Name: Laura Assanmal Peláez
Email: lma502@nyu.edu
Program: Sociology of Education
Research Interests: Restorative justice, abolitionist pedagogy, Central & South American youth, undocumented students in the NYC public school system, and students with interrupted formal education
Principal Advisor(s): L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy
Research Description/Bio: Laura is a Ph.D. student in Sociology of Education at NYU Steinhardt’s School of Culture, Education and Human Development. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Research & Public Policy with a minor in Political Science from NYU Abu Dhabi in 2021.
Born and raised in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, she is interested in the experiences of Central & South American youth in New York City, immigrant students, and students experiencing housing insecurity. Additionally, she writes, thinks and researches restorative justice and non-carceral approaches to harm in the classroom.
Laura currently works at NYU’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, where she researches continuous improvement practices across school districts in the U.S. geared towards Black, Latinx, and students experiencing poverty. In previous years, Laura has worked with ENLACE (Engaging Latino Communities for Education) at the Bronx Institute at CUNY Lehman College, the Washington Office on Latin America, and tutored at Brooklyn International High School.
Selected Awards: Laura was recently awarded the 2023 Graduate Student Award for Summer Research on Migration, awarded by the NYU Migration Network. Laura is also a recipient of the 2024-2025 Doctoral Fellowship in Urban Practice awarded by The Urban Democracy Lab (UDL) at NYU Gallatin. She is also an incoming fellow at NYU Steinhardt’s Faculty First Look Program.