Paige Kelly is interested in spatial inequality (community and rural/urban inequalities, poverty, and development issues), public policy, and social inequality and poverty. Her current research focuses on how local governments’ social policies affect inequality and poverty by race, rurality, and gender in the United States. She has published on rural-urban disparities in voting and local governments’ capacity, economic development programs, and collaboration/competition. She also has expertise in statistically modeling regional processes and a graduate minor in quantitative research methods. Kelly has strong connections to the Rural Sociological Society, having served on their council (2017-2019), as a research interest group chair (2017-present), and on multiple committees (Programming, Awards, Ethics, and Diversity). She received her BS in agronomy and community & environmental sociology from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and MS and PhD in rural sociology in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University.