Sociology PhD candidate seeks to understand why her parents "fell through the cracks"

At sixteen, Sandra Portocarrero came to the US from Peru with her father, who wanted a fresh start but in hard times turned to drug-dealing. Meanwhile, Sandra’s mother in Peru was grappling with depression and bipolar disorder. Sandra, now a PhD candidate in Sociology researching the relationship between education inequality, was drawn to her field to understand why her parents “fell through the cracks of broken systems,” in her words. Learn more.