I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
I earned by B.A. (Hons.) in Psychology and Political Science from University of Ghana, M.Sc. in (Developmental) Psychology from the University of Utah, and my PhD in (Social) Psychology from Clark University. I completed my postdoctoral training with the Peace & Recovery department at Innovation for Poverty Action/ Princeton University and was recently the Provost Postdoctoral Research Fellow at New York University.
My research program is motivated by my commitment to using research as a tool to understand and address real-world social issues. I take a multi-level approach to examine: 1) how historical and sociopolitical contexts shape the psychological needs that arise for members of groups targeted by collective violence and oppression and how these needs can be met; 2) the meanings that victim groups construct about their experiences of historical and current collective violence; 3) how social psychological theories can be leveraged to develop and evaluate context-relevant interventions among refugees and host community members.
In my free time, I like to travel, read (fantasy & historical non-fiction), cook for/with family and friends, and do an occasional hike stemming from my time in Utah.