Tamara is working with Mirta Galesic on her USDA-NIFA funded project on modeling belief change using techniques inspired by statistical physics. In collaboration with Science Board members Dan Stein and Nina Fedoroff, they analyze how personal moral values and social networks shape the formation of scientific beliefs. The project focuses on beliefs about genetically modified organisms but is also relevant for issues such as climate change or vaccination.

In addition, Tamara and Mirta model the dynamics of religious beliefs within peer groups.

Tamara is interested in how social identities and beliefs develop and change within larger social environments. She has examined the formation of ethnic and racial identities in adolescence and early adulthood among the children of Latino and Caribbean immigrants in the U.S. More recently, she studied how national policies and local communities shape religious identities and political attitudes of children of immigrants living in Europe.

Tamara earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Indiana University, where she also received an M.S. in Applied Statistics. She holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Wheaton College, IL.