Melanie Z. Plasencia, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University–Newark. She earned her doctorate in Comparative Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a multi-year César Chávez Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dartmouth College. Her research examines how older immigrants navigate aging amid poverty, deteriorating health, diminishing government support, and the intersecting forces of race, ethnicity, gender, and class.

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She is currently working on her first book, Aging on the Hudson, an ethnographic study of older Latino immigrants in an urban town across from Manhattan. The project brings visibility to the precarity of aging in later life among immigrant groups, the critical role of social support when resources are scarce, and pathways to better support this population. In addition, she leads a community-engaged research project in Paterson, NJ, through the Rutgers Hub for Aging Collaboration, partnering with grassroots organizations to understand and address the needs of older adults.

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Her scholarship has appeared in Social Problems, The Gerontologist, Generations, and Inside Higher Ed, and has been supported by the Ford Foundation and the Center for Race and Gender. A committed educator and mentor, she teaches courses on aging, migration, race, and inequality, and works to equip students with the tools to critically engage with the social issues shaping their communities.