I joined the University of Rochester in 2025 as assistant professor of multilingual education in the Teaching & Curriculum Program within the Warner Graduate School of Education & Human Development. I direct the TESOL and World Languages teaching programs and teach both M.A. and Ph.D. level courses.

My primary research interests are in heritage and Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Within this realm, I explore topics in emotion, bilingualism and multilingualism, and study abroad and the relationship with a range of linguistic, psychological, and social factors, including vocabulary learning, moral judgment, and identity, to name a few. As a heritage speaker of Spanish myself, I aim to adapt instruments and methodologies in my research that address the reality and needs of linguistically and socially diverse learner populations. Currently, my work explores the relationship between various emotions, including linguistic insecurity and interest, motivation, and questions surrounding linguistic and ethnoracial identity, specifically with respect to the acquisition of a heritage or foreign language.

Before joining Warner, I completed my Ph.D. in Spanish applied linguistics at Georgetown University and spent five years in a joint appointment at Michigan State University in the second language studies doctoral program and the Department of Romance and Classical Studies. I was also a Fulbright Global Scholar in 2023-2024 in Argentina, Greece, and Austria and am happy to connect with other Fulbrighters and Fulbrighters-to-be!