My research focuses on adult immigrant education, centering and uplifting immigrant students’ experiences, contributions and resistance in nonprofit education. My current research questions are: How do adult immigrant students experience racism, monoculturalism, linguicism, and other intersecting oppressions in education? How do White, U.S.-born educators reflect on their power and privilege in working with adult immigrant students, and how can they learn to hold themselves accountable? How can educators forge a critical praxis based on an anti-oppressive and feminist stance with the perspectives of their immigrant students driving the project? How can educators engage in coalitional thinking with adult immigrant students, other educators, and educational institutions for linguistic and racial justice in education and broader social change? This research agenda promotes innovative thinking across contexts about whose knowledge and contributions count, how critical, anti-oppressive education must be driven by the community it serves, and how feminist and anti-racist work can generate possibilities for new thinking in education and social transformation.
See a selection of recent research collaborations which have formed my practice below:
Research consulting with The Wallace Foundation (2020). I consult on various qualitative and mixed-methods research projects on education leadership and policy, community readiness, out-of-school time, virtual professional learning communities, BIPOC-led arts organizations, and other topics at all stages of engagement.
Narrative research on volunteers’ and undocumented “Friends” experiences. New Sanctuary Coalition, in collaboration with NYU’s Bernstein Institute (2019). I consulted on the development of research design for a qualitative study using narrative research and focus groups to explore the experiences of undocumented immigrants and volunteers at New Sanctuary Coalition, a migrant legal empowerment organization in Manhattan, NY.
Mixed-methods research on translanguaging in peer tutoring with multilingual undergraduate students. York College, CUNY (2018-2019). I contributed to research design and conducted research for mixed-methods study with multilingual students who use on-campus peer tutoring services at a senior college in a large public urban university in Queens, NY.
Dissertation research. The Graduate Center, CUNY in partnership with Catholic Charities (2018). I conducted research for mixed-methods pilot study with adult migrant ESL students in a nonprofit education organization in Manhattan, NY.
Pre-dissertation research. The Graduate Center, CUNY (2017). I conducted research for mixed-methods pilot study with adult migrant ESL students in a nonprofit education organization in Manhattan.
CUNY-New York State Initiative on Emergent Bilinguals (CUNY-NYSIEB) (2017). I examined relevant recent research studies to create an Annotated Bibliography for CUNY-New York State Initiative on Emergent Bilinguals (CUNY-NYSIEB), a New York State Education Department initiative, on three sub-populations of emergent bilinguals in the U.S. public school system.
