Born and raised in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Laura Assanmal Peláez is an educator, youth worker, urban ethnographer, and doctoral student. Her participatory action research explores the educational experiences of Latin American youth in New York City public schools, with attention to students experiencing housing insecurity and how students and families navigate urban school systems.
Laura is a PhD candidate in Sociology of Education at NYU Steinhardt’s School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Prior to joining NYU Steinhardt, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Research and Public Policy with a minor in Political Science from NYU Abu Dhabi in 2021.
Prior to starting her doctoral journey, Laura was part of Engaging Latino Communities for Education (ENLACE) at the Bronx Institute at CUNY Lehman College, and served as a volunteer teaching assistant at Brooklyn International High School.
Laura is currently a member of the adjunct faculty at the Education Studies Program at NYU Steinhardt, an adjunct instructor at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and a graduate student researcher at the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. She is also the recipient of the 2024–2025 NYU Gallatin Doctoral Fellowship in Urban Practice, through which she has spent a year supporting youth programming at The Brotherhood Sister Sol.