To better understand people's career choices, I am currently pursuing two main lines of research:

(1) Does children's understanding of social status and power shape their future aspirations?

I investigate children's beliefs about which gender group holds power, the mechanisms by which people gain power (e.g., through effort versus social maneuvering), whether power hierarchies can be maintained unfairly through nepotism or favoritism, and stereotypes about people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. I test how many of these early beliefs shape children's aspirations for high-status careers.

(2) What explains people's interest and persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) fields?

I investigate why women, racial/ethnic minorities, and students from lower-income backgrounds are underrepresented in STEM fields. I test both psychological (e.g., STEM stereotypes) and socio-cultural (e.g., country-level gender equality) factors that might explain these representation gaps.

I use online experiments, surveys, "big" data, and field studies to answer these research questions.