I am a PhD candidate in Sociology at The Ohio State University. I am currently working on my dissertation, which examines how parent's credit use over the lifecourse influences mobility outcomes for their young adult children.

I came to OSU via Bowling Green State University and the University of Cincinnati where I studied popular culture and sociology, respectively. My undergraduate experiences strongly shaped my current interest in consumption and inequality.

My overarching research interest is the reciprocal relationship between growing social class inequality and the increasing availability of consumer credit. I have several working projects looking at impacts of debt holding on individual outcomes, such as self-concepts, political participation, and job satisfaction.

I am very excited to be working with Professors Rachel Dwyer and Randy Hodson on an NSF funded project examining the role of young adult's credit use on various outcomes. Though I am an RA for the 2009-2010 school year, I have previously taught Social Stratification (Soc 463), Introduction to Sociology (Soc 101), and Race, Gender, and Class in the Mass Media (Soc 608) while at Ohio State.