What is the importance of the University of Chicago in the nonfiction book, Gang Leader For a Day?

Sudhir Venkatesh was a grad student at the University of Chicago in sociology. He planned to make his dissertation on race and poverty. He wanted to have authentic stats rather than incorporate census numbers into his work that were not reliable. He worked under one of the foremost professors of sociology, William Julius Wilson, who warned him to stay out of the dangerous projects of Chicago. However, Sudhir wanted to learn about poverty, race and drug gangs from the people themselves.