Minghui Sun is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Linguistics at Penn State. Her research draws on linguistic anthropology, conversation analysis, and semiotic discourse analytic approaches to examine shared decision-making processes in small group meetings. With a specific focus on older adults, she investigates the ways in which they exercise agency, navigate relationships, and cultivate a sense of community through active participation and involvement in organizing events and activities, in the context of continuing care retirement communities. More broadly, she is also engaged with the methodologies of qualitative research and issues related to researcher’s positionality and ethics in conducting ethnographic studies.