Psychological & Brain Sciences
Research Interests
In general, my research focuses on how the original aims of certain societally sanctioned norms may ironically harm the people they are intended to help, and how these ironic consequences can be resolved. For example, how may implementing diversity programs at a company result in worse outcomes for racial minorities due to backlash from White employees who feel excluded? Or, how might stringent political correctness norms actually lead to increased expression of anti-PC behavior and thinking as a form of resistance to such norms?
Mentoring Experiences
In my first year of graduate school, I would say that I mentored undergrads as much as they mentored me. I think that my willingness to show trust in and learn from undergrads helped me to form good working relationships and made me excited to be a mentor. Shortly thereafter, I helped initiate the Psychological and Brain Sciences mentoring program which pairs graduate students with undergraduates to better connect our department. Going to the end-of-the-year departmental awards ceremony and seeing the research assistants who helped me transition into the lab, as well as students who joined the mentoring program, receive awards and graduate has been the most rewarding experience so far. The biggest challenge regarding mentoring has been balancing expectations as a graduate student with what I want to do during graduate school, which is be both a researcher and mentor.
What the Award Means to Him
I'm very appreciative that this award exists—I think that mentoring should be a celebrated and fundamental aspect of graduate school and that instead it is sometimes overlooked and often underappreciated. Receiving the Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Award reaffirms my belief that, although the research I do is important, the biggest impact I can make as a graduate student is by mentoring as many people as I can.