Dissertation Title: The Transition Shock: Emancipating into State-Defined Adulthood

Committee: Kristen Schilt (Chair), Robert Vargas, Anna Mueller (Indiana University – Bloomington), Eugene Raikhel (Comparative Human Development)

My research leverages quantitative and qualitative methods to examine how social institutions shape family life. Most of my work examines how policy contexts contribute to families’ involvement in carceral and welfare systems. My dissertation, for one, identifies how youth aging out of child welfare navigate system age cutoffs amidst social precarity and destabilized social ties. In related articles, I study how social policies shape the health and well-being of systems-involved children and families. 

My work has received external funding from the American Sociological Association, Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, and AHRQ T32 Health Services Fellowship. My research has also been published in outlets like Social Science & Medicine, Sociological Forum, and Children & Youth Services Review and has received awards from the American Sociological Association and Society for the Study of Social Problems. I am also committed to engaging with broader audiences, such as by working as a Research Fellow at NPR, and advancing equity in higher education, by remaining active in the QuestBridge, a scholarship organization for low-income students.

Background:

Using a multi-method approach, I focus on how state policy context contributes to family systems involvement across welfare and carceral institutions. My dissertation received the National Science Foundation’s Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant and the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy’s Dissertation Grant and Robert K. Merton Social Theory Award. My work is also published in outlets like Social Science & Medicine and Sociological Forum and has received awards from the American Sociological Association and Society for the Study of Social Problems. 

I am also committed to engaging with broader audiences, such as through my previous work as a Research Fellow at NPR, and advancing equity in higher education, such as through my founding the University of Chicago's First-Generation, Low-Income Graduate Student Network, participation in the QuestBridge Alumni Association, and mentorship of LGBTQ+ college students.