I am a cultural and developmental psychologist who studies how young people around the world navigate rapid cultural change. In particular, I focus on how globalization and migration reshape young people’s everyday lives, values, and envisioned futures - and how they in turn help remake culture in the process.

I received my Ph.D. and M.A. in Psychology from Clark University, and my B.A. in Psychology (Italian minor) from Miami University. Since 2014, I have been a faculty member at California State University, Fresno, where I am now Full Professor in the Department of Child and Family Science and direct the Human Development & Culture Research Lab.

I have conducted long-term fieldwork in northern Thailand for over a decade, and I also work with immigrant-origin youth in California’s Central Valley. My current project (2026-2029) examines how Thai youth reconstruct “the sacred” in a digital age. As a teacher and mentor, I support students in understanding how youth development is socially, culturally, and historically constructed, and how young people negotiate and create culture.