Email: hik5590@nyu.edu
Program: PhD in Counseling Psychology
Year entered Program: 2023
Research Interests: Critical Consciousness; Carceral Systems and Logics; Structural Trauma; School-based Interventions; Social Emotional Learning; School Pushout; Intersectionality; Community-Based Participatory Methods
Principal Advisor(s): Dr. Shabnam Javdani
Research Description/Bio: Haja Kamara is a doctoral student in the Clinical/Counseling Psychology program at New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, working under the mentorship of Dr. Shabnam Javdani. As a recipient of the Institute of Education Sciences-funded Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training (IES-PIRT) fellowship, Haja's research explores the interlocking nature of education and carceral systems. She is particularly interested in how carceral logics manifest in schools, contributing to phenomena such as school pushout.
Haja employs mixed methods and interdisciplinary research to investigate how oppressive structures contribute to and sustain inequity and mental health disparities among marginalized youth. Her work seeks to uncover the systemic factors that perpetuate these issues and to develop interventions that address the root causes of educational and mental health inequities.
Haja earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Yale University and her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the Yale School of Public Health. Prior to joining NYU, she served as a Community Wellness Specialist with Yale College Community Care, providing short-term wellness services to undergraduate students.