Pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy degree

Research Area: Labour market analysis; Elite occupational communities; Technology work; Crossborder migration; Social stratification; Canada; United States

Committee: Jamie Peck (supervisor), Trevor Barnes, Jim Glassman

Affiliations: DAAD Research Fellow, Institut für Soziologie and Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften (Universität Duisburg-Essen; 2023-2024); Visiting PhD Researcher, Department of Geography (McGill; 2022-2023); Fellow, Institute for Asian Research (UBC; 2021-2022);

Degrees: M.A., Geography (UBC); B.A. (Hons.), Urban Studies, summa cum laude (York)

Honours: DAAD Research Fellowship (Universität Duisburg-Essen; 2023-2024); Four Year Fellowship (UBC; 2022-2026); Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS-D (SSHRC; 2022-2025); Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS-M (SSHRC; 2020-2021)

My doctoral project is entitled How Engineers Learn to Labour: Elite Technology Work Across Borders in the United States and Canada.

I examine the social origins, acculturation, lifestyles, and life trajectories of a group of engineering graduates from Canada, many of whom have since assumed full-time jobs in the United States. Core to my project is the study of social practices within this group, the development of “lay sociologies” among group members, the production and influence of a general field of “engineering culture” working upon the group, the complementarity between the Canadian and American economic structures, and the way this regime of labour mediates inequality and unevenness. I have a special interest in the work of Pierre Bourdieu, using his insights on human and social behaviour to understand how social location informs occupational choice and labour market participation.

I have previously written on central banks, urban technology, and Japan’s economy, and have an interest in developing my academic work into public-facing, policy-relevant material.