I grew up in Northampton, Massachussetts, a small city about an hour and a half’s drive west from Boston. I started my academic trajectory as an astronomy and physics major at Boston University, and, after a year-long break from being a student, went on to graduate school in astronomy at the University of Maryland. During my third year of graduate school, I realized that while I find the subject matter of astronomy compelling, I did not want to continue to pursue new astronomical discoveries. Instead, I decided it would be more fulfilling to pursue research at the boundary of astronomy/physics and education, where I could work to reduce unnecessary and discriminatory barriers that other students might encounter and strengthen much needed supports. I developed new research plans and collaborations (which I have written about here), and received the University of Maryland’s first Astronomy Ph.D. focused on education research about three years later, in the summer of 2016. I then moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan for a 2-year postdoctoral research appointment at the Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecodary Education. I joined the Physics department at Texas State University as a tenure-track assistant professor in Fall 2018. In my free time I enjoy hiking, practicing yoga, and eating/making vegan food.