In Fall 2020, I joined Michigan State University as assistant professor in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies and as core faculty member in the Second Language Studies (SLS) Ph.D. Program. In January 2021, I also joined the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies as core faculty.

My primary research interests are in heritage and Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Within this realm, I explore topics in emotion, bilingualism and multilingualism, and study abroad and the relationship with a range of linguistic, psychological, and social factors, including vocabulary learning, moral judgment, and identity, to name a few. As a heritage speaker of Spanish myself, I aim to adapt instruments and methodologies in my research that address the reality and needs of linguistically and socially diverse learner populations. Currently, my work explores the relationship between various emotions, including linguistic insecurity and interest, motivation, and questions surrounding linguistic and ethnoracial identity, specifically with respect to the acquisition of a heritage or foreign language.

At MSU, I teach undergraduate, masters, and Ph.D. courses in applied linguistics and SLA in both the Spanish and SLS programs and serve as SLA Consultant for the Basic Spanish program and Director of the Multilingual Lab.