Research

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As a doctoral candidate at the Eliot-Pearson department I am involved in a number of research projects with various faculty members at the department. Primarily, I work in the Developmental Technologies Research Group, led by Prof. Marina Bers, on developing interventions and theorectical models for understanding how technologies, particular computer technologies and the Internet, can be best integrated into young people's lives. In the past, I have worked with Prof. Rebecca New on a project dealing with a Head Start program in Chinatown Boston, a project with Prof. Jayanthi Mistry in her study on bi-cultural competencies, and with Profs. Erin Phelps, Ellen Pinderghuges, and Dr. Ellen Perrin on a study on gay fathers and their families.

.:Dissertation.Research:.
My dissertation research is focused on a construct I am developing called Niche Crafting. The construct is based on Charles Super and Sara Harkness' work on the Developmental Niche. The basic idea is that with new media young people now have tremendous access to information, communities of practice, and participatory spaces to create and craft their own developmental niche. The construct of Niche Crafting extends beyond the notion of youth as actors and reactors of their environment, in that it views young people as planners and recognizes young people's ability to purposefully orient their activities toward a particular goal by leveraging and maximizing their unique traits and characteristics. It is a developmental framework, and as such it sees "crafting" as a process both in young people's developing competency in niche crafting as well as niche crafting as a journey toward adulthood. My current dissertation work on this topic is based on an ongoing ethnographic study about a community of young YouTubers.