profile picture

Ajua D

- Research Program Mentor

PhD at Yale University

Expertise

Social Psychology, Emotions, Emotion Regulation, Discrimination in Psychology, the Psychology of Stigma

Bio

Hi! My name is Ajua Duker, and I am a Faculty Fellow at New York University. I completed my PhD in Social Psychology at Yale University (graduated Spring 2023). My primary area of research interest centers around discrimination, and specifically, in my dissertation work, I examine which emotion regulation strategies could be most effective for stigmatized individuals when processing past discrimination experiences. I also study topics related to perceptions of algorithmic discrimination, and effective allyship in other work. I am an ex-ballet dancer, and enjoy pilates, yoga, and hiking!

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

How do Marginalized People Tend to Process Negative Experiences?

This project would deal with surveying folks who are members of historically underrepresented or marginalized groups, and ask people to write about (or speak about) negative experience with little formal guidance. Text analysis techniques would be used to analyze the sentences individuals generate when processing past experiences to see which emotion regulation processes most closely resemble those used in these recollections.

Coding skills

R

Languages I know

French

Teaching experience

I have served as a private tutor for 6 years, and have taught 2 years worth of undergraduate courses (Research Methods for Psychology, Introduction to Statistics, Introduction to Psychology, and a Cognitive Psychology course called "Thinking".

Credentials

Work experience

Princeton University (2015 - 2017)
Research Specialist
New York University (2023 - Current)
Faculty Fellow (Incoming Assistant Professor, beg. Fall 2025)

Education

Yale University
BS Bachelor of Science (2015)
Psychology
Yale University
MS Master of Science (2020)
Social Psychology
Yale University
MPhil Master of Philosophy (2020)
Social Psychology
Yale University
PhD Doctor of Philosophy (2023)
Social Psychology

Interested in working with expert mentors like Ajua?

Apply now