Briana Perez's (23-24 Cohort) research for the Geo
rge A. Miller Scholar Research Colloquium centered around media influences on high school students and their higher education options. She piqued the interest of the Associate Director of the Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence (CE3) and noted that first-generation career trajectories differ from non-first-generation research since first-gen students are limited in their knowledge; prompting her to invite her to do research for CE3.
"Being a Media Studies major, I have developed a fond interest in media’s effects on societies. In particular, I am interested in pipelines created by the media for specific populations and different sectors."
Through Miller Scholars, Briana researched the role media plays in influencing career choices for high school students and its correlation to their socioeconomic backgrounds. Through her research, she was able to learn firsthand how first-generation students get different content on social media than students coming from more affluent backgrounds.
This research has caused her to question how in a world of fast-paced technology media is affecting our psychology and sense of belonging through spaces such as education/careers, recreational areas, consumerism, relationships, and citizenship. She believes that if we have more awareness of how media contributes towards pipelines, it would be easier to know how to use media to get folks to make informed decisions for themselves. Through this project, she's grown to admire research as she's discovered it to be an intimate experience where knowledge and data lead to social changes.