Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Fellows
Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs
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- UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP)
- The UCI Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (CPFP)
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Miguel Alcantar
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Supported by Dr. Feizal Waffarn Chancellor’s Fellowship funding
Miguel is a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Chang Liu’s Lab at UC Irvine, where he applies directed evolution and machine learning techniques to engineer novel therapeutic proteins, including antibodies. He earned his B.S. in Bioengineering from UC San Diego, where he developed computational modeling approaches of red blood cell enzyme kinetics in the lab of Professor Bernhard Palsson. Miguel went on to complete his Ph.D. under the mentorship of Professor Jim Collins, developing high-throughput technologies to engineer gene regulatory networks in bacteria and yeast. As a first-generation college and graduate student, Miguel is deeply committed to mentoring students from underrepresented groups. Outside the lab, Miguel enjoys long-distance biking and hiking, expanding his personal library, and embracing his role as a devoted dog dad.
Dr. Kimberly Daas
School of Physical Sciences
Kimberly Daas is working in the field of theoretical chemistry, which is on the intersection between chemistry, physics, mathematics and even computer science. Her research interests are increasing our current understanding of electronic structure theory and in particular Density Functional Theory, the workhorse of quantum chemistry, and deriving new practical approximations for it. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees as a Joint Degree at both the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), respectively in Chemistry (2017) and Molecular Sciences (2019). The research for both theses was done in the group of Prof. Dr. Gori-Giorgi at the VU, which is also the group she did her PhD research in. In her dissertation, The Strong Interaction Limit of The Moller-Plesset Adiabatic Connection, she not only derived a new exact theory but also provided accurate practical approximations for it. Using these results, she derived new functionals that can be used in both chemistry and material science to calculate non-covalent interactions, which are generally weak interaction that play important roles in (bio)-chemistry by keeping our DNA double helices together and enabling enzymatic reactions.
Her work has been supported by the University Research Fellowship and the Dutch Organization for Scientific research (NWO). She was also awarded the Dutch Young Talent Encouragement Award by the Royal Dutch Society for Sciences (KHMW). During her PhD, she supervised three bachelor students all of which finished successfully and resulted into publications. In addition to her scholarship, Kimberly Daas will try to help early-career LGBTQ+ and especially trans students and scholars navigate academia and especially in the traditionally male dominated field of theoretical chemistry.
Dr. Soyeong Kwon
Dr. Soyeong KwonThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Soyeong Kwon is a physicist and engineer with research interests in light and matter interactions within 2D van der Waals semiconductors. She received her Ph.D. in Physics from Ewha Womans University in 2022, with her dissertation titled "Charge and Energy Transfer at Heterointerfaces of Inorganic and Organic Nanomaterials." Since 2023, she has been working with Professor SungWoo Nam in the Mechanical Aerospace Engineering department at UC Irvine. As a motivated and detail-oriented researcher with a passion for uncovering new scientific insights, she is actively exploring the fascinating physical phenomena in 2D quasiparticles and their relationship with micro- and nano-scale mechanical strain. Her work has been supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Irvine.
Her Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship project, titled "Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances for Strained Quantum Materials," aims to understand single photon emitters, one of the basic building blocks of quantum technologies, and to embrace underrepresented individuals in the quantum society. As part of her current outreach endeavors, she is engaged with the UCI-Women in Research group to explore inclusive mentorship fostering the professional growth of female researchers.
Dr. Nathan Osorio
School of Humanities
Nathan Xavier Osorio’s debut collection of poetry, Querida, was selected by Shara McCallum as the winner of the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. He is the author of The Last Town Before the Mojave, selected by Oliver De la Paz as a recipient for the Poetry Society of America’s 2021 Chapbook Fellowship. He received his PhD in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His writing has also appeared in BOMB, The Offing, Boston Review, Public Books, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. His writing and teaching have been supported by fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, The Kenyon Review, and Poetry Foundation. He is a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Irvine.
DeWitt King, CPF
Ph. D., University of Minnesota Twin Cities
“Infinite Supply: Sportcraft, Black Athleticism, and the Disposability of the Black Athlete”
Mentor: Professor Victoria Johnson, Department of Film and Media Studies
Fabiola Pulido-Chavez, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Riverside
“Assessment of Cross-Kingdom Interactions During Litter Decomposition”
Mentor: Professor Jennifer B.H. Martiny, Department of Biological Sciences
Giovanni Ramos, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles
“Design and test of a peer support program to improve engagement and outcomes in app-based mental health interventions for people of color”
Brisa Smith Flores, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles
“Displaying the Afro-Diaspora: Museums, Black Identity, and Transcultural Solidarity, Art History & African Studies”
Mentor: Professor Bridget Cooks, Department of Art History & African American Studies
Oscar Fabian Soto, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Santa Barbara
“Digitized Warfare: Global Capitalism, Digitization, and the Spatial Social Control in Poor Barrios”
Mentor: Professor Elliot P. Currie, Department of Criminology, Law & Society
Jennifer Yonan, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Irvine
“Exploring mechanisms of PTEN deletion-induced morphological and network modifications underlying the formation of a seizure-prone circuit in the adult brain”
Mentor: Professor Oswald Steward, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
Dr. Alexander Catchings
Dr. Alexander CatchingsUniversity of California, Berkeley
PhD in English, 2021
Dr. Alexander Catchings researches literary narrative form and cultural studies. His dissertation taxonomizes a new literary sub-genre called "Wikipedic Novels": novels written after the rise of the Web 2.0, open-source era. These texts explicitly incorporate Internet content with fiction, throwing into flux readers' expectations of authorial trust, characters, and the "facts" that can scaffold story worlds and their representations of culture.
His research at UC Irvine will further explore how Wikipedic novels are able to capture Black digital life, from African American Signifyin(g)'s influence on online "web speak" to the complications of representing a collective discourse from "Black Twitter." He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in English from the University of Washington.
Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Signifyin(g) in Cyberspace: Digital Life in 21st Century Black Literature
Mentor: Dr. Theodore Martin
Department, School: Department of English, School of Humanities
Dr. Katherine Arias Garcia
Dr. Katherine Arias GarciaUniversity of California, San Diego
PhD in Education Studies, 2022
Katherine Garcia, PhD was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Garcia’s research interest are persistence of Latinx first-generation students, Chicana/Latina Feminist Epistemology, cultural assets and premedical pathways. Dr. Garcia’s professional experiences in supporting Latinx students in K-20 have contribute towards her research agenda to critically examining the Latinx graduate pathways. Dr. Garcia uses asset-based frameworks that centers Latinx students cultural assets and knowledge to center Latinx student experiences in higher education. Also, Dr. Garcia is committed to expanding the next generation of Latinx physicians and has created the Latinx Premed Pathways Program with UC San Diego School of Medicine and collaborated with Latinx premeds on a culturally-responsive ‘The Latinx Premed Guide.’ Dr. Garcia was selected as a UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellow, for her research and service in advancing equity and inclusion. Her current research topic as a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine will focus on Latinx cultural assets of premedical students in Hispanic-Serving Institutions and emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions to elucidate how Latinx students use cultural assets to persist in two different context.
Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Latinx Student’s Medical Dream (MD): Maintaining Culture and Community
Mentor: Dr. Glenda Flores
Department, School: Department of Chicano/Latino Studies, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Elizabeth Kopacz
Dr. Elizabeth KopaczUniversity of California, Riverside
PhD in Ethnic Studies, 2022
Elizabeth Kopacz is an interdisciplinary ethnic studies scholar with research interests in U.S. empire and transpacific violence, Korean adoption, race, kinship, feminist epistemologies, and histories of science and technology. She received her Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Riverside in 2022, and her M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA in 2014. Her dissertation, Molecular Longing: Adopted Koreans and the Navigation of Absence through DNA, is a multi-scalar exploration of how transnational, transracial Korean adoptees utilize paperwork, popular science, and genetic technologies to navigate material and affective absences produced by the violence of U.S. empire.
Her work has been supported by the American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship, the UC Riverside Graduate Research Mentorship Program, and the Social Science Research Council Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship. In addition to her scholarship, Elizabeth is committed to making academic knowledge accessible to larger audiences through public humanities work. At UCLA, she directed a short film, Who is Park Joo Young?, that examined Korean adoption, kinship, and DNA. Most recently, she worked as a Documentary Research Assistant for the five-part Asian American series that aired on PBS in May 2020.
Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Navigating the Unknowable: Transnational Korean Adoption, Genetic Kinship, and the Community Archive
Mentor: Dr. Eleana Kim
Department, School: Department of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Aidee Guzman
Dr. Aidee GuzmanUniversity of California, Berkeley
PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management 2021
Aidee Guzman received a PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California, Berkeley in 2021. Her dissertation research focused on below- to above-ground interactions between crop diversity, pollinators, and mycorrhizal fungi in agricultural systems. For this work, she worked with small-scale diversified embedded in the monocultural landscape of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Her research as a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine will examine agroecological approaches that harness biodiversity and ecosystem functioning for improved agricultural resilience. Specifically, she plans to investigate plant-fungal interactions in soils that could alleviate drought stress for small-scale farmers contending with water shortages.
She completed her BS in Botany and Environmental Studies with a minor in Latinx and Chicanx studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: The buried solution for agricultural resilience: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Mentor: Dr. Kathleen Treseder
Department, School: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Science
Dr. Gopolang Mohlabeng
Dr. Gopolang MohlabengUniversity of Kansas
PhD in Philosophy in Physics 2017
Dr. Gopolang 'Gopi' Mohlabeng holds bachelor's degrees in physics and astrophysics from the Universities of Pretoria and Cape Town in South Africa. In 2011 he moved, on a Fulbright fellowship, to the University of Kansas where he completed his Ph.D in theoretical particle physics. After his Ph.D, he moved to Brookhaven National Laboratory as a postdoctoral research associate.
