Laura Brady is a research scientist in the Culture Collaboratory. She received her B.A. in Psychology with minors in Gender and Women’s Studies and Professional Writing from DePaul University in 2011. In 2016, Laura completed her doctoral studies in Psychology at the University of Washington where she earned a Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology.
Broadly, Laura is interested in understanding issues of race, gender, social class, and education through the lens of culture. She is particularly drawn to research that seeks to solve real world problems of inequality and injustice, and much of her research is driven by a desire to use social psychology to make positive social change. Her dissertation examined how first-generation college students navigate competing cultural expectations and norms coming from their working-class families and middle-class universities and whether these students engage in cultural frame switching as they move between social class contexts. As a research scientist, she is working on a project examining whether growth mindset interventions can be more efficacious in reducing racial and social class academic achievement gaps by working to change classroom cultures rather than targeting individual students.
When she is not working in the lab, Laura can usually be found experimenting with recipes in the kitchen. Some of her favorite recent culinary discoveries include strawberry chia seed jam, dutch oven bread, and caramelized peach pancakes.
Contact Laura: lbra@umich.edu