About

As a scholar, I am driven to understand how people, across age groups, identities, and backgrounds, mutually interact with the social contexts they navigate. In particular, I investigate how people with stigmatized identities in society navigate threats to those identities across their social ecologies. To do this, I draw on social identity threat and ecological systems theories that articulate it is both about the messages these contexts communicate as well as how individuals make sense of them that shape people’s psychological outcomes. To do this, I employ a range of methodologies including experimental, qualitative, longitudinal, and community-based methods. My research has been supported by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, the Dispute Resolution Research Center at the Kellogg School of Management, and by the Character Lab Research Network.

Beyond my scholarship, I have committed myself to supporting individuals like myself, first-generation, low-income students from racial-ethnic minority backgrounds, as they they pursue their educational goals. Throughout my educational journey, I have participated in, organized, or facilitated programs aimed at both improving access to higher education and retaining students through formal and informal avenues. While these efforts have been recognized by internal and external bodies, such as the Edward A. Bouchet Honor Society or the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, my commitment has remained unchanged. As an advocate for engaged mentorship, I have informally and formally mentored and supported students in all stages of their academic journeys from high school to graduate school.

In my free time, I like to play with my dog, Wrigley, enjoy good food with family and friends, hike or walk, and spend time with my partner.

To learn more about my research visit the “Projects” page.