Dr. Mohlabeng's research focuses on understanding the fundamental building blocks of nature using data from the smallest scales in particle physics to the largest scales in cosmology. He is particularly focused on dark matter, a non-luminous and mysterious form of matter whose existence has been proven by cosmological and astrophysical observations. Dark matter is far more abundant than all the visible matter in the universe and is responsible for the formation of galaxies, the solar system and ultimately life as we know it. Dr. Mohlabeng's main research focus is uncovering and understanding the particle nature of dark matter and the dark sector. Dr. Mohlabeng is also quite passionate about outreach and changing the view of what a physicist should look like. He enjoys giving public talks about dark matter and having general science discussions. Outside of academics, he is an avid football (soccer) fan, likes playing pickup games and supports Arsenal football club.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Illuminating Signals of Dark Matter at Current and Future Experiments
Mentor: Dr. Timothy Tait
Department, School: Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences
Dr. Maria Montenegro
Dr. Maria MontenegroUniversity of California, Los Angeles
PhD in Information Studies 2021
Originally from Chile, María Montenegro received her Ph.D in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles in summer 2021 and an MA in Museum Studies at New York University in 2015. Her research sits at the intersection of Indigenous studies, critical archival theory and tribal law and policy, and is in conversation with global studies and the Indigenous data sovereignty movement. Her dissertation takes the U.S. Federal Acknowledgement Process as a site in which to investigate the political, socio-cultural, and affective dimensions and roles of settler-colonial archives as they shape evidence legitimization practices within tribal recognition petitions, with particular focus on the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians petitioning process. Her project has been supported by UCLA’s Year Dissertation Fellowship, a UC Critical Mission Studies Grant, a Huntington Library Research Fellowship, and American Philosophical Society’s Phillips Fund for Native American Research. She has published articles in Archival Science, the Journal of Documentation, the Interdisciplinary Journal of Information Studies, and chapters in two Routledge edited volumes. María is currently the project manager of UCLA’s American Indian Studies Center’s Mukurtu Hub, the digital archivist of UCLA’s repatriation program Carrying our Ancestors Home (COAH) and part of a UC Multicampus Research Grant titled “Gifting Knowledge: Centering Tribal Stories of Cultural Preservation in Difficult Times.” She is also a consultant for Chile’s Ministry of Cultures’ Department of Indigenous Peoples in matters of cultural revitalization, digital return and knowledge organization.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Unsettling Evidence: Imagining anticolonial forms of evidence for Indigenous sovereign futures
Mentor: Dr. Eve Darian-Smith
Department, School: Department of Global and International Studies, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Jorge E. Delgadillo Núñez
Dr. Jorge E. Delgadillo NúñezVanderbilt University
PhD in History 2021
Jorge is a historian of slavery, Afro-descendants, and social differentiation processes in Mexico and the Atlantic world at large. His first book project is a longue-durée study of the emergence, transformations, and disappearance of the social categories associated with African ancestry in colonial Guadalajara. It is also an examination of issues of black invisibility and historical memory in the Mexican press of the nineteenth century. Jorge’s research has been published in Spanish and English by the University of Guadalajara, El Colegio de México, and The Americas. He has also published book reviews with them and Hispanic American Historical Review. Jorge is also an alumni of the 2020 class of the Mark Claster Mamolen Dissertation Workshop in Afro-Latin American Studies held at Harvard University.
As a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow, Jorge will further explore the place of slavery in Mexican history, as well as Afro-Mexicans’ contributions to colonial Guadalajara’s society, economy, and culture.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: A Social and Cultural History of Free and Enslaved Afro-Mexicans from Colonial Guadalajara
Mentor: Dr. Alex Borucki
Department, School: Department of History, School of Humanities
Dr. Kira Tait
Dr. Kira TaitUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
PhD in Political Science 2021
Kira Tait, PhD in Political Science is a recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Irvine. In her dissertation, she explores ordinary Black South Africans' perceptions of the law and how these perceptions impact their views of the desirability and appropriateness of appealing to courts when they have problems accessing constitutionally guaranteed services. Specifically, she studies why people choose not to use courts to secure access to water, healthcare, education, and housing when it is both legal and possible to do so. Kira’s research relies on 12-months of fieldwork funded by the U.S. Fulbright Program, the National Science Foundation, and the UMass Graduate School.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Roadblocks to Access: Perceptions of Law and Socioeconomic Problems in South Africa
Mentor: Dr. Mona Lynch
Department, School: Department of Criminology, Law, and Society, School of Social Ecology
Dr. Meera Mahadevan
University of Michigan
Ph.D. in Economics, 2019
Meera Mahadevan obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan in 2019. Her research focuses on energy and environmental economics in developing countries. She examines topics such as the political economy of electricity provision and the welfare consequences of corruption, electricity restructuring policies and their unintended consequences, and off-grid solutions for electricity provision in remote areas.
She completed her BA (Honors) in Economics at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, followed by an MSc. in Economics for Development at the University of Oxford. Meera was a postdoctoral fellow at emLab at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before moving to UCI.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Equitable Infrastructure and Energy Provisioning in Developing Countries
Mentor: Dr. Damon Clark
Department, School: Department of Economics, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Isabel Francheska Ramos
University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D. in Psychology, 2020
Isabel Ramos received her B.A. in psychology at the University of California, Riverside in 2014 and her Ph.D. in Health Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2020. Her research focuses on the interplay between cultural and biological processes in pregnant, Latina women. She examines ethnic disparities in maternal mental health and birth outcomes, with a focus on cultural factors that influence stress and resilience in Latina women. Her dissertation examined a model incorporating components of the biopsychosocial and cultural process in pregnancy through both qualitative and quantitative research. Her current research topic as a Chancellor's Advance Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine will focus on the different cultural and contextual stressors that interact with hormonal changes to increase the risk of depressive symptoms among Latinas.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: The Interplay Between Culture and Biology in Latina Reproductive Health
Mentor: Dr. Belinda Campos
Department, School: Department of Chicano/Latino Studies, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Nishita Trisal
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ph.D. in Anthropology, 2020
Nishita Trisal is an anthropologist of South Asia with research interests in political violence, finance and banking, and surveillance. Her dissertation and book project, Banking on Uncertainty: Debt, Default, and Violence in Indian-Administered Kashmir, draws on two years of ethnographic and archival research conducted in Srinagar and New Delhi. Based primarily at the region's largest retail bank, Banking on Uncertainty traces the primacy of this financial institution to Kashmir's political economy and to its movement for self-determination. Writing and research for the project was supported by the Mellon Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Her second project, Blackout: Information Warfare, Surveillance, and the “Battle of Minds” in Kashmir, examines the material, social, and affective life of technological control and surveillance. She has been educated at the University of Michigan (PhD), University of California, Santa Cruz (MA), and DePauw University (BA).
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Debt, Default, and Violence in Indian-Administered Kashmir
Mentor: Dr. Justin Richland
Department, School: Department of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Anne Therese Frederiksen
University of California, San Diego
Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics and Cognitive Science, 2019
Anne Therese Frederiksen researches referential cohesion in the signed and spoken modalities. Prior to joining UC Irvine, she earned a PhD from the University of California, San Diego and a BA and MA from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2017, she received a NSF Dissertation Research Grant to complete research on her dissertation on referential cohesion in American Sign Language. This work focused on how Deaf signers use space, syntax, and semantics/pragmatics to make clear who is doing what to whom in the discourse.
At UCI, Dr. Frederiksen is working on code-blending and pronoun processing in sign-speech bimodal bilinguals. Her work examines bidirectional language influences in sign-speech vs. speech-speech bilingual and uses bimodal bilingualism as a lens through which to investigate language processing and cognitive control.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Code-blending and pronoun processing in bimodal bilinguals
Mentor: Dr. Judith Kroll
Department, School: Department of Cognitive Sciences, School of Social Ecology
Dr. Stefanie Graeter
University of California, Davis
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, 2015
Stefanie Graeter is a cultural anthropologist, broadly interested in ethnographic questions of embodiment, materiality, knowledge, and the political with a geographic focus on Peru and the Americas. Her work draws upon diverse scholarly fields, especially environmental and medical anthropology, science and technology studies, critical race and decolonial studies, and political theory. She completed her Ph.D. in 2015 in sociocultural anthropology at the University of California, Davis with a designated emphasis in critical theory. Her dissertation on Mineral Incorporations: Lead Science, Ethics, and Politics in Central Peru examined how lead toxicity is operationalized politically within social projects that resist––or support–– Peru’s large-scale extractive industries. Peer-reviewed articles of this research have been published in Cultural Anthropology and American Anthropologist.
Dr. Graeter’s emerging book manuscript, Mineral Incorporations, argues that while toxicological sciences deliver ethical weight to public health, human rights, and environmental activism, neoliberal labor reforms in Peru make human exposures to heavy metals a requisite to diverse forms of economic livelihood and collective survival. Through an ethnographic examination of the social and material processes that bring bodies and minerals into relation, the book conceptualizes the contemporary politics of environment/health and labor within noxious environs of racial capitalism and post-anthropocene worlds. New research extends her analysis of toxic materialities and politics into the realms of climate change, agriculture, and gastronomic cultures of Peru. In addition to her scholarship, Dr. Graeter also is an intersex woman and advocate involved in public campaigns to de-pathologize and celebrate intersex bodies and their social existence.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: The science of toxicity and chemical relationships within extractive economies, food cultures, and political mobilizations of Peru
Mentor: Dr. Kim Fortun
Department, School: Department of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Elizabeth Hemming Schroeder
University of California, Irvine
Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2018
Elizabeth Hemming-Schroeder’s research is focused on using genomics to study malaria epidemiology. She completed her Ph.D. in 2018 in biological sciences at UCI. For her dissertation on Landscape Genetics of African Malaria Parasite and Its Vectors, she used techniques in population genetics and spatial statistics to study the spatial spread of malaria parasites and mosquitoes in Kenya. Her current project aims to incorporate Big Data and machine learning algorithms to further improve our understanding of malaria epidemiology and antimalarial drug resistance spread, with the goal of informing malaria control and antimalarial drug resistance containment programs. Through her research, she has mentored several undergraduate students in independent research projects, seven of whom contributed to and were co-authors on published manuscripts. Many of her research mentees have gone on to pursue higher education, such as medical and pharmacy school, and others have pursued careers in industry and public health. In addition, she has been a mentor for the UCI LGBTQ Mentoring Program since 2013 with the goal of helping LGBTQ students develop a positive self-identity.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Integrating big data, machine learning, and population genetics to forecast the spread of antimalarial drug resistance in malaria parasites
Mentor: Dr. Xiaouhi Xie
Department, School: Department of Computer Science, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
Dr. John C. Marquez
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Doctor of Philosophy in History, 2019
John Marquez is a historian of Brazil, Latin America, and the Atlantic world, specializing in the colonial era. His interests include the histories of slavery, diaspora, law, empire, and race. More broadly, both through teaching and research, he is interested in exploring the cultures and histories of Latin America through a “global” lens.
