She is an urban and cultural sociologist specializing in the role of culture in reproducing and transforming urban inequality. While a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, Chernoff received the 2013 Arnold Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Doctoral Student from the Graduate School of Education, the Dean's Scholarship (GSE), and served as a 2012-2013 Graduate Fellow for Teaching Excellence at Penn's Center for Teaching and Learning. Chernoff’s work focuses on cities, arts, and social change, particularly on the level of social interaction and the production of community. Her dissertation, “Imagining the City: Ritual and Conflict in the Urban Art Democracy,” is based on ethnographic research conducted over a period of eight years at three different community-arts organizations in a major Mid-Atlantic city. Selected Publications