Before coming to Africana Studies as part of the 2015 Cohort, Dr. Poe received an A.M. in Africana Studies and an A.M. in History funded through the Open Graduate Fellowship at Brown. During his time in the program, he was awarded the Social Sciences Research Council (SSRC) International Dissertation Research Fellowship as well as the William J. Fulbright Student Fellowship for his 2018-2019 research in Brazil.

His dissertation project, Resisting Fragmentation: The Radical Possibilties of Black LGBTQ+ Activism in Brazil and the U.S., studied Black LGBT activists’ work in urban sites across Brazil and the United States, noting that Black Queer and Trans activism presents the potential for radical and transformative change to society and social movements.

He is currently serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the Amherst College Center for Humanistic Inquiry. In 2022, he will begin work as an Assistant Professor within the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Education.