[ About Me ]
I'm a sociology graduate student at the University of Michigan and recovering data scientist. My research interests lie primarily at the intersections of: sociology of knowledge; comparative research methods (qualitative, statistical, and computational/data science); and gender and sexuality. My research has been published and presented in a number of venues, including university journals and international conferences. Some of my work and writing also appears in public media.
[ Current Projects ]
I am the principal investigator of the Que(e)ry, a research project surveying LGBTQ-identified college and university students. The pilot study was completed in 2013, and the Queery has expanded internationally as I work with researchers across North America to replicate and expand the study at their institutions and compile a central database. A paper session dedicated to the Queery took place at the 2016 SSSP Conference in Seattle, WA. The Queery aims to evaluate the effects of discrimination and harassment based on gender and sexual identity, and the way information about these events spreads. We are using quantitative and qualitative methods from sociology and community psychology for hidden populations, and the results of our pilot study provide important insight into the way self-identified LGBTQ individuals and groups understand their acceptance and safety at their university and the harmful effects of negative campus climate.
I am working on publishing my Cambridge dissertation research, an interview- and archive-based study of discourses on violence within the United Kingdom's right-wing LGBT organizations. These organizations have extensive political access and relatively short histories compared to their counterparts in other Western democracies. I argue that despite their positions within nationalist parties, these organizations' understandings of assimilation prevent what Jasbir Puar calls homonationalist discourse. This finding challenges the dominant literature about conservative LGBT movements and poses important questions for our understanding of gay neoliberalism.
I have recently started working with Elizabeth Bruch in the Institute for Social Research's Population Studies Center to identify and understand the strategies and approaches people use in online dating. This project utilizes big data and machine learning technology.