Aixa D. Marchand is an assistant professor in the Developmental Sciences Division of the Department of Educational Psychology. She obtained her PhD in the Combined Program in Education and Psychology with a certificate in African American and Diasporic Studies from the University of Michigan in 2019. Her main line of research applies an interdisciplinary lens to the societal, contextual, and cultural factors that shape the academic experiences of students of color, with a focus on Black parents' critical consciousness. More specifically, her research uses a multi-method approach to focus on the attributions that Black parents make about educational inequities and how these attributions may relate to how they engage with their children’s schools. Related work uses a strengths-based approach to investigate the way that Black immigrant parents perceive the expected relationship between home and school in relation to expectations in their home country. Dr. Marchand’s other research inquiries include a) illuminating how students and parents of color critically analyze school structures; b) elucidating how familial processes, such as familism and parent racial socialization, impact adolescents’ academic experiences and socio-emotional wellbeing; and c) the use and development of rigorous methodological tools to address societal inequities.