About me

I am a PhD candidate in the department of sociology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. My research focuses on the impacts of mass incarceration for families and loved ones. I work with support groups across the country to mitigate the stigma of having a loved one incarcerated.

Although my training is as a qualitative sociologist, my research crosses into other disciplines like criminology and social work. I am also an advocate for families who have incarcerated loved ones, having served on the board of DC Project Connect and as a member of the Advocacy in Action Coalition as part of Connecting 4 Justice International.

Prior to graduate school, I worked at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, in the Center on Children and Families. While there, I edited three books for publication, planned dozens of public events, was managing editor of the Social Mobility Memos blog and Evidence Speaks paper series, submitted grant reports, and coordinated research efforts among five senior fellows and two research assistants.

My current research explores how participation in a support group can mitigate the experience of disenfranchised grief stemming from the incarceration of a loved one, create a safe space for individuals to push back against stigma, and provide tools for managing difficult interactions with both the criminal justice system and existing social networks.

I practice community-based participatory research, an approach that aims to ensure that participants in the research also obtain the information they are interested in learning and are viewed as collaborators in the project.

My experience

TEACHING

As an instructor of record, I have taught the following courses at Rutgers (approximately 110 students each):

  • Population and Society (200-level course, asynchronous online)

  • Criminology (200-level course, in person)

As a TA, I have taught recitation for the following courses at Rutgers:

  • Minority Groups in American Society (100-level course, asynchronous online)

  • Criminology (200-level course, asynchronous online)

  • Introduction to Statistics in Sociology (200-level course, in person)

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

I received each of the following fellowships and awards from Rutgers:

  • President's Volunteer Service Award (Bronze), 2024

  • Inaugural Community Engagement Award, 2024 (School of Graduate Studies)

  • Harry C. Bredemeier Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2023 (Department of Sociology)

  • COVID Dissertation Extension Funding Award, 2023 (Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs)

  • Small grant award, Spring 2021 and Spring 2023 (Department of Sociology)

  • Teaching honor roll, Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 (Department of Sociology)

  • TA honor roll, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020 (Department of Sociology)

  • Excellence Fellow, 2017-2019 (Department of Sociology)

SERVICE AND OUTREACH

DC Project Connect, Board Member, Fall 2021-Spring 2022* (this organization is no longer a non-profit)

Connecting 4 Justice International, Advocacy in Action Coalition, Member, Fall 2021-present

Rutgers AAUP-AFT union, Graduate Student Department Representative, 2019-2022

Rutgers Grads United, Founding Member, 2020-2022