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Ph.D. Candidate
Ph.D. Candidate
School of Education, University of California, Irvine
Dissertation Title: Co-Designing, Implementing, and Refining a Family Empowerment Model With and For Latine Families
Dissertation Chair and Mentor: Andres Bustamante, Ph.D.
Leading a multi-year collaborative research–practice initiative with early childhood teachers, Latine families, a community organization, and district administrators to strengthen family–teacher collaboration.
Developing and refining a family engagement model, identifying institutional and relational factors that support consistent information flow and meaningful collaboration between families and educators.
Applying co-design methods to support approaches that position families as equal partners in classroom learning.
Creating semi-structured interview and focus group protocols that ensure cultural responsiveness and alignment with research goals.
Designing a family survey, including Spanish-language versions, piloting it with families, and validating it using rigorous methods to capture family empowerment.
Conducting systematic thematic analysis of multimodal qualitative data—including audio, video, artifacts, and field notes—to derive key themes and actionable insights that support equitable family-teacher collaboration.
Creating and refining codebooks with another doctoral student; coded and integrated large, multimodal datasets in Dedoose to ensure analytic consistency, reliability, and depth.
Developing thematic frameworks and conceptual models to visualize processes that strengthen equitable family–educator partnerships.
Translating research findings into a conceptual model of relational collaboration, highlighting how trust, reciprocity, and shared design routines support culturally grounded teaching.
Partnering with a family-led grassroots community-based organization to create environments that bridge home and school knowledge systems, fostering affirming experiences for families.
Communicating findings to educators and district stakeholders, producing recommendations to guide professional development and policy that strengthen early learning initiatives.
Advancing early childhood research, practice, and policy by positioning families and teachers as co-designers of the structures that ensure home-based knowledge informs STEM learning for children.
Graduate Student Reseacher
Graduate Student Reseacher
Graduate Student Researcher (Aug. 2022 — Present)
STEM Learning Lab, School of Education, University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA)
Principal Investigator and Mentor: Andres Bustamante, Ph.D.
Research Skills
Designing and conducting studies examining family–educator collaboration, early STEM learning, and family–school–community engagement, ensuring participant perspectives and experiences guide study design and analysis.
Developing research instruments—including interview guides, focus group protocols, and surveys—that are culturally responsive, contextually relevant, and aligned with study objectives.
Piloting and refining survey and qualitative instruments with participants, applying validation strategies to ensure rigor, validity, and reliability.
Collecting, organizing, and synthesizing multimodal qualitative data—including audio, video, photos, artifacts, and field notes—to generate actionable insights for practice and program improvement.
Creating and refining coding frameworks and managing large datasets to ensure rigor, consistency, and usability for cross-project comparisons.
Developing thematic frameworks and analytic models to identify teaching patterns within family–teacher collaborations, informing strategies to support early STEM learning.
Coordinating and structuring a multi-site research–practice partnership, aligning study design, data collection, and feedback cycles with partner priorities and the field of education.
Facilitating focus groups and interviews, including bilingual (English and Spanish) sessions, centering participants’ experiences and perspectives in the research process.
Synthesizing data across multiple schools to identify promising practices that advance inclusive and culturally responsive learning environments.
Mentoring undergraduate researchers in data collection, coding, and analysis, emphasizing ethical practices and responsiveness to participants’ voices.
Disseminating findings through academic conferences, public reports, and manuscripts, and developing research-to-practice briefs for practitioner-oriented audiences.
Practical Skills
Designing and facilitating professional development workshops for teachers, administrators, and families, modeling approaches for integrating home-based knowledge into classroom practice.
Providing individualized coaching to teachers, translating research findings into actionable instructional strategies that reflect children’s everyday experiences.
Leading reflection sessions and professional learning communities to support ongoing collaboration, co-creating learning goals, and continuous instructional improvement.
Co-designing classroom tools that support incorporating home routines and knowledge into early STEM learning activities.
Supporting development of family leadership initiatives that position parents as equal partners in children’s learning.
Conducting site visits to classrooms to observe and document research-informed practices in action, while facilitating collaborative reflection with teachers.
Coordinating and supporting logistics for field research, including scheduling visits, managing communication with school sites, and ensuring ethical data collection procedures.
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