Moin Syed, University of California, Santa Cruz
Moin Syed is a fourth-year doctoral student in developmental psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, working with Margarita Azmitia. He holds a BA in psychology and MA in developmental psychology, both from San Francisco State University. Moin’s research is broadly concerned with identity development in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Drawing from an interdisciplinary perspective, he is particularly interested in the development of multiple personal and social identities (e.g., ethnicity, social class, and gender) and how educational experiences, such as the transition to college, both afford and constrain identity pathways. Methodologically, he is a proponent of qualitative and mixed method research, and heavily favors a narrative approach to identity development as a means for capturing the cultural and contextual nature of the intersection of personal and social identities. However, he also embraces quantitative methodologies and currently serves as the primary quantitative analyst for an NIH-funded project concerned with increasing minority (i.e., ethnicity and gender) representation in science and engineering graduate programs. Moin has published his work in Identity and the Journal of Adolescence, and is the co-editor of a forthcoming issue of New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development on interdisciplinary approaches to studying identity development. He lives in Santa Cruz, California with his partner Kate, infant son Quinn, and cat-child Jackson.