I am interested in the apolitical roots of political engagement. In my work, I explore how individuals construct and use their social networks differently, with specific interests in how the social psychology of gender structures social network influence and how associations drive social contact. My religion and politics work, centered in the US, investigates how religious communities provide political information and how members make sense of and use that information. I therefore examine social networks in churches, clergy political speech and engagement, small group interactions, and as well as experimental results regarding how individuals react to religion used by political actors and politics used by religious actors. I am also interested in how individuals connect with and evaluate interest groups.