Gregory Kyle
Biography
Hello! I grew up in Atlanta, GA, went to undergrad in Nashville, TN, and attended graduate school in Chapel Hill, NC. Now I’m excited to explore the West Coast. After receiving my BA, I founded a business providing executive functioning coaching to students with learning needs, taught a broad range of subject matter as a homeschool teacher, and worked as a primary research analyst for two psychology labs at Vanderbilt University. While studying at UNC Chapel Hill, I worked as the Lead Teaching Assistant for Global Studies, as well as the Phillips Ambassadors Graduate Teaching Fellow. After receiving my MA, I performed contracted research for the United States Agency for International Development, Varieties of Democracy Institute, Digital Societies Project, and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. I also part-timed as a bartender and stand-up comedian in the wonderful town of Carrboro, North Carolina. I’m passionate about public-facing scholarship, community advocacy, teaching, and creative expression, and I’m always open to collaborative projects!
Degrees
M.A. Global Studies, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, 2022
B.A. Neuroscience and English, Vanderbilt University, 2014
Fields of Study
Public-Facing Scholarship; Environmental Sociology; Political Sociology; Economic Sociology; Rural Sociology; Qualitative Methods
Research
I work at the intersection of environmental, political, and economic sociology. Broadly, I am interested in the politicization of natural resources and resource extractive industries. My current work seeks to understand the moral and emotional frameworks driving political reactions to lithium extraction in the American Southeast, specifically Gaston County, NC. Aligned with this inquiry, I study how peoples’ political attitudes and ideologies relate to their feelings toward transnational capital investments, state-led industry regulation, and environmentalism. I’m an advocate for public-facing sociology, so I’d like my scholarship to address the needs and concerns of rural communities.
Publications
Engaged Scholarship Publications:
Kyle, Gregory M., Valeriya Mechkova, and Brigitte Seim. 2023. “Customized Country
Portrait: Mali.” United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance – Learning, Evaluation, and Research (DRG-LER) Activity Tasking N009. (https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA0215JP.pdf)
Professional Publications:
Kyle, Gregory M. 2022. “How to improve your scores: What Lumosity teaches us about learning.” Lumosity Inc. (https://www.lumosity.com/en/blog/how-to-improve-your-scores-what-lumosity-teaches-us-about-learning)
Awards & Grants
Fellowships & Scholarships:
2025: Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, University of California, Los Angeles
2024-2025: First Year Fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles
2021-2022: Phillips Ambassadors Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
2021-2022: Lead Teaching Assistantship Service Award, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
2020-2021: Teaching Assistantship Service Award, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Grants:
2022: Student Arts Innovation Grant, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill ($3000 to expand Global Studies Graduate Student Journal)
Conference Presentations
McCluey, J. D., Collins, M. A., Kyle, G. M., and Polyn, S. M. 2016. “Increased semantic
similarity reduces the forward asymmetry in free recall.” Poster presented at Context and Episodic Memory Symposium, Philadelphia, PA, April 14. (https://memory.psy.vanderbilt.edu/files/pubs/McClEtal16.poster.pdf)