Dr. Marquez received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2019, where he completed a dissertation titled, Freedom’s Edge: Enslaved People, Manumission, and the Law in the Eighteenth-Century South Atlantic World. In the dissertation, he explored the lives and experiences of enslaved people who engaged with the legal system to achieve their manumission, or legal freedom. Based on research in Brazil and Portugal, the dissertation offered a trans-Atlantic history of enslaved peoples’ struggles to gain their freedom and charted the indelible marks they left on conceptions of freedom, the law, and colonial slavery itself. Dr. Marquez’s research has been funded by fellowships from the Fulbright-Hays, the Conference on Latin American History, and the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. As a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow, he is excited to begin the process of revising his dissertation into a book manuscript and contributing more broadly to the academic community at UC Irvine.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Freedom’s edge: Slavery, manumission, and empire in Brazil and the South Atlantic world
Mentor: Dr. Rachel O’Toole
Department, School: Department of History, School of Humanities
Dr. Diana Pardo Pedraza
University of California, Davis
Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Studies, with an emphasis in Feminist Theory and Research, 2019
Diana Pardo Pedraza is an ethnographer of contemporary Colombia interested in researching (de)militarized rural ecologies, post-conflict politics and economics, and multispecies relations of aid and care. She received her M.A. in cultural studies from the Universidad de los Andes, and her Ph.D. in cultural studies at the University of California, Davis, with a designated emphasis in feminist theory and research.
Her doctoral dissertation, Trust in Scales: Humanitarian Demining and Peace Laboratories in Rural Colombia, addresses rural ecologies of life (and death) as they are occupied by heterogeneous war forces and by the complex political economy of what is termed “post-conflict.” This ethnography is based on two years of fieldwork in the “Pilot Project of Humanitarian Demining,” a peace initiative that brought guerrillas and army soldiers together to work in the removal of improvised landmines planted in peasant villages during the decades-long war.
Dr. Pedraza’s work is inspired by diverse scholarly fields, especially ethnographic theory, science and technology studies, feminist political ecology, and political theory. Her research has been supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the University of California Office of the President.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: In Suspicious Landscapes: Scales of Trust and Peace Laboratories in Rural Colombia.
Mentor: Jennifer Terry
Department, School: Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, School of Humanities
Dr. Kimberly Stanek
University of Virginia
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry, 2018
Kimberly Stanek received her B.S. in biochemistry and B.A. in chemistry from the University at Buffalo in 2012, and her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Virginia in 2018. Dr. Stanek’s thesis focused on the structure and function of the bacterial chaperone Hfq, which has been linked to numerous pathways including metabolism, cell signaling, and expression of virulence factors. Specifically, she sought to elucidate the evolutionary history of this ubiquitous yet functionally diverse family of proteins. While in graduate school, Dr. Stanek fell in love with crystallography and became heavily involved in the American Crystallographic Association (ACA), co-chairing sessions at their annual conference, writing articles for Reflexion (the ACA quarterly publication), and organizing an x-ray crystallography workshop for high school students. Dr. Stanek joined the lab of Dr. Celia Goulding at UCI in 2018 as a postdoctoral associate, and has since been involved in the executive board of UCI’s Postdoctoral Association as part of their research symposium committee.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Siderophore-mediated iron uptake in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mentor: Dr. Celia Goulding
Department, School: Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences
Dr. DeWayne Williams
The Ohio State University
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, 2017
Dr. DeWayne Williams completed his undergraduate, M.A., and Ph.D. in psychology at The Ohio State University. His dissertation, completed in 2017 with a focus on psychophysiology, was on Ethnicity, Sex, and Vagal Activity: Differences in Hemodynamics Underlying Long-Term Blood Pressure Regulation. Dr. Williams also completed two years of post-doctoral training at The Ohio State University, and will complete his final year of training here at UCI for the 2019-2020 academic year. Dr. Williams’ research broadly examines health psychology with a focus on psychophysiological mechanisms underpinning inhibition, and how deficiencies in such mechanisms can impact self-regulatory abilities and overall mental and physical well-being. Dr. Williams’ research also works to better understand how ethnic differences in baseline physiological activity may negatively contribute to health disparities found between African and European Americans.
Dr. Williams currently has 24+ publications and is first author on 14 of these publications in scientific journals that include: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity; Psychophysiology; and Ethnicity and Health. Dr. Williams has received various research/travel awards and grants throughout his research career, such as the American Psychosomatic Society 2018 Young Investigators Colloquium Award and The Ohio State University Department of Psychology Research Award.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Ethnic differences in cardiac-autonomic activity, and how such differences may interact with psychological phenomena and negatively impact health in African Americans
Mentors: Drs. Roxane Cohen Silver and Julian Thayer
Department, School: Department of Psychological Sciences, School of Social Ecology
Dr. Salvador Zárate
University of California, San Diego
Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies, 2017
Salvador Zárate received his Ph.D. in 2017 from the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego. His dissertation, Invisible Bodies, Devalued Labor: Contract, Reproductive Labor, and the U.S. Sunbelt, 1900-1963, won the American Studies Association’s 2018 Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize for Best Dissertation. Zárate is currently finishing his book manuscript, The Social Life of Plants: Black and Latina Reproductive Laborers in the U.S. Sunbelt, 1921-1963, which examines agriculture and extractive plant-based industries during the Jim Crow era by centering the labor histories of Latina and Black women reproductive laborers in ecological zones of exclusion, such as turpentine camps in Northwest Florida and cotton fields in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition, he has published on the residential gardening economy of Orange County, which he worked from his childhood to well-into his Ph.D. career. His reviews, essays, and creative works have appeared in Aztlán: A Journal of Chicana and Chicano Studies, Anthropology and Humanism, and Cultural Anthropology.
Dr. Zárate was a Ford Fellow in the Department of African American Studies at UCI during 2018-19.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: The social life of plants: Black and Latina reproductive laborers in the U.S. Sunbelt, 1921-1963
Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Alexander
Department, School: Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, School of Humanities
Dr. Jenny Zenobio
Purdue University
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Organic Chemistry, 2019
Jenny Zenobio earned her Ph.D. in environmental chemistry in 2019 from Purdue University working under the direction of Dr. Linda Lee while her research work was performed at Harvard University in collaboration with Dr. Chad Vecitis. Her research background reflects an interdisciplinary framework combining engineering, toxicology, chemistry, and nanotechnology.
Her dissertation on Abiotic Reduction Perfluoroalkyl Acids by nNi0Fe0-Activated Carbons focused on in-situ technologies for degrading Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs). She developed nanoparticles for abiotic remediation of PFAAs-contaminated groundwater at military sites with minimal adverse impacts.
She earned her Master of Science in the area of environmental toxicology from the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University in 2014 and her B.S. in sanitary engineering from the National University of Engineering in Lima, Peru in 2007.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Transport, distribution and bioaccumulation of Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Mentors: Drs. Russell Detwiler and Adeyeme Adeleye
Department, School: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Dr. Daniel Akwahboah
Ohio State University
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry, 2017
Dr. Daniel Akwaboah was born in Ghana, West Africa. He moved to the United States and later obtained his B.S. degree in biochemistry with honors from The Ohio State University in 2011. He was selected as a NIH-funded Chemistry-Biology Interface Program (CBIP) fellow and recently completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at OSU. His graduate work encompasses the successful construction of the C1–C9 and the C10–C25 advanced building blocks of the macrolide core of cytotoxic natural products called amphidinolides C, C2, C3, and Dr. Akwaboah joined Vy Dong’s research group at the University of California, Irvine, in 2018 to pursue his postdoctoral training. His current research is focused on the design and study of transformations that are more green and efficient by using earth abundant catalysts. He is employing transition metal catalysis to access strained biologically relevant carbo- and heterocyclic structural motifs via tandem C–H activation/cyclization strategy.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Transition Metal-Catalyzed Intramolecular Hydrocarbamoylation of Olefins: Direct Access to Chiral Functionalized Lactams
Mentor:
Dr. Vy M. Dong
Department, School:
Department of Chemistry, School of Physical Sciences
Dr. Anna Boncompagni
University of Rome III, Italy
Doctor of Philosophy - Philosophy and Theory of Humanities, 2014
Dr. Anna Boncompagni earned her Ph.D. in philosophy and theory of humanities at the University of Rome III, Italy, after a five-year degree in communication sciences (University of Siena) and a M.A. in theoretical philosophy (University of Florence). In her Ph.D. thesis, she proposed a comparison between the later Wittgenstein’s thought and the pragmatist tradition, focused on their respective ways of conceiving the relationship between knowledge, certainty, and human practices. In her postdoctoral project, she builds on that work, as well as on research in epistemic injustice, with the aim of fostering new light on the nature of prejudice and discriminatory practices. She claims that a form of “hinge epistemology,” derived from the later Wittgenstein’s reflection on the social dimension of doubt and certainty, would help research on epistemic injustice expand its reach toward a more critical conception of knowledge itself.
Dr. Boncompagni has published the monographs Wittgenstein. Lo sguardo e il limite (2012) and Wittgenstein and Pragmatism (2016), besides articles in scientific journals and book chapters for Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and other publishers.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Social Hinge Epistemology: A Proposal for a Critical Approach to Epistemic Injustice
Mentor:
Dr. Annalisa Coliva
Department, School:
Department of Philosophy; School of Humanities
Visit Dr. Boncompagni’s website: https://uci.academia.edu/AnnaBoncompagni
Dr. Bonnie Cuthbert
Duke University
Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry, 2017
Dr. Bonnie Cuthbert is working in the laboratory of Dr. Celia Goulding to develop a molecular understanding of contact dependent growth Inhibition (CDI) in gram-negative bacteria. CDI+ bacteria are able to inhibit the growth of closely related bacteria through a poorly understood mechanism. Dr. Cuthbert’s research focuses on understanding the initial contact and recognition that initiates CDI and triggers the translocation of a toxin into the target cell. Prior to joining UC Irvine, she completed her Ph.D. in biochemistry at Duke University in 2017 and received her B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology at Reed College in 2010. Throughout her career, Bonnie has demonstrated a passion for research and education. At UCI, Dr. Cuthbert is working to advance her pedagogical skills by participating in TAP-STEM (Teaching Apprenticeship in STEM), CTEP (Certificate in Teaching Excellence Program) and UCI-GPS-CIRTL (Center for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning).
