As a research analyst, I support most projects under the SAMHSA Center for Financing Reform and Innovation contract. I have been involved in projects at every stage, starting with proposals up to publication. My tasks have varied by project, but include developing research questions and study plans, leading literature reviews, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, and manuscript and report writing. I also support project management and administration in this role.As webinar lead, I have organized and hosted 8 webinars hosted by SAMHSA’s Center for Financing Reform and Innovation from November 2023 to the present. Each webinar has had between 500-850 attendees.

I assisted a PhD candidate in the Political Science department at UC San Diego on a project analyzing the frames with which legislators respond to mass shootings when the victims are predominantly white vs predominantly people of color. My specific role includes preparing twitter data for machine learning purposes to categorize a large sample of legislator tweets.I also assisted in the early stages of a secondary project that applies the findings of the legislator frames project to news media articles about mass shootings. My role in this project included building a literature review and qualitatively comparing news articles about mass shootings.

Title: Memes and Misinformation on Twitter during the 2020 US Presidential ElectionThis study explored the relationship between memes and misinformation on social media during major political events. In particular, it analyzed tweets related to the slow Nevada ballot count posted in the days immediately following the 2020 US Presidential Election before a winner was declared. To do this, I scraped a large sample of these tweets and attempted to build a machine learning algorithm that could classify them as memes or misinformation. The study concluded that the current academic definitions of both terms are not thorough enough for an algorithm to remove harmful misinformation without also removing the memes people use to humorously process their anxiety about political events. This project was conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Molly Roberts, and presented at the UC San Diego Undergraduate Summer Research Conference in August 2021. The presentation can be viewed at the YouTube link below.

Title: Diverging Social Spheres, Diverging Feminisms in Early Modern ItalyThis project compared the feminist ideologies expressed in the work of three 17th century Italian women: painter Artemisia Gentileschi, and writers Lucrezia Marinella and Arcangela Tarabotti. Methods primarily included content analysis of historical documents. The project concluded that the while the three women lived at the same time and in the same cities, and are each remembered as an early modern feminist, they had radically different opinions about the status and rights of women due to their different social spheres.I conducted this project through the Sociology Honors Research Seminar under the mentorship of Dr. Harvey Goldman and Dr. Jeff Haydu. It concluded with a 50 page thesis and academic conference presentation. My presentation can be viewed at the YouTube link below.

I collected Census data through brief face-to-face interviews with households around Pasadena and Downtown Los Angeles. I learned to quickly establish rapport and trust with respondents while following COVID-19 safety guidelines to perform work safely and effectively. I was recognized by my field supervisor as one of the top 5 most successful enumerators on a team of 30+ employees.