Dr. Brainer is an associate professor and director of women’s & gender studies and coordinator of LGBTQ+ studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She is the author of Queer Kinship and Family Change in Taiwan (2019, Rutgers), for which she received the Ruth Benedict Prize from the Association for Queer Anthropology. Her current research follows queer and trans individuals and couples as they navigate marriage-based immigration to the United States.