As a first-generation, woman of color from the deep South, Dr. Whiteside learned that a lack of resources significantly restricted certain students from achieving their full potential. She saw this limitation play out in a myriad of ways particularly for low-income students and/or students of color in the educational system. From institutional access to teacher quality, to standardized test scores, race matters and poverty is damaging. Thus, her work (rooted in her own childhood experiences) reflects a desire to gain a deeper understanding of how stratification influences the educational aspirations and later outcomes of students from traditionally disadvantaged and understudied populations with a merit-based lens.  To be exact, she focuses on divergent educational experiences and the mechanisms they identify as “useful” for their success.