Zawadi Rucks-Ahidiana is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her research broadly focuses on race, wealth, culture, and urban studies. She leverages her skills in mapping, statistics, policy analysis, qualitative data analysis, and social theory to study how culture contributes to the racial wealth gap, racial exclusion in higher education, and the relationship between racial composition and gentrification. The projects she will advance as an Emerging Poverty Scholar focus on how neighborhood racial composition contribute to where and how the process of gentrification unfolds.