My main dissertation research looks at how organizations in Illinois and beyond are using technologies to coordinate abortion access in the state. This research consists of two main stages: interviews and co-design. My goal is to work with abortion access organizations to co-design support tools to help people foster abortion support networks in their own communities, through intersectional reproductive justice frameworks.

Supported by the 2024/2025 PhDs for Public Impact fellowship, I am interviewing organizers throughout the Midwest United States at Abortion Funds and Practical Support Organizations about their work ensuring anyone who needs an abortion can get one with as few barriers as possible. I hope to broadcast the vital work that these groups are doing, and garner support for their efforts.

We are investigating the underlying systems at play for accessibility accommodations in higher education. We are applying a grounded theory approach as we participatorily map out networks of access (official and grassroots) in the academic environment. We hope to illuminate where the system is breaking down and identify ways students with disabilities could better be served at scholarly institutions.

I am critiquing the way that equity in design is approached through toolkits, card decks, and quick guides. I have conducted a thematic analysis of key toolkits using Nancy Fraser's pillars of justice (Fraser, 2008; Petterson, 2023 Forthcoming) and shown toolkits do not fulfill requirements for equity. I am now conducting workshops with activists, designers and students to formulate future approaches to equity in design.

Supported by a 2022 SSHRC grant, we are working with the blind and visually impaired community in Ontario to understand communication barriers during severe weather events. We are conducting interviews using Counter-Story Telling methods. We will use our results to present actionables to community organizations and government bodies to improve communication of severe weather to visually impaired and blind people.