Rebecca Covarrubias is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at UC Santa Cruz whose research interests focus on issues of identity, culture, health, and educational equity for minoritized and diverse individuals. She’s interested in how privileging dominant culture values differentially shape the daily experiences and self-understanding of majority and minority group members particularly in academic settings.

With her 2017 Hellman Fellow award she and a team of students launched a community-based research project that continues to thrive today. The longitudinal study aims to understand the college transition experiences of low-income, Latinx first-generation high school students. Fellowship funds supported a team of undergraduate students to conduct outreach at local high schools and provided stipends for research participation.