RESEARCH

Connecting Scientific Rigor with Social Relevance

As a social work scholar and developmental psychologist, my program of research investigates how behavioral and neural mechanisms, relational processes, and sociocultural contexts operate together to shape developmental trajectories of risk and resilience. Across my research, I seek to understand how these interconnected systems contribute to heterogeneous patterns of risk and resilience across mental health, substance use, and positive social functioning. To address these questions, I employ multimodal, mixed-method research designs that integrate self-report measures, neuroimaging data, and qualitative interviews. My quantitative training includes structural equation modeling, network analysis, generalized additive modeling, growth curve modeling, latent profile analysis, and machine learning techniques.

I am completing my doctoral dissertation, Brain Development in Context: The Shaping of Risk and Resilience Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood in Lived Social Worlds, under the guidance of my dissertation committee: Christopher Monk, PhD, Daphne Watkins, PhD, Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, PhD, and Vonnie McLoyd, PhD. My dissertation is guided by one central question: How can we incorporate a strengths-based lens into the scientific study of brain development? I address this question by situating brain development within an interconnected system of behavioral, relational, and sociocultural processes to examine not only sources of vulnerability, but also the relational and contextual strengths that may shape developmental trajectories.

Through my scholarship, I aim to advance behavioral and mental health equity by deepening theoretical and empirical understanding of how these interconnected systems shape developmental trajectories of risk and resilience. I seek to translate these insights into prevention and intervention efforts that promote behavioral and mental health across the life span.

The complete list of peer-reviewed publications is available here.

Research Training & Experience:

• Research Assistant, Translational & Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, (2019-Current, PI: Christopher S. Monk, Ph.D.)
  Project: Study of Adolescent to Adult Neural Development (R01MH121079, R01MH130158)

• In-House Statistician, The Gender and Health Research Lab, School of Social Work, University of Michigan (2024-Current, PI: Daphne Watkins, Ph.D.)
  Project: Young Black Men, Masculinities, and Mental Health (YBMen) Project

• Data Manager, School of Social Work, University of Michigan (2018-2025, PI: Todd I. Herrenkohl Ph.D.)
  Projects: Lehigh Longitudinal Study (R01AG059823, R21HD094961, R21HD094961), Trauma-Informed Programs & Practices for Schools (Michigan Health Endowment Fund)

• Clinical Research Coordinator, M-Body Lab, Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University, (2015-2018, PI: Inger Burnett-Zeigler, Ph.D.)
  Project: A Mindfulness-Based Depression Intervention for Disadvantaged Underserved Women in a FQHC (NU K12 Faculty Training Program, Greer Family Foundation)

• Undergraduate Honors Thesis Student, Affective Neuroscience & Biopsychology Lab, University of Michigan (2011-2015, PI: Kent Berridge, Ph.D.)
  Project: Cue-triggered Reward Seeking (R01DA015188)