She holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford, and a Ph.D. (2010) in Education (Reading, Writing, and Literacy) from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on youth literacy and language practices in school and out-of-school settings. She has conducted longitudinal studies in Philadelphia and Bronx, NY where she investigated how first-generation immigrant students acquire academic discourses, and what cultural and linguistic resources they bring to their schooling. Currently, she is involved in a variety of research projects around teacher and youth-research, multicultural and multilingual curricula in high school classrooms, and the intersection of youth literacy, language, and identities. Her most recent work has been published in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, English Education, Journal of Language and Literacy Education, and the International Journal of Multicultural Education.