Assistant Professor of Education Mark Emerick is the recipient of a National Academy of Education (NAEd)/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. His research “draws on critical race theory to examine how language and identity affect equitable access to educational opportunities for emergent bilingual students in U.S. schools.” His funded project is a multi-sited ethnography focused on the barriers that emergent bilingual students experience when trying to access career and technical education, an educational pathway that has received renewed attention and interest in the past few years. The study will challenge inequitable structures and advising practices that limit EBs’ (emergent bilingual) access to CTE (career and technical education), center the rich narratives of students who decide to pursue CTE programs during high school, and provide insights for school-level interventions and equitable career counseling practices for EB youth.