I am a sociologist and demographer who uses quantitative data and methods to examine family and racial/ethnic inequality, with a focus on their intersection and relationship with the criminal legal and child welfare systems in the United States (US). Broadly speaking, I situate my work at the intersection of the sociology of family; race and ethnicity; law and society; crime, law, and deviance; and inequality. I have a deep interest in critically interrogating the processes by which we decide which questions about these aspects of our social world (can be) asked, how we ask those questions, and what tools we use and in what ways, to answer them. I am currently Assistant Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College.

Prior to joining the Wellesley College faculty, I was Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I completed my PhD in Sociology in the Departments of Sociology and Policy Analysis & Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. My dissertation, Institutions in Childhood and the Transition to Adulthood in the United States: The Consequences of Criminal Justice and Child Welfare System Contact, consisted of three investigations of the the intersection of family life with the criminal legal and child welfare systems in the U.S. Before my graduate studies, I was a policy researcher in Washington, DC, where I focused on detailing gender, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic inequality in economic security and labor market experiences in the U.S. I am a proud alum of Wellesley College, where I focused my studies on economics and French.

Outside of my academic and professional work, I enjoy cooking, strength training, gardening, yoga, making handmade cards, and hiking. Recent favorites include this recipe for a sourdough focaccia (with my now-4-year-old sourdough starter affectionately named “Shmoo,” and favorite toppings of blue cheese, walnuts, and fig); Vacationland, a memoir by writer and comedian John Hodgman; and this piece, “Violin Tsunami,” by violinist, singer, composer, songwriter Kishi Bashi.