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Structural Investigation of CDI Target Cell Recognition
Mentor:
Dr. Celia Goulding
Department, School:
Department of Biology and Biochemistry; School of Biological Sciences
Dr. Chistian Guerrero-Juarez
University of California, Irvine
Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Sciences
Dr. Christian F. Guerrero-Juarez earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine. His dissertation focused on Delineating Mechanisms of Cutaneous Wound Healing and Regeneration in Adults. His current research topic as a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow in the Departments of Mathematics and Developmental and Cell Biology will focus on predictive multi-scale modeling of skin regeneration. His articles have been published in journals that include Science, Cell, Elife, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Cell Metabolism and Nature Reviews.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Predictive Multi-scale Modeling of Skin Regeneration
Mentor:
Dr. Qing Nie
Department, School:
Department of Mathematics, School of Physical Sciences
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences
Dr. Stefan Vogler
Northwestern University
Doctor of Philosophy Sociology, 2018
Dr. Stefan Vogler’s research is broadly concerned with the constitutive relationship of law and science and processes of legal and scientific measurement and categorization, particularly in regard to gender and sexuality. His research and teaching interests include gender, sexuality, law, science and knowledge, crime, culture, and feminist and queer theory. He was recipient in 2017 of a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, a Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN) Dissertation Writing Fellowship, and a Martin P. Levine Memorial Dissertation Award from the Sexualities Section of the American Sociological Association.
His dissertation Ruling Sexuality: Law, Expertise, and the Making of Sexual Knowledge, examined how measurement and classification processes were institutionalized in the law. He examined how legal bureaucracies attempted to objectively measure the subjective phenomenon of sexuality for legal decision-making in the United States by juxtaposing two sites where individuals needed to prove their sexualities – in asylum claims by sexual minorities and in risk assessments of sex offenders. His project argued that science and law co-produced sexuality as a regulatory category and cooperated to render sexual subjects legible to, and thus manageable by, the state. These explorations showed that different networks of expertise formed to support competing conceptions of sexuality in each area of law, resulting in divergent ways of understanding sexuality and disparate governance outcomes.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Policing of LGBTQ neighborhoods and interactions between LGBTQ people and police
Mentor:
Dr. Valerie Jenness
Department, School:
Department of Criminology, Law, and Society; School of Social Ecology
Visit Dr. Vogler’s website: https://www.stefanvogler.com/
Dr. Sandra Harvey
University of California, Santa Cruz
Doctor of Philosophy - Politics, with emphasis in Feminist Studies, 2017
Dr. Sandra Harvey researches the production of race and gender through surveillance technologies originating in colonialism and chattel slavery. Her book manuscript, "Passing for Free, Passing for Sovereign: Blackness and the Formation of the Nation," traces narratives of race/gender passing within science, settler colonial law, conceptual art, and Enlightenment philosophy. It contextualizes accusations of race/gender passing in the U.S. as rooted in 19th-century surveillance of fugitive slaves and entangled in the above institutions which manage the state's biopolitical concerns. In this way, she asks after the assumptions about blackness that emerge in the passing regime and how these might influence contemporary notions of freedom, sovereignty, the nation, and the citizen.
Dr. Harvey received her Ph.D. in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her research has been supported by the UC Consortium for Black Studies in California and the UCSC Center for Science and Justice.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
19th Centry race/gender surveillance regimes; theories of sovereignty and abolition; visual studies
Mentor:
Dr. Sora Han and Dr. Jared Sexton
Department, School:
Department of Criminology, Law, & Society, School of Social Ecology (Han) and Department of African American Studies, School of Humanities (Sexton)
Dr. Anna Nierenberg
University of California, Santa Barbara
Doctor of Philosophy-Physics, 2014
Dr. Anna Nierenberg's research is focused on using gravitational lensing and statistical studies of luminous galaxies to test models of dark matter and galaxy formation. Dr. Nierenberg received her B.S. in physics from UCLA in 2008, and completed her Ph.D. in physics at UCSB in 2014. After finishing her thesis, Dr. Nierenberg received a fellowship to conduct independent postdoctoral research at the Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, at The Ohio State University. Dr. Nierenberg participates in outreach particularly aimed at middle school and high school aged children, and has appeared in 22 episodes of the YouTube space news show Space in Your Face.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
The nature of dark matter and galaxy formation on small scales
Mentor:
Dr. James Bullock and Dr. Michael Cooper
Department, School:
Department of Physics and Astronomy; School of Physical Sciences
Visit Dr. Nierenberg's website: annanierenberg.com
Dr. Sarah Aarons
University of Michigan
Doctor of Geology, 2016
Dr. Sarah Aarons has conducted ice core research with a focus in isotope geochemistry, climate change, and paleoclimate. Her previous research used variations in the composition of aerosols (dust, sea salt) preserved in the ice core record to infer variations in the hydrologic cycle, land use change, anthropogenic input, wind trajectories, dominant climate systems, and sea-ice extent. Her current project aims to use sulfur isotopes in the ice core record to reconstruct marine biological activity, atmospheric conditions, and how these vary during major climate transitions. This research may distinguish the sources of climate forcers, and how these forcers interact and fluctuate on glacial-interglacial timescales. She recently completed a Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan. Prior to that, she earned a master's degree from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University. In an effort to increase the number of Native Americans in STEM fields, she has participated as a graduate student instructor in a residential summer institute for Native high school students at the University of California, Irvine led by one of her mentors Dr. Kathleen Johnson.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Sulfur isotopes in ice cores: A tracer of atmospheric conditions during major climate changes
Mentor:
Dr. Kathleen Johnson and Dr. Eric Saltzman
Department, School:
Department of Earth System Science; School of Physical Sciences
Download Dr. Aarons’ CV (PDF)
Where are they now: Dr. Sarah Aarons has accepted a faculty position at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD.
Dr. Tayloria N.G. Adams
Michigan Technological University
Doctor of Chemical Engineering, 2014
Dr. Tayloria Adams graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with bachelor's degrees in Chemical and Life Science Engineering and Applied Mathematics. After completing her undergraduate education, she received the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Sciences (GEM) Fellowship and attended Michigan Technological University (MTU) where she earned a M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. Her doctoral research examined human mesenchymal stem cells' dielectric behavior for cell sorting in microfluidic devices. She published 3 peer-reviewed journal publications from her graduate work and also filed a patent for a handheld dielectrophoresis device to analyze blood samples. In addition to research, while at MTU Dr. Adams was actively involved with the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and worked as Outreach Coordinator. In this role she provided underrepresented minority students academic support through a tutoring program she developed. Dr. Adams is committed to helping increase diversity in STEM as well as advancing stem cell research, which motivated her decision to join Dr. Lisa Flanagan's lab as a postdoctoral researcher at UCI. Here she studies the dielectric and differentiation properties of neural stem and progenitor cells for stroke therapeutics using microfluidic technology. Dr. Adams is active in a variety of professional organizations including the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers (2016-2018 SWE Magazine Editorial Board), and the AES Electrophoresis Society (2017 Annual Meeting Organizer).
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Novel separation of neural lineage cells to determine progenitor cell characteristics
Mentor:
Dr. Lisa Flanagan
Department, School:
Department of Neurology; School of Medicine
Visit Dr. Adams’ website: www.linkedin.com/in/TayloriaAdamsPhD
Dr. Lee Cabatingan
The University of Chicago
Doctor of Anthropology, 2015
Dr. Lee Cabatingan has conducted extensive ethnographic research in Cuban and Anglophone Caribbean courts, including long term fieldwork at a newly established regional tribunal in Trinidad & Tobago, where she analyzed the Court’s complex relationship to region-formation. In her current project, Dr. Cabatingan seeks to explore how public debates over race, crime, and (under)development in Trinidad challenge classic theories of sovereignty. She hopes that this research will lead to a rethinking of the relationship between law and sovereignty and allow for a globally southern perspective to find a voice amongst predominantly globally northern theories. Dr. Cabatingan received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago, where she held a Mellon Foundation Fellowship during her final year. Prior to that, she worked as a litigator in San Francisco after receiving a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She earned her A.B. from Princeton University.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Redefining Sovereignty: Race, Crime and Discourses of (Under)Development in Trinidad & Tobago
Mentor:
Dr. Mona Lynch
Department, School:
Department of Criminology, Law, and Society; School of Social Ecology
Visit Dr. Cabatingan’s website: https://uci.academia.edu/lcabatin
Where are they now: Dr. Lee Cabatingan is an Assistant Professor in Crimonology, Law, and Society at UCI.
Dr. Constance Iloh
University of Southern California
Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education Policy, 2015
Dr. Constance Iloh is an education scholar committed to advancing understanding of the changing landscape of higher education and its impact on underrepresented students. Her research addresses two primary areas: (1) privatization in higher education, and (2) equity, access, and the experiences of underserved students in postsecondary education. Iloh has published several research articles focusing on student experiences and institutional practices at for-profit universities and community colleges. Most recently, she published a study on for–profit and community college choice in Teachers College Record. She earned a master’s degree in business management from Wake Forest University and a PhD in urban education policy from the University of Southern California, Rossier School of Education. Prior to notification of her selection as a UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Iloh was offered and accepted a position as an assistant professor of higher education at the University of California, Irvine School of Education. As a result of receiving the prestigious UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Program Fellowship, she will delay her faculty appointment for one year.
