About

About Me

I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Syracuse University and will be joining the UC Davis Sociology Department in the summer of 2023.

I look at the material force of gender classification, how race shapes gender regulation, and how people challenge regulatory institutions individually and collectively.  I have examined these topics through research on transgender people’s experiences with prisons, parole boards, reentry housing, community-based nonprofits, and workplaces.  I have published or forthcoming work in the American Journal of Sociology, Signs: The Journal of Women & Culture, Social Problems, and Theoretical Criminology, among other journals.  I am currently writing a book about contestation over gender boundaries in California prisons from the 1940’s through 2018, and working on a community-engaged research project about activism during the COVID-19 pandemic.   

My research has been supported by the Center for Engaged Scholarship and the Research Justice at the Intersections Scholars Program at Mills College.

Before beginning my doctoral studies, I worked at a high school in the San Francisco Bay Area and performed as a dancer. For the past decade I have been involved in social movement organizations, such as Survived & Punished NY and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, where I served as a core collective member. In my free time I enjoy reading fiction, taking walks with my dog, and eating vegan food with friends.

Education

  • Ph.D. Sociology, Columbia University, 2021
  • M.A. Sociology, Columbia University, 2016
  • M.A. Women’s & Gender Studies, Rutgers University, 2015
  • B.A. History and Gender Studies (double major), Scripps College