I am a PhD Student and Graduate Research Assistant in the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan. My research is broadly situated within the subfields of gender and sexuality, knowledge, culture, inequality, and social theory. Questions that interest me: which social categories—and at what point—are considered to be natural? How do dating dynamics evolve and shift across contexts? How is technology usage patterned by gender? To learn more, see the "Projects" tab to the left.

Prior to beginning my doctoral studies, I worked as Research Assistant and Lab Manager (PI: Dr. Sasha Johfre) in the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington (UW). In addition to my role at UW, over the summer of 2026 as an incoming PhD student, I began working as a Graduate Research Assistant (PIs: Dr. Elizabeth Armstrong and Dr. Hannah Tessler) at Michigan Sociology, a unique opportunity to integrate into the department's research community ahead of my studies. I continue to hold this position today.

I earned my B.A. with Honors from UW in Sociology and Environmental Studies, where I developed award-winning research projects in both of my majors. During my undergrad, I spent a quarter as a visiting undergraduate student at Stanford, pursuing additional coursework in sociology, philosophy, and science communication.

As a proponent of breaking down the hidden rules, expectations, and social norms of academia, I am happy to talk with prospective PhD students. See the (Un)Hidden Curriculum tab to the left for some related resources.

Forthcoming Publications

Where Does Difference Come From? Distinguishing Essentialism and Determinism of Social Categories — Under review at Theory and Social Inquiry.

• Collaborators: Dr. Sasha Johfre and Dr. Emily Ruppel
• We propose a novel theoretical distinction between essentialism as the perception of a category as cohesive, real, and bounded and determinism as the cultural beliefs about a category’s origins. We explore this distinction through three empirical case studies: age, autism, and gender modality.

Contests over the Field of Prosecution: Progressive Prosecutors and Pierre Bourdieu — R&R at Journal of Crime and Justice.

• Principal Investigator: Dr. Allison Goldberg | Collaborator: Kaisa Sherwood
• Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, which considers actors embedded in a web of competition over a social arena’s rules and beliefs, this study examines if and how progressive prosecutors have challenged their field’s norms, resources, and relationships.

Nature Work: Consumption, Cultural Labor, and the Naturalization of Gender — Under review at Cultural Sociology.

• Principal Investigator: Dr. Sasha Johfre | Collaborators: Lauren Woyczynski, Ágnes Eszter Fejér, Elizabeth Nguyen, Patricia Carrasco
• This paper introduces the concept of nature work — the symbolic, behavioral, and material effort required to bridge a perceived gap between the modern self and the natural ideal — and argues that it constitutes a form of cultural labor that intersects with and actively reproduces systems of social inequality.