Welcome to my website! I’m a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Belief Identity and Group Relations Lab at the University of Illinois Chicago. I completed my PhD in Social & Personality Psychology at Michigan State University in 2026, following an MA in Political Science at UNC Chapel Hill. I study beliefs and belief-system dynamics. Specifically, my research asks why individuals vary in the content and meta-cognitive properties of their beliefs, and what societal implications the content and meta-cognitive properties of beliefs may have.
I address my central research questions with three interrelated lines:
individual differences and belief dynamics. I examine how individual differences shape the content, organization, and evolution of beliefs.
belief stability and change in context. I test when and why beliefs and their meta-cognitive properties (e.g., moral conviction, extremity) change or remain the same when socio-political circumstances shift.
belief change interventions contextualized. I question the consequences of belief change interventions in context, and when it makes sense to maximize epistemically grounded belief change versus raw persuasion.
Across these strands, I emphasize rigorous open-science, comprehensive evidence, and collaboration. My work has been recognized with the 2025 SPSP Student Publication Award and supported by the Institute for Humane Studies. I am also deeply committed to mentoring student researchers as collaborators.