Mary received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin (go, Longhorns!), and hails originally from San Antonio, TX.

She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Stanford University in 2007, where she was mentored by her advisor, Claude Steele. She was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow from 2007-2008, and was advised by Jennifer Richeson at Northwestern University. In 2008, she accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at the University of Illinois at Chicago that began in January, 2009.

Mary’s research interests focus on how situational cues in academic, organizational, and group settings affect people’s levels of social identity threat, motivation, cognitive processing, and perceived social identity contingencies. She is currently studying cues and their motivational, affective, and cognitive consequences for intergroup interactions.

In her “spare time,” Mary is getting to know Chicago, exploring the local restaurant scene, and catching up with friends and family.