Sonia currently a 4^th year doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a concentration in Human Development and Education. As a part of her studies at Harvard, she is also pursuing a Master of Education in Passing in Prevention Science and Practice in the Adolescent Counseling Strand.

Her research interest includes understanding the longitudinal effects of community violence exposure on adolescent academic outcomes. Sonia is interested in identifying the mechanisms that link community violence exposure to academic functioning, with a focus on emotion dysregulation and inattention as potential mechanisms. She is also interested in how school based connectedness approaches can be used to reduce the negative effects of community violence exposure on adolescents, as well as how developing coping skills and strategies for managing stressful experiences can influence positive developmental outcomes and academic success in youth.