People

Drexler James, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is also an affiliate faculty member of the Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center at UMN. Drexler is the primary investigator of the Health, Intersectionality, Essentialism, & Stigma research team. He received his Ph.D. in Social & Personality Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he also minored in Community Health Research. He completed his undergraduate studies in Psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Drexler is a Health Equity and Disparities scholar who examines the social and psychological determinants of health among minoritized groups, particularly African American adults and men of color who have sex with men. Drexler also has interests in studying the health and social consequences of biological race essentialism.

Read Drexler's CV here.

Drexler's Google Scholar Profile.

Drexler's UMN Psychology department webpage here.

Alicia Bowling is a third-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.

Read Alicia's CV here.

Suqi Jiang is a first-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.

Read Suqi's CV here.

Yilin (Evelyn) Wang, graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2023 and is currenelt an MSW student at The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.