Beverly is a product of mixed religious and ethnic communities. Born and raised in NYC to a Catholic mother from the Dominican Republic and Ashkenazi (Eastern European Jewish) US-born father, Beverly is a first-generation (on her mother's side) and second-generation (on her father's side) American. Beverly has brought some of her personal background into her professional interests in migration and cross-cultural interactions in diverse communities. With a PhD in history and field interests in interdisciplinary topics such as disability studies, LGBT studies, and studies in science and technology, Beverly uses the classroom as a space for creating empathy and sparking passion for research. She approaches teaching as a form of community engagement that encourages students to be aware of how all people are shaped by their personal experiences and filter knowledge in specific ways even as they encounter and interpret data from decades and even centuries ago. The politics of knowledge " of the context in which data is created, disseminated and reinterpreted "is a major aspect of Beverly's teaching and research with primary and secondary sources in both her undergraduate and graduate courses.