Jaelyn Nixon, first-year Ph.D. student, awarded Dean's Graduate Fellowship

Jaelyn Nixon Headshot

Jaelyn Nixon, first-year student in the joint Public Policy and Psychology PhD program, and member of the Duke Identity & Diversity Lab has been awarded the 2020-2021 Dean's Graduate Fellowship. Broadly, Nixon's research aspirations are motivated by the desire to reduce social injustices. She is particularly interested in the covert ways that discriminatory practices evolve and produce consequences (in terms of incarceration, education, health, & wealth inequalities) for minorities. Nixon's master’s thesis explored the political campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” and its ability to create racial disparities in criminal punishment decision-making and outcomes. As a student of both public policy and psychology, Nixon hope's to conduct meaningful, action-oriented research that unifies the two fields of study. 

Nixon received her B.S. in Psychology from Tuskegee University and her M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Georgia Southern University.