Kayla Thomas is a qualitative Sociologist whose research centers urban communities in the contemporary United States, the people who inhabit and shape them, and the relationships that sustain them. While her dissertation focuses on residents of Crown Heights, central neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, her interests are not limited to a single metropolis. Rather, she sees her research and teaching as connected to larger national and global trends of migration, displacement, and discrimination, with a particular interest in racial and ethnic identity formation.

As a doctoral candidate, Kayla holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and History (with a focus on the Middle East) from Brown University, a Masters of Arts in Sociology from Yale University, and a Masters of Philosophy in Sociology, also from Yale University. She is expected to complete her PhD in May of 2025 and is currently on the academic job market.