People

Drexler James, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and an affiliate faculty member of the Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center. He directs the Health, Identity, Essentialism, & Stigma (HIES) Research Team.

His research examines how social environments become organized within psychological activity and, in turn, shape identity, judgment, behavior, and health. He is especially interested in how psychological meanings are activated, coordinated, stabilized, and transformed across people and situations. His work on internalized stigma investigates how socially devaluing meanings become incorporated into—and resisted within—people’s understandings of themselves. His research on racial essentialism examines how beliefs about race and biology organize social perception, prejudice, health-related judgments, and explanations of inequality.

Drexler earned his Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology from the University of Illinois Chicago, where he completed a minor in Community Health Research. He received his undergraduate degree in Psychology from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

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Drexler's Google Scholar Profile.

Roushanac Partovi, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She received her PhD in Education at the University of California, Irvine and her Master’s in Public Health at the George Washington University. Roushanac’s research broadly focuses on understanding the social, cultural, and interpersonal factors that promote positive, healthy development during adolescence and young adulthood, particularly in the context of sociocultural stressors.

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Roushanac's Google Scholar Profile.

Alicia Bowling is a fourth-year PhD student in Social Psychology at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She is also completing a minor in Political Psychology through the Center for the Study of Political Psychology. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Smith College, where she first learned to apply psychological and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of oppression and political action. Alicia is broadly interested in intergroup relations, prejudice, and how politics can exacerbate or attenuate social hierarchies. Currently, she studies when and how essentialism and attribution contribute to bias and inequality.

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Alicia's Google Scholar Profile.

Suqi Jiang is a second-year PhD student in Social Psychology at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He earned his B.S. in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 2025. His research focuses on social cognition and stereotyping through the lens of intersectionality, with particular interest in the factors that shape how different social identities combine at the individual level to form unique patterns of stereotypes.

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Yani Yakob is a first-year Ph.D. student in Social Psychology at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She earned her M.A. in Psychology from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS). Her research focuses on social identity, racial socialization, racial stigma, and identity threat. She is particularly interested in the relationships among these processes and their implications for psychological well-being and health disparities.

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Yani's Google Scholar Profile.

Grant Shipp is a first-year Ph.D. student in Social Psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He also received his B.S. in Psychology at University of Minnesota in 2024. His prior research has examined psychological and social determinants of health in marginalized communities, including LGBTQIA+, people living with HIV, and those experiencing unstable housing. Broadly, he is interested in understanding how adverse experiences (e.g., sexual assault, substance misuse) shape identity management and health behavior across the lifespan. Further, he is passionate about identifying factors that promote wellbeing and resilience following adversity among marginalized individuals.

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Seyram Agudu is a Research Specialist at the Psychology Department of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She received her Bachelor's of Science in Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2026. Her research is mainly focused on internalized stigma, cultural models of well-being, and culturally relevant interventions. She is especially interested in how local health assets in cultural communities can be formalised as part of holistic psychosocial interventions, particularly within marginalized populations.

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Yilin (Evelyn) Wang, graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2023 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Social Work at NYU.