In addition to maintaining a productive research agenda, Iloh’s expertise has been sought after in numerous scholarly and policy arenas. She has served as an invited speaker for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, the Hammer Museum, the Institutional Design Frontiers Summit, the Education Credit Management Corporation, the African American Policy Forum, and numerous colleges and universities. Iloh has also been quoted and had her research featured in popular outlets such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, National Public Radio (NPR), Inside Higher Ed, and Diverse Issues in Higher Education – who headlined her as a "Higher Ed Powerhouse." Dr. Iloh’s research, publications, and media can be found on her website: www.constanceiloh.com.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
When Higher Education Grows Up: Towards a New Understanding of College Pathways for Adult Students
Mentor:
Professor Jacquelynne Sue Eccles
Department, School:
Department of Education; School of Education
Visit Dr. Iloh’s website: www.constanceiloh.com
Where are they now: Dr. Constance Iloh is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at UCI.
Dr. Maria Patrice Amon
University of California, Irvine
Doctor of Drama, 2014
Maria Patrice Amon is a recent PhD in drama from the University of California, Irvine. Her dissertation is titled “Little Girls and Legal Defendants: Theatricalization and Performances of Innocence in Modern American Culture.” She is a dramaturg and has worked with San Diego Rep and Clairemont Act One. Maria Patrice holds a Juris Doctorate from California Western School of Law.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Brown Bag Theatre Company: Performances of Latino/a Student Activism in the Academy
Mentor:
Professor Lonnie Alcaraz
Department, School:
Department of Drama; School of Arts
Visit Dr. Amon’s website: https://uci.academia.edu/PatriceAmon
Where are they now: Dr. Patrice Amon is a Dramaturg and Producer in Residence at San Deigo Repertory Theater. Dr. Amon is also a Lecturer at San Deigo State University in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies.
Dr. Shandee Dawn Dixon
University of Michigan Medical School
Doctor of Microbiology & Immunology, 2012
Dr. Dixon attended Pasadena City College where she joined the Bridges to the Baccalaureate program. This allowed her to transition into the Minority Biomedical Research Support-Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS-RISE) Program at California State University Los Angeles where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in microbiology and master’s degree in biology as a graduate fellow in MBRS–RISE M.S to Ph.D. During this tenure, she worked full time in a virology research lab and served as the Student Advisory committee Biology representative. Dr. Dixon earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan where her dissertation project focused on iron acquisition mechanisms in Bacillus anthracis giving her the opportunity to learn a range of techniques spanning drug discovery, genetic engineering, and microbial pathogenesis, along with extensive experience working with murine and tissue culture models of infection. After completing her dissertation, she began postdoctoral training in Prof. Ken Bradley’s lab at University of California, Los Angeles. This appointment expanded her knowledge of bacterial pathogenesis and cell biology by exploring how an emerging family of bacterial toxins gains access into human cells to cause disease. Skills acquired by Dr. Dixon in both graduate school and during her first postdoctoral appointment at UCLA have laid the groundwork for her to succeed in her current postdoctoral position in Prof. Celia Goulding’s lab at the University of California, Irvine. Her diverse scientific training puts her in a unique position to facilitate a microbiological context to the findings of a lab focused on the protein chemistry of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Currently Dr. Dixon aims to explore the utility of a recently discovered bacterial microcompartment, Encapsulin, in Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a novel therapeutic and vaccine delivery nano–vehicle to combat intracellular infections including TB. In addition to the honor of being named a UCI Chancellor’s Fellow, she is a 2015 award winner of the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her postdoctoral training at UCI will focus on cultivating skills that will bolster her passion of mentoring other aspiring scientists. Complementing expertise at the bench and interest in biomedical sciences with development as a productive mentor and communicator has been a unifying theme throughout Dr. Dixon’s research.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Characterization of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis stress–response nanocompartment–encapsulin
Mentor:
Dr. Celia W. Goulding
Department, School:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry; School of Biological Sciences
Visit Dr. Dixon’s website: www.linkedin.com/in/shandeed
Where are they now: Dr. Shandee Dixon is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).
Dr. Laura E. Enriquez
University of California, Los Angeles
Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology, 2014
Dr. Enriquez earned undergraduate degrees in Sociology and History from Pomona College. During her time there she began working closely with undocumented immigrant students and researching issues related to undocumented immigrant communities. Earning her Masters and Doctoral degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles, she has researched, presented, and published on a range of issues related to the educational, economic, political, and social experiences of undocumented young adults who immigrated to the United States as children. Putting her research into practice, she works directly with colleges and community organizations to help them better serve undocumented immigrants. Additionally, she is a contributing blogger at the Huffington Post and participates in community-based workshops and panels to raise awareness about undocumented immigrant issues.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
For Love and Papers: Latina/o Family Formation in the Shadows of Immigration Policy
Mentor:
Professor Rubén Rumbaut
Department, School:
Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences
Download Dr. Enriquez's CV (PDF)
Visit Dr. Enriquez's website: http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/lauraenriquez/
Where are they now: Dr. Laura Enriquez is an Assistant Professor in Chicano/Latino Studies at UCI.
Dr. Nathan S. Garcia
University of Southern California
Doctor of Philosophy in Biology, 2012
Dr. Nathan Garcia’s interest in the biological consequences of global change began as an undergraduate at Michigan State University where he graduated with honors in Fisheries and Wildlife and Spanish. He subsequently earned a master’s degree in Marine Biology at the College of Charleston and later a PhD in Marine Environmental Biology at the University of Southern California. The implications of global warming on oceanic nutrient chemistry, microbial diversity, and web interactions and food web interactions animate his on-going research and scientific papers. In addition to advancing his research program, Dr. Garcia is looking forward to contributing to the UCI chapter of the California Alliance for Minority Participation in Science (C.A.M.P.). Motivating and mentoring future science students has been an integral part of his graduate career. In a NSF funded program at the College of Charleston, he not only worked one-on-one with a range of student learners from elementary, middle school, to high school, but also developed inquiry-based science lesson plans in collaboration with teachers in seven area schools.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Nutrient controls on oceanic phytoplankton communities - modeling global change in the oceans.
Mentors:
Professors Adam Martiny & Keith Moore
Department, School:
Department of Earth System Science, School of Physical Sciences
Visit Dr. Garcia’s websites:
http://www.ess.uci.edu/researchgrp/amartiny/home
http://www.ess.uci.edu/~jkmoore
Where are they now: Dr. Nathan S. Garcia is a Postdoctoral Associate in Microbial Ecology at Duke University.
Dr. Joseph Morales
University of California, Berkeley
Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies, 2012
Dr. Joseph Morales is interested in the intersections of race and religion, Chicano/Latino literary and cultural studies, and colonial/postcolonial theory. Dr. Morales' research is informed by his own progression as a first-generation and low-income student. His work seeks to reimagine the questions of how, by whom, and for whom "knowledge" is produced. Starting his educational path at a California community college, Dr. Morales later earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish and Religious Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, a master's degree in Divinity from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Morales' research is focused on the politics of organizing and disseminating information, including race-based forms of cultural nationalism, especially as it relates to the critical study of religion. His current project examines how religion and spirituality has contributed to the formation of Latina/o literature; and also engages debates connected with digital humanities, Latina/o migrant politics, and Black-Latina/o struggles for social justice.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
The Politics of "Ethnic" Archives and Databases
Mentor:
Professor Rodrigo Lazo
Department, School:
Department of English, School of Humanities
Visit Dr. Morales' website: https://uci.academia.edu/JosephMorales
Where are they now: Dr. Joseph Morales is Assistant Director for Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships in the Office of Inclusive Excellence.
Dr. Philip Tanedo
Cornell University
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, 2013
Dr. Philip "Flip" Tanedo's research in theoretical high energy physics focuses on the underlying particle properties of dark matter, hypothetical ideas such as supersymmetry and extra dimensions, and the interplay of experimental efforts to test these ideas. Flip received his Ph.D in physics from Cornell University as an NSF Graduate Research fellow and Soros fellow. Prior to that, he completed master's degrees from Durham University and Cambridge University as a Marshall scholar and a Bachelors of Science with honors & distinction from Stanford University as a Goldwater scholar. As part of his efforts to explore new media for science outreach, he was a writer for the US/LHC (now part of Quantum Diaries) blog and has recently founded the ParticleBites blog.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Dark Matter and new physics at the Large Hadron Collider
Mentor:
Professor Timothy Tait
Department, School:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences
Visit Dr. Tanedo's website: http://www.physics.uci.edu/~tanedo/
Where are they now: Dr. Philip Tanedo is an Assistant Professor of Physics at UC Riverside.
Dr. Jaye Austin Williams
University of California, Irvine
Doctor of Philosophy in Drama, 2013
Dr. Williams is an artist-scholar and recent graduate of UC Irvine’s Ph.D. Program in Drama. For nearly thirty years prior to her return to school, Jaye worked as a critically acclaimed stage director, actor, playwright and cultural consultant on and off Broadway and regionally. Among her credits are the regional premieres of David Auburne’s Proof and Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog. She is a recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Kennedy Center. Her research frames the ways in which Black playwrights examine blackness as not only a locus of cultural identity and expression, but also as a condition and predicament warranting closer and ongoing critical analysis. Jaye will join the faculty in the Department of Theatre Arts at California State University Long Beach in the Fall of 2015.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Situating the Black Feminist Dramatic Perspective within the Discourse on Diversity
Mentor:
Professor Daniel Gary Busby
Department, School:
Department of Drama, Claire Trevor School of Arts
Visit Dr. Williams's website: www.jayeaustinwilliams.com
Where are they now: Dr. Jaye Austin Williams is an Assistant Professor of Theater Arts at California State University, Long Beach.
Dr. Nathan S. Garcia
University of Southern California
Doctor of Philosophy in Biology, 2012
Dr. Nathan Garcia’s interest in the biological consequences of global change began as an undergraduate at Michigan State University where he graduated with honors in Fisheries and Wildlife and Spanish. He subsequently earned a master’s degree in Marine Biology at the College of Charleston and later a PhD in Marine Environmental Biology at the University of Southern California. The implications of global warming on oceanic nutrient chemistry, microbial diversity, and web interactions and food web interactions animate his on-going research and scientific papers. In addition to advancing his research program, Dr. Garcia is looking forward to contributing to the UCI chapter of the California Alliance for Minority Participation in Science (C.A.M.P.). Motivating and mentoring future science students has been an integral part of his graduate career. In a NSF funded program at the College of Charleston, he not only worked one-on-one with a range of student learners from elementary, middle school, to high school, but also developed inquiry-based science lesson plans in collaboration with teachers in seven area schools.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Nutrient controls on oceanic phytoplankton communities - modeling global change in the oceans.
