Laura Grindstaff is a Professor of Sociology, Director of the UC Davis Consortium for Women and Research, and a Co-Investigator on the NSF ADVANCE-IT grant. As Consortium director, Dr. Grindstaff is charged with creating professional development opportunities for women faculty and graduate students across the various colleges of the university and with promoting research efforts focused on issues of gender and gender inequality. 

Grindstaff teaches in the areas of popular culture, cultural sociology, gender and society, and ethnographic research methods. Her research agenda focuses broadly on American media and popular culture and their role in shaping gender, race, and class relations.