I am a PhD candidate in Sociology and a predoctoral trainee at the U-M Population Studies Center. My research and teaching interests include gender inequalities, work and organizations, and social demography, including reproduction, fertility, family, and policy.

My dissertation uses mixed methods to study the social construction, processes, and inequalities of the menopause transition. Each year, 1.3 million U.S. women undergo menopause—a common transition understudied in sociology scholarship with lasting consequences for individual health, aging, and economic trajectories. For this project, I am analyzing longitudinal survey data and semi-structured interviews. Data collection is currently underway.

A second strand of collaborative research examines caregiving, families, and inequalities in aging, with publications in Sociological Forum, Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging, and American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias.

I began my career in policy development and evaluation, including graduate training in international policy, where I found that data limitations and insufficient understanding of social contexts often impeded effective policymaking. That gap between policy ambition and practice motivated my decision to pursue a PhD and contribute to the research on the mechanisms, attitudes, and subjective experiences of gender inequalities needed to design better policy. Before my PhD studies, I was a research associate at Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, where I produced policy-relevant research on contemporary Asia and managed research and practice partnerships.

I am originally from a small town in Michigan and previously studied in South Korea and China, experiences which motivate my interest in comparative study of social issues. I hold a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, an M.A. in International Policy from Stanford University, and an M.A. in China Studies (Law and Society) from Peking University.