Research

My primary interest is in how public systems influence processes of socialization and urbanization with particular attention paid to the education structures that shape the way people interact with their communities. My work employs critical, quantitative, qualitative, and geospatial methods to examine 1) the role of historical and cultural context in educational decision‑making processes, 2) community‑level impacts of school marketization in segregated urban contexts, and 3) how spatial, cultural, and symbolic boundaries reproduce social inequality.

My overarching motivation is understanding how public systems influence processes of socialization and urbanization, particularly educational institutions that shape the ways people interact with their communities. The ultimate goal of my research is to surface the consequences of education reform for how socio-spatial inequities are constructed, interpreted, and recreated through public schooling regimes. What has become clear across decades of education research is that the dynamics of public schooling are highly localized and specific to the individuals and communities they serve. As a scholar, I am interested in the utility of geospatial and critical methods to 1) elevate and visualize alternative understandings of public schooling that are more inclusive of multiple voices and perspectives and 2) contribute to research examining how schools create stratified urban space under contemporary neoliberal schooling regimes.