About

I am a sociological social psychologist, and I study status processes–in other words, the ways in which people solve problems together. For example, what types of people tend to have the most influence in a meeting? How can we increase or reduce influence?

While earning my BS/BA in psychology and sociology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I did applied research on gender and organizations with Dr. Victoria C. Scott. Specifically, our work examined experiences and perceptions of motherhood in healthcare organizations as well as postpartum depression. We also conducted a scoping review on technical assistance–a specialized form of organization-based training–and developed a measurement instrument to help technical assistance providers assess recipient engagement.

Afterwards, I received my MA in sociology from Charlotte in 2020. I learned social psychological theory from Dr. Murray Webster, which encouraged me to take a theory-driven approach to predict group behavior. Now at University of Georgia, I study expectation states theory--largely using experimental design--with a particular focus on how theory can explain interactions within organizations.