MY RESEARCH
lives at the intersection of immigration studies, developmental psychology, and social justice and broadly examines the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children impacted by immigration policy.
I approach this line of inquiry in three ways:
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by exploring the role of familial strategies as a moderating factor between exposure to undocumented immigration status and developmental outcomes,
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by investigating the individual differences in how children ages 6-15 years old cognitively and emotionally understand the concepts of “illegality” and immigration policies in the United States, and
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by studying the influence of caregiver-child relationship quality in mixed-status families on individual meaning-making processes.
Across these three intertwined lines of work I take an interdisciplinary lens, I prioritize methodologies that elevate the voices of these communities, and I consider families’ geographical contexts, sociopolitical ecologies, and caregivers’ perimigration contexts.
Publications
I've published my work in the Journal of Latinx Psychology, Research in Human Development, Cultural Studies - Critical Methodologies, and more.
Conferences
I've presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and beyond.
Recognition
My work has been generously funded by the NSF SBE Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, and the NAEd/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship.