I am the Fannie Gaston-Johansson Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University.

From 2021 to 2024, I was an Assistant Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. At ASU, I was a part of the Center for Latina/os and American Politics Research and I served as the Tempe Campus Representative for the Faculty Women of Color Caucus.

My research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Russell Sage Foundation, J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy, Immigration Initiative at Harvard, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, Ford Foundation Fellowship, and the APSA Minority Fellows Program.

I am a part of the APSA Migration and Citizenship Organized Section’s Executive Council and the Western Political Science Association Committee on the Status of Latinos/as in the Profession.

I earned my PhD from the Department of Government at Harvard University in 2020. My dissertation, “The Domestic and International Politics of U.S. Immigration Policy”, was awarded the prize for the best dissertation on a topic of Race, Ethnicity, or Migration and Politics by the Department of Government at Harvard University.

I teach research-intensive courses regarding the politics of migration, borders, and American political development. In 2019, I was awarded the Derek C. Bok Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching of Undergraduates (Harvard University) and in 2023, I was awarded the Michael Mitchell Outstanding Teaching Award (Arizona State University). I also have experience working with adult immigrant learners in Houston, Texas and East Boston, Massachusetts.

As a first-generation college student from rural communities, I attended Rice University, from where I earned a B.A. in Political Science and Policy Studies. I am the product of intensive mentorship by educators who, for generations, have been engaged in building more inclusive institutions of social science research and higher education. Following in the tradition of these programs — including the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, and the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium — I committed to creating more inclusive systems of knowledge production via my research, teaching, and mentorship. I shared a bit about my journey from central, rural Texas to profesora in a conversation with the Weatherhead Center.