About

I am an activist scholar doing research, writing and teaching that promotes the needs and perspectives of women and communities of color.

I hold a Ph.D. in Women's Studies from UCLA and am currently an Associate Professor of Gender Studies at Skidmore College in upstate New York.

My research explores the social dimensions of science with an emphasis on gender, race, and nation. As an undergraduate, I was interested in studying the biological mechanisms of human behavior, and worked in biology labs during and after college. After earning a B.A. in the Biological Basis of Behavior: Neural Systems from the University of Pennsylvania and four years of working in neurobiology and genetics laboratories, my scholarly interest shifted to gender politics and social studies of science--the individual practices, belief systems, and political influences that constitute the messiness of science in reality.

As a scholar currently located in the social justice field of women's studies, I study the role that biosciences and technologies can and should play in improving the well-being of everyone in society. I am particularly interested in revealing the intersections between biomedicine and national security, and the way in which those intersections in turn shape gender and racial formations.

I have held scholarship, research, and teaching positions at the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology at UC Santa Barbara, Scripps College, Cal Poly Pomona, UCLA, California Institute of Technology, City College of San Francisco, UC Berkeley and Stanford University.

My publications include "Defending White Scientific Masculinity: The FBI, the Media and Profiling Tactics During the Post-9/11 Anthrax Investigation," Chinese chickens, ducks, pigs and humans, and the Technoscientific Discourses of Global U.S. Empire," "Surveillance and Policing in U.S. Bioscience--producing transnational Others," and "Prison abolition in practice: The LEAD Project, the politics of healing, and 'A New Way of Life.'"

My commitment to social justice also includes community work in the areas of gender, queer and racial justice. I have worked with organizations challenging DNA-based racial profiling, teaching political education to currently and formerly incarcerated women, teaching self-defense to women and trans folk, and advocating for fair wages in the garment industry.

In addition to academia and community work, I like all kinds of sports especially Kungfu, Tai chi and Ba gua. I also love listening to as well as playing music, genres ranging from jazz and hip hop to new wave and country.