenko, and Wencheng Zhang. 2024. "Online Engagement and Loneliness Among Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Examination of Gender Differences." Population Research and Policy Review 44:77. DOI: 10.1007/s11113-024-09923-1
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