Mentors:
Professors Adam Martiny & Keith Moore
Department, School:
Department of Earth System Science, School of Physical Sciences
Visit Dr. Garcia’s websites:
http://www.ess.uci.edu/researchgrp/amartiny/home
http://www.ess.uci.edu/~jkmoore
Where are they now: Dr. Nathan S. Garcia is a Postdoctoral Associate in Microbial Ecology at Duke University.
Dr. Sarah Holmes Miller
University of Oxford
Doctor of Philosophy in Astrophysics, 2012
UCI Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellow 2014-2015
Dr. Miller earned honors undergraduate degrees in both Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. As a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, she pursued observational astrophysics with a special interest in galaxy assembly and dark matter. Since completing her doctorate in astrophysics, Dr. Miller has continued her research and publishing activity on the evolution of matter in the universe as a joint postdoctoral fellow at UC Riverside and Caltech. In Texas and England as well as in California, she has been engaged in educational outreach to underserved communities and in mentoring students from underrepresented populations. Dr. Miller is writing and hosting a science promotional series called Beyond. She is also currently producing a collection of short videos called Phys-kicks. These series, which will feature scientists who break the mold of typical stereotypes, are designed to de-mystify natural phenomenon (like dark energy or black holes) while encouraging children, teens, and adults to believe that physics is completely within their reach.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Fresh Leads on the Astrophysical Nature of Dark Matter
Mentor:
Professor James Bullock
Department, School:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences
Where are they now: Dr. Sarah Holmes Miller has a position with the Federal Government.
DeWitt King, CPF
Ph. D., University of Minnesota Twin Cities
“Infinite Supply: Sportcraft, Black Athleticism, and the Disposability of the Black Athlete”
Mentor: Professor Victoria Johnson, Department of Film and Media Studies
Fabiola Pulido-Chavez, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Riverside
“Assessment of Cross-Kingdom Interactions During Litter Decomposition”
Mentor: Professor Jennifer B.H. Martiny, Department of Biological Sciences
Giovanni Ramos, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles
“Design and test of a peer support program to improve engagement and outcomes in app-based mental health interventions for people of color”
Brisa Smith Flores, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles
“Displaying the Afro-Diaspora: Museums, Black Identity, and Transcultural Solidarity, Art History & African Studies”
Mentor: Professor Bridget Cooks, Department of Art History & African American Studies
Oscar Fabian Soto, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Santa Barbara
“Digitized Warfare: Global Capitalism, Digitization, and the Spatial Social Control in Poor Barrios”
Mentor: Professor Elliot P. Currie, Department of Criminology, Law & Society
Jennifer Yonan, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Irvine
“Exploring mechanisms of PTEN deletion-induced morphological and network modifications underlying the formation of a seizure-prone circuit in the adult brain”
Mentor: Professor Oswald Steward, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
DeWitt King, CPF
Ph. D., University of Minnesota Twin Cities
“Infinite Supply: Sportcraft, Black Athleticism, and the Disposability of the Black Athlete”
Mentor: Professor Victoria Johnson, Department of Film and Media Studies
Fabiola Pulido-Chavez, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Riverside
“Assessment of Cross-Kingdom Interactions During Litter Decomposition”
Mentor: Professor Jennifer B.H. Martiny, Department of Biological Sciences
Giovanni Ramos, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles
“Design and test of a peer support program to improve engagement and outcomes in app-based mental health interventions for people of color”
Brisa Smith Flores, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles
“Displaying the Afro-Diaspora: Museums, Black Identity, and Transcultural Solidarity, Art History & African Studies”
Mentor: Professor Bridget Cooks, Department of Art History & African American Studies
Oscar Fabian Soto, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Santa Barbara
“Digitized Warfare: Global Capitalism, Digitization, and the Spatial Social Control in Poor Barrios”
Mentor: Professor Elliot P. Currie, Department of Criminology, Law & Society
Jennifer Yonan, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Irvine
“Exploring mechanisms of PTEN deletion-induced morphological and network modifications underlying the formation of a seizure-prone circuit in the adult brain”
Mentor: Professor Oswald Steward, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
DeWitt King, CPF
Ph. D., University of Minnesota Twin Cities
“Infinite Supply: Sportcraft, Black Athleticism, and the Disposability of the Black Athlete”
Mentor: Professor Victoria Johnson, Department of Film and Media Studies
Fabiola Pulido-Chavez, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Riverside
“Assessment of Cross-Kingdom Interactions During Litter Decomposition”
Mentor: Professor Jennifer B.H. Martiny, Department of Biological Sciences
Giovanni Ramos, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles
“Design and test of a peer support program to improve engagement and outcomes in app-based mental health interventions for people of color”
Brisa Smith Flores, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles
“Displaying the Afro-Diaspora: Museums, Black Identity, and Transcultural Solidarity, Art History & African Studies”
Mentor: Professor Bridget Cooks, Department of Art History & African American Studies
Oscar Fabian Soto, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Santa Barbara
“Digitized Warfare: Global Capitalism, Digitization, and the Spatial Social Control in Poor Barrios”
Mentor: Professor Elliot P. Currie, Department of Criminology, Law & Society
Jennifer Yonan, CPF
Ph. D., University of California, Irvine
“Exploring mechanisms of PTEN deletion-induced morphological and network modifications underlying the formation of a seizure-prone circuit in the adult brain”
Mentor: Professor Oswald Steward, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
Dr. Alexander Catchings
University of California, Berkeley
PhD in English, 2021
Dr. Alexander Catchings researches literary narrative form and cultural studies. His dissertation taxonomizes a new literary sub-genre called "Wikipedic Novels": novels written after the rise of the Web 2.0, open-source era. These texts explicitly incorporate Internet content with fiction, throwing into flux readers' expectations of authorial trust, characters, and the "facts" that can scaffold story worlds and their representations of culture.
His research at UC Irvine will further explore how Wikipedic novels are able to capture Black digital life, from African American Signifyin(g)'s influence on online "web speak" to the complications of representing a collective discourse from "Black Twitter." He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in English from the University of Washington.
Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Signifyin(g) in Cyberspace: Digital Life in 21st Century Black Literature
Mentor: Dr. Theodore Martin
Department, School: Department of English, School of Humanities
Dr. Katherine Arias Garcia
University of California, San Diego
PhD in Education Studies, 2022
Katherine Garcia, PhD was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Garcia’s research interest are persistence of Latinx first-generation students, Chicana/Latina Feminist Epistemology, cultural assets and premedical pathways. Dr. Garcia’s professional experiences in supporting Latinx students in K-20 have contribute towards her research agenda to critically examining the Latinx graduate pathways. Dr. Garcia uses asset-based frameworks that centers Latinx students cultural assets and knowledge to center Latinx student experiences in higher education. Also, Dr. Garcia is committed to expanding the next generation of Latinx physicians and has created the Latinx Premed Pathways Program with UC San Diego School of Medicine and collaborated with Latinx premeds on a culturally-responsive ‘The Latinx Premed Guide.’ Dr. Garcia was selected as a UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellow, for her research and service in advancing equity and inclusion. Her current research topic as a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine will focus on Latinx cultural assets of premedical students in Hispanic-Serving Institutions and emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions to elucidate how Latinx students use cultural assets to persist in two different context.
Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Latinx Student’s Medical Dream (MD): Maintaining Culture and Community
Mentor: Dr. Glenda Flores
Department, School: Department of Chicano/Latino Studies, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Elizabeth Kopacz
University of California, Riverside
PhD in Ethnic Studies, 2022
Elizabeth Kopacz is an interdisciplinary ethnic studies scholar with research interests in U.S. empire and transpacific violence, Korean adoption, race, kinship, feminist epistemologies, and histories of science and technology. She received her Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Riverside in 2022, and her M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA in 2014. Her dissertation, Molecular Longing: Adopted Koreans and the Navigation of Absence through DNA, is a multi-scalar exploration of how transnational, transracial Korean adoptees utilize paperwork, popular science, and genetic technologies to navigate material and affective absences produced by the violence of U.S. empire.
Her work has been supported by the American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship, the UC Riverside Graduate Research Mentorship Program, and the Social Science Research Council Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship. In addition to her scholarship, Elizabeth is committed to making academic knowledge accessible to larger audiences through public humanities work. At UCLA, she directed a short film, Who is Park Joo Young?, that examined Korean adoption, kinship, and DNA. Most recently, she worked as a Documentary Research Assistant for the five-part Asian American series that aired on PBS in May 2020.
Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Navigating the Unknowable: Transnational Korean Adoption, Genetic Kinship, and the Community Archive
Mentor: Dr. Eleana Kim
Department, School: Department of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Aidee Guzman
University of California, Berkeley
PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management 2021
Aidee Guzman received a PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California, Berkeley in 2021. Her dissertation research focused on below- to above-ground interactions between crop diversity, pollinators, and mycorrhizal fungi in agricultural systems. For this work, she worked with small-scale diversified embedded in the monocultural landscape of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Her research as a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine will examine agroecological approaches that harness biodiversity and ecosystem functioning for improved agricultural resilience. Specifically, she plans to investigate plant-fungal interactions in soils that could alleviate drought stress for small-scale farmers contending with water shortages.
She completed her BS in Botany and Environmental Studies with a minor in Latinx and Chicanx studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: The buried solution for agricultural resilience: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Mentor: Dr. Kathleen Treseder
Department, School: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Science
Dr. Gopolang Mohlabeng
University of Kansas
PhD in Philosophy in Physics 2017
Dr. Gopolang 'Gopi' Mohlabeng holds bachelor's degrees in physics and astrophysics from the Universities of Pretoria and Cape Town in South Africa. In 2011 he moved, on a Fulbright fellowship, to the University of Kansas where he completed his Ph.D in theoretical particle physics. After his Ph.D, he moved to Brookhaven National Laboratory as a postdoctoral research associate.
