My research interests lie within the field of Cultural Psychology with an emphasis on family values. My specific area of research relates to the concepts of familism and frame-switching. I am currently working as a research assistant for Dr. Belinda Campos’ Culture, Relationships and Health Lab, Dr. Paul Piff’s Morality, Emotion and Social Hierarchy Lab, and Dr. Azim Shariff’s Culture and Morality Lab.

My first experience in research was at Cerritos Community College through a research methods course. With the guidance of our professor, we created a research study on the usage of humor in advertisements and the memory recall of the brand as an outcome. I was responsible for helping run the study and submitting a complete research paper at the end of the semester.

My experiences working as a research assistant have awakened my desire to investigate how our social world impacts our overall well-being. Research involvement has ignited my passion for research and has made me a stronger candidate when applying for graduate school programs. Most importantly, it has made it possible for me to enhance my critical-thinking skills, and it solidified my decision to pursue a career in academia.

My favorite experience with research has been designing my honors thesis here at UCI. I have had the great fortune of working with great people who are supportive and motivating. Dr. Belinda Campos and PhD. candidate Karina Corona have agreed to be my mentors in the Social Ecology Honors program and have been crucial throughout the development of my project. We will be working together on my Honors Thesis throughout my final year here at UCI. This is my favorite experience because it has given me a glimpse of what it entails to create a research study, and what it is like to work in a research team environment. Being part of this research project has challenged me in ways that I had never been challenged in academia. This experience has also proven to me that I could successfully overcome difficult challenges and continue to grow as an individual.

My future plans involve applying to Ph.D. and Masters programs in Social and Cultural Psychology. My long-term goal is to become a university professor and study familism from a moral perspective. It is imperative to seek to learn how our moral understanding develops from a cultural-family driven contextual perspective and ultimately guides our social actions.

I would advise any student interested in pursuing a faculty-mentored undergraduate research project or creative activity to attend faculty office hours to learn more about their topic of interest. By interacting with faculty, you will get a better understanding of whether your idea can be developed into a research project and who you could work with on your project or activity. Finally, make sure you choose a topic that really interests you and that you’re truly passionate about. This will fuel your drive in a year-long project and serve as an experience that can change your academic career.