Erika is a doctoral candidate in Developmental Psychology through the Department of Applied Psychology at NYU's Steinhardt. Her interests include a general focus on the role of the cultural context as it shapes social and emotional development among ethnically diverse, urban families across important developmental periods, particularly infancy and adolescence. In particular, her work focuses on cultural socialization through parent-infant daily routines, ethnic identity among adolescents, and the role of culture and discrimination in shaping peer relationships.
" Being a member of the Graduate Forum has truly been one of the most meaningful parts of my graduate education experience at NYU. Having to present my own work to a group of scholars who are not in my discipline pushed me to find creative ways to explain and understand my work. More importantly, though, in the process of explaining our work to each other, we have had to unearth and reflect on the most basic, and often implicit, assumptions of our disciplines and our own work. "