I am a socio-legal scholar interested in law, social change, and inequality. My current work examines the consequences of cannabis legalization in California, focusing on how progressive reforms can create new forms of inequality and liminality. Earlier in my career, I studied legal institutions and the legal profession in Russia.

I was born in a small town outside Moscow in 1986 and grew up during the collapse of the Soviet Union and Russia's transition to a market economy. Witnessing these sweeping political and social transformations sparked my interest in institutional change and the ways large-scale events shape the lives of ordinary people. I studied sociology at one of Russia's leading universities and began my career as a social researcher before moving to the United States in 2016 to pursue a PhD in Criminology. Today, I teach in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Penn State University. My training in both sociology and criminology allows me to approach research and teaching from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Beyond academia, I am actively involved in volunteer work with immigrant communities, helping Ukrainian refugees integrate into life in the United States. I am currently pursuing an advanced law degree with a concentration in immigration law, with the goal of connecting social research to advocacy work and legal practice.

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