Xandie is a second-year Criminology and Criminal Justice Ph.D. Student. She completed her B.A. in Criminology and her M.A. in Sociology at the University of Oklahoma. In July 2022, she successfully defended her Master’s thesis entitled “It Turns You Inside Out”: The Emotional Effects of Working Within the Capital Punishment System. As an Indigenous scholar and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, her current research interests include Indigenous criminology and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit people epidemic in North America, as well as the consequences of the continued colonization within the government and criminal legal system. She is currently serving as a Graduate Research Assistant. She also serves as the Graduate Coordinator for Native and Indigenous Student Involvement and Community Advocacy for the university. Xandie is also a veteran of the United States Navy and is a Ronald E. McNair Graduate Fellow here at the University of Maryland.