I am a sociologist and qualitative researcher. I teach courses on race and racism, space & place, education, intersectionality, culture, and qualitative research methods. I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rice University.

My first book, We Belong Here: Gentrification, White Spacemaking, and a Black Sense of Place shows how long-term residents of a recently gentrified, historically Black neighborhood in Portland, Oregon respond to the changing meanings of space, while continuing to engage in Black placemaking.

My work also examines educational inequality. I authored and co-authored several articles about school choice and selective public school admissions, including “I Wanted Diversity, But Not So Much: Middle Class White Parents, School Choice, and the Persistence of Anti-Black Stereotypes.”

My research has been supported by the Spencer Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the American Sociological Association Minority Fellowship Program.

I completed a Ph.D. in sociology and education at the University of Pennsylvania, a M.S.Ed. in education policy at the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in anthropology at Amherst College.

Before doctoral study, I worked at Research for Action. I also worked with young people in schools and community organizations. I was a community health Peace Corps volunteer in Omboue, Gabon