Her research focuses on understanding how sociodemographic characteristics (race-ethnicity and poverty, in particular) structure the supports and challenges that individuals experience. She is particularly invested in systems-change interventions. 

Trauma Responsive Educational Practices Project                       

Keels, M. 2016. A Whole School Approach to Improving the Outcomes of Children Living in High Crime Communities. Prepared for Urban America Forward: Civil Rights Roundtable Series.

Advancing Inclusion

Keels, M. (2020). Campus Counterspaces: Black and Latinx Students’ Search for Community at Historically White Universities. Cornell University Press.

Selected Publications

Offidani-Bertrand, C., Velez, G., Benz, C. & Keels, M. (2020). “I wasn’t expecting it”: High School Experiences and Navigating Belonging in the Transition to College. Emerging Adulthood.

Durkee, M. I., Gazley, E., Hope, E. C. & Keels, M. (2019) Cultural Invalidations: Deconstructing the "Acting White" Phenomenon among Black & Latinx College Students. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.

Hope, E. C., Velez, G., Offidani-Bertrand, C., Keels, M., & Durkee, M. I. (2017). Political Activism and Mental Health Among Black and Latinx College Students. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 24(1), 26.

Keels, M., Durkee, M., & Hope, E. (2017). The Psychological and Academic Costs of School-Based Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions. American Educational Research Journal, 54(6), 1316-1344.

Hope, E. C., Keels, M., & Durkee, M. I. (2016). Participation in Black Lives Matter and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals: Modern Activism Among Black and Latino College Students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 9(3), 203-215.

Ghee, M., Keels, M., Collins, D., Spence, C. N., & Baker, E. (2016). Fine-Tuning Summer Research Programs to Promote Underrepresented Students' Persistence in STEM Pathway. CBE - Life Sciences Education.

Keels, M. & Rusin, S. (2016). Perceptions May Matter Most: A Comparative Examination of Teachers’ Perceptions of “Undocumented” Latino Students in Two High Schools. In. Jones B., & Rolle, A. (Eds.) Leading Schools in Challenging Times: Eye to the Future. Information Age Publishing.

Keels, M., Burdick-Will, J., Keen, S., (2013). The Effects of Gentrification on Neighborhood Public Schools. City & Community.12(3), 238-259

Keels, M. (2013). The Importance of Scaffolding the Transition: Unpacking the Null Effects of Relocating Poor Children into Nonpoor Neighborhoods. American Educational Research Journal, 50(5), 991-1018.

Keels, M. (2013). Getting Them Enrolled is Only Half the Battle: College Success at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Class. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 83(2pt3), 310-322.

Burdick-Will, J., Keels, M., & Schuble, T. (2013). Closing and Opening Schools: Neighborhood Characteristics and the Location of New Educational Opportunities in a Large Urban District. Journal of Urban Affairs.

DeLuca, S., Duncan, G., Keels, M., &  Mendenhall, R. (2012). The Notable and the Null: Using Mixed Methods to Understand the Diverse Impacts of Residential Mobility Programs. In. Ham, M van, Manley D, Bailey N, Simpson L & Maclennan D (Eds). Neighbourhood Effects Research: New Perspectives. Dordrecht: Springer.

DeLuca, S., Duncan, G., Keels, M., &  Mendenhall, R. 2010. Gautreaux Mothers and Their Children: An Update. Housing Policy Debate. 20, 7-25.

Keels, M. 2009. Ethnic Group Differences in Early Head Start Parents’ Parenting Beliefs and Practices and the Link to Children's Early Cognitive Development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24(4), 381-397.

Keels, M. & Raver, C. C. 2009. Early Learning Experiences and Outcomes for Children of U.S. Immigrant Families: Introduction to the Special Issue. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24(4), 363-366.

Keels, M. 2008. Neighborhood Effects Examined Through the Lens of Residential Mobility Programs. American Journal of Community Psychology. 42(3-4), 235-250.

Keels, M. 2008. Residential Attainment of Now-Adult Gautreaux Children: Do They Gain, Hold, or Lose Ground in Neighborhood Ethnic and Economic Segregation. Housing Studies. 23(4), 541-564.

Keels, M. 2008. Second-Generation Effects of Chicago’s Gautreaux Residential Mobility Program on Children's Participation in Crime. Journal of Research on Adolescence. 18(2), 305-352.

Keels, M., G. Duncan, R. Mendenhall, S. Deluca, & J. Rosenbaum. 2005. Fifteen Years Later: Can Residential Mobility Programs Provide a Permanent Escape from Neighborhood Segregation, Crime, and Poverty? Demography, 42, 51-73.