To date, my academic work has broadly focused on adolescent identity development (i.e., gender identity, disability identity, racial socialization) and interpersonal relationships (i.e., bullying, digital drama and harm). I avidly work to apply insights to violence prevention (e.g., interpersonal, persuasive design of digital platforms) via interventions in school and community-based settings, as well as policy change.

 

More recently through my dissertation research, I have narrowed this focus to the increasingly prevalent areas of digital equity and wellbeing, partnering with a national nonprofit--#HalfTheStory—to leverage teen-centric methods in the study of adolescent digital wellbeing and flourishing. Overall, the connective tissue that drives my interdisciplinary research agenda is three-fold:

 

1) to understand the influence of digital technology and new media use on developmental outcomes (i.e., mental health);

 

2) to design, implement, and evaluate preventive interventions that support adolescents and their families; and

 

3) to engage and empower participants within academic research.