Her interests are in African American Studies, hip-hop studies, ethnography, and the critical pedagogy. She has dedicated her professional career to the research, pedagogical, and outreach capabilities of hip-hop based education and how it interfaces with STEM education, the leadership development of students and teachers, and the range of diversities brought to the formal and informal classroom. She is the founding director of The HipHop2020 Curriculum Project (hiphop2020.org ), and is a Hiphop Archive Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Before joining the VT faculty, she completed post-doctoral research at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.