Biography:

Tiyobista Maereg is a sixth-year developmental area graduate student working with Dr. Witherspoon in the Context and Development Lab. She received her B.A. degree in Psychology & Political Science as a McNair Scholar from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a member of the lab, Tiyobista worked on projects focusing on how context, particularly neighborhood, is associated with Black adolescent’s ethnic-racial identity and academic outcomes. Her work led to a better understanding of how neighborhood influences the development of Black youth and resulted in her desire to investigate the relationship of place-based and social contexts, ethnic-racial identity, and educational outcomes.