Meet the Researchers

Cathy’s work has been published in numerous journals and edited volumes including the American Political Science Review, GLQ, NOMOS, and Social Text. Her general field of specialization is American politics, although her research interests include African-American politics, women and politics, lesbian and gay politics, and social movements. She is also the founder and Director of the Black Youth Project.


For the GenForward Survey, Bianca works with the team on the production and analysis of our bimonthly surveys.


Her research interests include Black politics, gender and sexuality, and social movements. Terri currently studies Black Queer Feminism — a political praxis within radical Black-led social movements — and the dynamics of power that exist within movement work and community organizing. In particular, she is interested in how Black Queer Feminist politics of care and accountability shape activist’s interaction with the state.
Prior to attending the University of Chicago, Terri was a scholar-activist who conducted research and community-based activism surrounding racial attitudes and state-sanctioned violence against Black and Brown communities. For GenForward, Terri is a pre-doctoral scholar for public-facing data and serves as the director of the Data Liberation project. Here, she bridges connections between the academy and activist communities by managing and conducting webinars, panel discussions, and seminars that think with community organizers about how they might operationalize GenForward data. The Data Liberation project seeks to prevent the use of data from being siloed within the academy and also to promote the use of data as a tool within liberation-focused movement work.





A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Matt received dual bachelor's degrees in political science and Asian Studies as a first-generation college student at St. Olaf College and holds a M.A. in social sciences from the University of Chicago. He is also a lecturer in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University and teaches American Politics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Former Affiliates


Jon received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago in 2012. Before returning to Chicago, he held faculty positions in the Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis and the Department of Government at Harvard University.

Paola manages GenForward’s website and social media, and assists with other writing, communication, and administrative duties.

Jordie’s research interests include Black politics, social movements, political participation, and political communication. Specifically, she focuses on the influence of social movements and new media on political attitudes and participation. For GenForward, Davies does work on the Movement for Black Lives and on the politics of racial redress (with Jenn Jackson and David Knight), considering millennial understandings of structural racism and potential forms of justice.
Davies received a BA in Political Science from Emory University, in Atlanta, GA, with a minor in Educational Studies.


