Cierra Abellera, a former McNair Scholar, is a fourth-year doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is interested in how intergroup contact shapes belonging processes among majority and minority group members with a particular focus on newcomers and host society members. Within the Intergroup Relations & Social Justice Lab led by Dr. Linda R. Tropp, Cierra has worked with non-profit organizations, university centers, and international collaborators to examine how contact shapes perceptions of inclusion and feelings of belonging across contexts and groups of different societal statuses. Most recently Cierra received the 2022 Applied Social Issues Internship Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues for a research study on refugees' perceptions of race and racism in the U.S.