Dr. Mohlabeng's research focuses on understanding the fundamental building blocks of nature using data from the smallest scales in particle physics to the largest scales in cosmology. He is particularly focused on dark matter, a non-luminous and mysterious form of matter whose existence has been proven by cosmological and astrophysical observations. Dark matter is far more abundant than all the visible matter in the universe and is responsible for the formation of galaxies, the solar system and ultimately life as we know it. Dr. Mohlabeng's main research focus is uncovering and understanding the particle nature of dark matter and the dark sector. Dr. Mohlabeng is also quite passionate about outreach and changing the view of what a physicist should look like. He enjoys giving public talks about dark matter and having general science discussions. Outside of academics, he is an avid football (soccer) fan, likes playing pickup games and supports Arsenal football club.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Illuminating Signals of Dark Matter at Current and Future Experiments
Mentor: Dr. Timothy Tait
Department, School: Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences
Dr. Maria Montenegro
University of California, Los Angeles
PhD in Information Studies 2021
Originally from Chile, María Montenegro received her Ph.D in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles in summer 2021 and an MA in Museum Studies at New York University in 2015. Her research sits at the intersection of Indigenous studies, critical archival theory and tribal law and policy, and is in conversation with global studies and the Indigenous data sovereignty movement. Her dissertation takes the U.S. Federal Acknowledgement Process as a site in which to investigate the political, socio-cultural, and affective dimensions and roles of settler-colonial archives as they shape evidence legitimization practices within tribal recognition petitions, with particular focus on the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians petitioning process. Her project has been supported by UCLA’s Year Dissertation Fellowship, a UC Critical Mission Studies Grant, a Huntington Library Research Fellowship, and American Philosophical Society’s Phillips Fund for Native American Research. She has published articles in Archival Science, the Journal of Documentation, the Interdisciplinary Journal of Information Studies, and chapters in two Routledge edited volumes. María is currently the project manager of UCLA’s American Indian Studies Center’s Mukurtu Hub, the digital archivist of UCLA’s repatriation program Carrying our Ancestors Home (COAH) and part of a UC Multicampus Research Grant titled “Gifting Knowledge: Centering Tribal Stories of Cultural Preservation in Difficult Times.” She is also a consultant for Chile’s Ministry of Cultures’ Department of Indigenous Peoples in matters of cultural revitalization, digital return and knowledge organization.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Unsettling Evidence: Imagining anticolonial forms of evidence for Indigenous sovereign futures
Mentor: Dr. Eve Darian-Smith
Department, School: Department of Global and International Studies, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Jorge E. Delgadillo Núñez
Vanderbilt University
PhD in History 2021
Jorge is a historian of slavery, Afro-descendants, and social differentiation processes in Mexico and the Atlantic world at large. His first book project is a longue-durée study of the emergence, transformations, and disappearance of the social categories associated with African ancestry in colonial Guadalajara. It is also an examination of issues of black invisibility and historical memory in the Mexican press of the nineteenth century. Jorge’s research has been published in Spanish and English by the University of Guadalajara, El Colegio de México, and The Americas. He has also published book reviews with them and Hispanic American Historical Review. Jorge is also an alumni of the 2020 class of the Mark Claster Mamolen Dissertation Workshop in Afro-Latin American Studies held at Harvard University.
As a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow, Jorge will further explore the place of slavery in Mexican history, as well as Afro-Mexicans’ contributions to colonial Guadalajara’s society, economy, and culture.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: A Social and Cultural History of Free and Enslaved Afro-Mexicans from Colonial Guadalajara
Mentor: Dr. Alex Borucki
Department, School: Department of History, School of Humanities
Dr. Kira Tait
University of Massachusetts Amherst
PhD in Political Science 2021
Kira Tait, PhD in Political Science is a recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Irvine. In her dissertation, she explores ordinary Black South Africans' perceptions of the law and how these perceptions impact their views of the desirability and appropriateness of appealing to courts when they have problems accessing constitutionally guaranteed services. Specifically, she studies why people choose not to use courts to secure access to water, healthcare, education, and housing when it is both legal and possible to do so. Kira’s research relies on 12-months of fieldwork funded by the U.S. Fulbright Program, the National Science Foundation, and the UMass Graduate School.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Roadblocks to Access: Perceptions of Law and Socioeconomic Problems in South Africa
Mentor: Dr. Mona Lynch
Department, School: Department of Criminology, Law, and Society, School of Social Ecology
Dr. Meera Mahadevan
University of Michigan
Ph.D. in Economics, 2019
Meera Mahadevan obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan in 2019. Her research focuses on energy and environmental economics in developing countries. She examines topics such as the political economy of electricity provision and the welfare consequences of corruption, electricity restructuring policies and their unintended consequences, and off-grid solutions for electricity provision in remote areas.
She completed her BA (Honors) in Economics at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, followed by an MSc. in Economics for Development at the University of Oxford. Meera was a postdoctoral fellow at emLab at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before moving to UCI.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Equitable Infrastructure and Energy Provisioning in Developing Countries
Mentor: Dr. Damon Clark
Department, School: Department of Economics, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Isabel Francheska Ramos
University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D. in Psychology, 2020
Isabel Ramos received her B.A. in psychology at the University of California, Riverside in 2014 and her Ph.D. in Health Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2020. Her research focuses on the interplay between cultural and biological processes in pregnant, Latina women. She examines ethnic disparities in maternal mental health and birth outcomes, with a focus on cultural factors that influence stress and resilience in Latina women. Her dissertation examined a model incorporating components of the biopsychosocial and cultural process in pregnancy through both qualitative and quantitative research. Her current research topic as a Chancellor's Advance Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine will focus on the different cultural and contextual stressors that interact with hormonal changes to increase the risk of depressive symptoms among Latinas.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: The Interplay Between Culture and Biology in Latina Reproductive Health
Mentor: Dr. Belinda Campos
Department, School: Department of Chicano/Latino Studies, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Nishita Trisal
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ph.D. in Anthropology, 2020
Nishita Trisal is an anthropologist of South Asia with research interests in political violence, finance and banking, and surveillance. Her dissertation and book project, Banking on Uncertainty: Debt, Default, and Violence in Indian-Administered Kashmir, draws on two years of ethnographic and archival research conducted in Srinagar and New Delhi. Based primarily at the region's largest retail bank, Banking on Uncertainty traces the primacy of this financial institution to Kashmir's political economy and to its movement for self-determination. Writing and research for the project was supported by the Mellon Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Her second project, Blackout: Information Warfare, Surveillance, and the “Battle of Minds” in Kashmir, examines the material, social, and affective life of technological control and surveillance. She has been educated at the University of Michigan (PhD), University of California, Santa Cruz (MA), and DePauw University (BA).
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Debt, Default, and Violence in Indian-Administered Kashmir
Mentor: Dr. Justin Richland
Department, School: Department of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Anne Therese Frederiksen
University of California, San Diego
Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics and Cognitive Science, 2019
Anne Therese Frederiksen researches referential cohesion in the signed and spoken modalities. Prior to joining UC Irvine, she earned a PhD from the University of California, San Diego and a BA and MA from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2017, she received a NSF Dissertation Research Grant to complete research on her dissertation on referential cohesion in American Sign Language. This work focused on how Deaf signers use space, syntax, and semantics/pragmatics to make clear who is doing what to whom in the discourse.
At UCI, Dr. Frederiksen is working on code-blending and pronoun processing in sign-speech bimodal bilinguals. Her work examines bidirectional language influences in sign-speech vs. speech-speech bilingual and uses bimodal bilingualism as a lens through which to investigate language processing and cognitive control.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Code-blending and pronoun processing in bimodal bilinguals
Mentor: Dr. Judith Kroll
Department, School: Department of Cognitive Sciences, School of Social Ecology
Dr. Stefanie Graeter
University of California, Davis
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, 2015
Stefanie Graeter is a cultural anthropologist, broadly interested in ethnographic questions of embodiment, materiality, knowledge, and the political with a geographic focus on Peru and the Americas. Her work draws upon diverse scholarly fields, especially environmental and medical anthropology, science and technology studies, critical race and decolonial studies, and political theory. She completed her Ph.D. in 2015 in sociocultural anthropology at the University of California, Davis with a designated emphasis in critical theory. Her dissertation on Mineral Incorporations: Lead Science, Ethics, and Politics in Central Peru examined how lead toxicity is operationalized politically within social projects that resist––or support–– Peru’s large-scale extractive industries. Peer-reviewed articles of this research have been published in Cultural Anthropology and American Anthropologist.
Dr. Graeter’s emerging book manuscript, Mineral Incorporations, argues that while toxicological sciences deliver ethical weight to public health, human rights, and environmental activism, neoliberal labor reforms in Peru make human exposures to heavy metals a requisite to diverse forms of economic livelihood and collective survival. Through an ethnographic examination of the social and material processes that bring bodies and minerals into relation, the book conceptualizes the contemporary politics of environment/health and labor within noxious environs of racial capitalism and post-anthropocene worlds. New research extends her analysis of toxic materialities and politics into the realms of climate change, agriculture, and gastronomic cultures of Peru. In addition to her scholarship, Dr. Graeter also is an intersex woman and advocate involved in public campaigns to de-pathologize and celebrate intersex bodies and their social existence.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: The science of toxicity and chemical relationships within extractive economies, food cultures, and political mobilizations of Peru
Mentor: Dr. Kim Fortun
Department, School: Department of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences
Dr. Elizabeth Hemming Schroeder
University of California, Irvine
Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2018
Elizabeth Hemming-Schroeder’s research is focused on using genomics to study malaria epidemiology. She completed her Ph.D. in 2018 in biological sciences at UCI. For her dissertation on Landscape Genetics of African Malaria Parasite and Its Vectors, she used techniques in population genetics and spatial statistics to study the spatial spread of malaria parasites and mosquitoes in Kenya. Her current project aims to incorporate Big Data and machine learning algorithms to further improve our understanding of malaria epidemiology and antimalarial drug resistance spread, with the goal of informing malaria control and antimalarial drug resistance containment programs. Through her research, she has mentored several undergraduate students in independent research projects, seven of whom contributed to and were co-authors on published manuscripts. Many of her research mentees have gone on to pursue higher education, such as medical and pharmacy school, and others have pursued careers in industry and public health. In addition, she has been a mentor for the UCI LGBTQ Mentoring Program since 2013 with the goal of helping LGBTQ students develop a positive self-identity.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Integrating big data, machine learning, and population genetics to forecast the spread of antimalarial drug resistance in malaria parasites
Mentor: Dr. Xiaouhi Xie
Department, School: Department of Computer Science, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
Dr. John C. Marquez
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Doctor of Philosophy in History, 2019
John Marquez is a historian of Brazil, Latin America, and the Atlantic world, specializing in the colonial era. His interests include the histories of slavery, diaspora, law, empire, and race. More broadly, both through teaching and research, he is interested in exploring the cultures and histories of Latin America through a “global” lens.
