Ezra De La Cruz

About

Background:

Ezra grew up in the Central Valley in a town called Visalia. A not-so-fun fact about Visalia is that it is the least educated city in one of the least educated areas in the United States. Ezra discovered this when his political science professor projected it during class. Ezra has since been driven to not contribute to this statistic by pursuing a Doctoral degree.

Research Interests:

Ezra is interested in further understanding the biopsychosocial factors that go into well-being (with an emphasis on the social factors such as family relationships, racism, structural differences, delinquency, etc.), and the behaviors that may arise when experiencing social stressors. Some of the particular behaviors I am interested in as an outlet for coping with societal stress are substance use disorders and other behavioral addictions. I aim to carry this focus within adolescent-emerging adult age ranges, more specifically, within marginalized populations of this age range

Current Research:

Ezra's current research is being conducted alongside Dr. Evan Lintz, a leading expert in cognitive psychology at Sonoma State University. They aim to quantify the impacts that racial microaggressions have on attention and working memory.