A central problem of our time that I aspire to help solve is that of widespread intergroup inequality in the workplace. Changes in recent decades including a greater social urgency for equality, shifting organizational practices, and new opportunities for minorities show promise but also introduce new complexities. In addition, I aim to better our understanding of how groups and teams can come together to achieve challenging objectives and solve complex problems.
My dissertation examines why and how individuals might act as agents toward greater equality, investigating what leads minorities to become trailblazers, rather than tokens. I have also studied how majority group members can become effective allies, the ripple effects of minority role models, and what motivates in-group members to help out-groups. In my second stream of research, I seek to further knowledge of how collaboration and organizing can solve complex problems by investigating the multi-level, micro-dynamic processes of teams and groups. This includes research on how the presence of certain roles on a team can shift other members’ cognition and when creating a group that co-locates can lead to learning across functional silos.
I hold an MBA and a B.S. in mechanical engineering, both from Washington University in St. Louis, and previously worked as an engineer for Nike, Inc.
