As a linguistic anthropologist and sociolinguist, I specialize in ethnographically informed approaches to language and culture. I study naturally occurring language in institutional contexts, including legislative settings, second language learning classrooms, and institutions of higher learning in the United States. The heart of my research investigates the reproduction of privilege, with attention to the negotiation and socialization of identity, and the links between micro-level practices and macro-level structures and ideologies. Most recently, these interests led me to investigate how dimensions of class, gender, and race emerge in the process of socialization to professional identity among a group of undergraduate engineering researchers.