Dr. Marquez received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2019, where he completed a dissertation titled, Freedom’s Edge: Enslaved People, Manumission, and the Law in the Eighteenth-Century South Atlantic World. In the dissertation, he explored the lives and experiences of enslaved people who engaged with the legal system to achieve their manumission, or legal freedom. Based on research in Brazil and Portugal, the dissertation offered a trans-Atlantic history of enslaved peoples’ struggles to gain their freedom and charted the indelible marks they left on conceptions of freedom, the law, and colonial slavery itself. Dr. Marquez’s research has been funded by fellowships from the Fulbright-Hays, the Conference on Latin American History, and the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. As a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow, he is excited to begin the process of revising his dissertation into a book manuscript and contributing more broadly to the academic community at UC Irvine.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Freedom’s edge: Slavery, manumission, and empire in Brazil and the South Atlantic world
Mentor: Dr. Rachel O’Toole
Department, School: Department of History, School of Humanities
Dr. Diana Pardo Pedraza
University of California, Davis
Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Studies, with an emphasis in Feminist Theory and Research, 2019
Diana Pardo Pedraza is an ethnographer of contemporary Colombia interested in researching (de)militarized rural ecologies, post-conflict politics and economics, and multispecies relations of aid and care. She received her M.A. in cultural studies from the Universidad de los Andes, and her Ph.D. in cultural studies at the University of California, Davis, with a designated emphasis in feminist theory and research.
Her doctoral dissertation, Trust in Scales: Humanitarian Demining and Peace Laboratories in Rural Colombia, addresses rural ecologies of life (and death) as they are occupied by heterogeneous war forces and by the complex political economy of what is termed “post-conflict.” This ethnography is based on two years of fieldwork in the “Pilot Project of Humanitarian Demining,” a peace initiative that brought guerrillas and army soldiers together to work in the removal of improvised landmines planted in peasant villages during the decades-long war.
Dr. Pedraza’s work is inspired by diverse scholarly fields, especially ethnographic theory, science and technology studies, feminist political ecology, and political theory. Her research has been supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the University of California Office of the President.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: In Suspicious Landscapes: Scales of Trust and Peace Laboratories in Rural Colombia.
Mentor: Jennifer Terry
Department, School: Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, School of Humanities
Dr. Kimberly Stanek
University of Virginia
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry, 2018
Kimberly Stanek received her B.S. in biochemistry and B.A. in chemistry from the University at Buffalo in 2012, and her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Virginia in 2018. Dr. Stanek’s thesis focused on the structure and function of the bacterial chaperone Hfq, which has been linked to numerous pathways including metabolism, cell signaling, and expression of virulence factors. Specifically, she sought to elucidate the evolutionary history of this ubiquitous yet functionally diverse family of proteins. While in graduate school, Dr. Stanek fell in love with crystallography and became heavily involved in the American Crystallographic Association (ACA), co-chairing sessions at their annual conference, writing articles for Reflexion (the ACA quarterly publication), and organizing an x-ray crystallography workshop for high school students. Dr. Stanek joined the lab of Dr. Celia Goulding at UCI in 2018 as a postdoctoral associate, and has since been involved in the executive board of UCI’s Postdoctoral Association as part of their research symposium committee.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Siderophore-mediated iron uptake in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mentor: Dr. Celia Goulding
Department, School: Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences
Dr. DeWayne Williams
The Ohio State University
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, 2017
Dr. DeWayne Williams completed his undergraduate, M.A., and Ph.D. in psychology at The Ohio State University. His dissertation, completed in 2017 with a focus on psychophysiology, was on Ethnicity, Sex, and Vagal Activity: Differences in Hemodynamics Underlying Long-Term Blood Pressure Regulation. Dr. Williams also completed two years of post-doctoral training at The Ohio State University, and will complete his final year of training here at UCI for the 2019-2020 academic year. Dr. Williams’ research broadly examines health psychology with a focus on psychophysiological mechanisms underpinning inhibition, and how deficiencies in such mechanisms can impact self-regulatory abilities and overall mental and physical well-being. Dr. Williams’ research also works to better understand how ethnic differences in baseline physiological activity may negatively contribute to health disparities found between African and European Americans.
Dr. Williams currently has 24+ publications and is first author on 14 of these publications in scientific journals that include: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity; Psychophysiology; and Ethnicity and Health. Dr. Williams has received various research/travel awards and grants throughout his research career, such as the American Psychosomatic Society 2018 Young Investigators Colloquium Award and The Ohio State University Department of Psychology Research Award.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Ethnic differences in cardiac-autonomic activity, and how such differences may interact with psychological phenomena and negatively impact health in African Americans
Mentors: Drs. Roxane Cohen Silver and Julian Thayer
Department, School: Department of Psychological Sciences, School of Social Ecology
Dr. Salvador Zárate
University of California, San Diego
Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies, 2017
Salvador Zárate received his Ph.D. in 2017 from the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego. His dissertation, Invisible Bodies, Devalued Labor: Contract, Reproductive Labor, and the U.S. Sunbelt, 1900-1963, won the American Studies Association’s 2018 Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize for Best Dissertation. Zárate is currently finishing his book manuscript, The Social Life of Plants: Black and Latina Reproductive Laborers in the U.S. Sunbelt, 1921-1963, which examines agriculture and extractive plant-based industries during the Jim Crow era by centering the labor histories of Latina and Black women reproductive laborers in ecological zones of exclusion, such as turpentine camps in Northwest Florida and cotton fields in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition, he has published on the residential gardening economy of Orange County, which he worked from his childhood to well-into his Ph.D. career. His reviews, essays, and creative works have appeared in Aztlán: A Journal of Chicana and Chicano Studies, Anthropology and Humanism, and Cultural Anthropology.
Dr. Zárate was a Ford Fellow in the Department of African American Studies at UCI during 2018-19.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: The social life of plants: Black and Latina reproductive laborers in the U.S. Sunbelt, 1921-1963
Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Alexander
Department, School: Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, School of Humanities
Dr. Jenny Zenobio
Purdue University
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Organic Chemistry, 2019
Jenny Zenobio earned her Ph.D. in environmental chemistry in 2019 from Purdue University working under the direction of Dr. Linda Lee while her research work was performed at Harvard University in collaboration with Dr. Chad Vecitis. Her research background reflects an interdisciplinary framework combining engineering, toxicology, chemistry, and nanotechnology.
Her dissertation on Abiotic Reduction Perfluoroalkyl Acids by nNi0Fe0-Activated Carbons focused on in-situ technologies for degrading Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs). She developed nanoparticles for abiotic remediation of PFAAs-contaminated groundwater at military sites with minimal adverse impacts.
She earned her Master of Science in the area of environmental toxicology from the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University in 2014 and her B.S. in sanitary engineering from the National University of Engineering in Lima, Peru in 2007.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic: Transport, distribution and bioaccumulation of Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Mentors: Drs. Russell Detwiler and Adeyeme Adeleye
Department, School: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Dr. Daniel Akwahboah
Ohio State University
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry, 2017
Dr. Daniel Akwaboah was born in Ghana, West Africa. He moved to the United States and later obtained his B.S. degree in biochemistry with honors from The Ohio State University in 2011. He was selected as a NIH-funded Chemistry-Biology Interface Program (CBIP) fellow and recently completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at OSU. His graduate work encompasses the successful construction of the C1–C9 and the C10–C25 advanced building blocks of the macrolide core of cytotoxic natural products called amphidinolides C, C2, C3, and Dr. Akwaboah joined Vy Dong’s research group at the University of California, Irvine, in 2018 to pursue his postdoctoral training. His current research is focused on the design and study of transformations that are more green and efficient by using earth abundant catalysts. He is employing transition metal catalysis to access strained biologically relevant carbo- and heterocyclic structural motifs via tandem C–H activation/cyclization strategy.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Transition Metal-Catalyzed Intramolecular Hydrocarbamoylation of Olefins: Direct Access to Chiral Functionalized Lactams
Mentor:
Dr. Vy M. Dong
Department, School:
Department of Chemistry, School of Physical Sciences
Dr. Anna Boncompagni
University of Rome III, Italy
Doctor of Philosophy - Philosophy and Theory of Humanities, 2014
Dr. Anna Boncompagni earned her Ph.D. in philosophy and theory of humanities at the University of Rome III, Italy, after a five-year degree in communication sciences (University of Siena) and a M.A. in theoretical philosophy (University of Florence). In her Ph.D. thesis, she proposed a comparison between the later Wittgenstein’s thought and the pragmatist tradition, focused on their respective ways of conceiving the relationship between knowledge, certainty, and human practices. In her postdoctoral project, she builds on that work, as well as on research in epistemic injustice, with the aim of fostering new light on the nature of prejudice and discriminatory practices. She claims that a form of “hinge epistemology,” derived from the later Wittgenstein’s reflection on the social dimension of doubt and certainty, would help research on epistemic injustice expand its reach toward a more critical conception of knowledge itself.
Dr. Boncompagni has published the monographs Wittgenstein. Lo sguardo e il limite (2012) and Wittgenstein and Pragmatism (2016), besides articles in scientific journals and book chapters for Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and other publishers.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Social Hinge Epistemology: A Proposal for a Critical Approach to Epistemic Injustice
Mentor:
Dr. Annalisa Coliva
Department, School:
Department of Philosophy; School of Humanities
Visit Dr. Boncompagni’s website: https://uci.academia.edu/AnnaBoncompagni
Dr. Bonnie Cuthbert
Duke University
Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry, 2017
Dr. Bonnie Cuthbert is working in the laboratory of Dr. Celia Goulding to develop a molecular understanding of contact dependent growth Inhibition (CDI) in gram-negative bacteria. CDI+ bacteria are able to inhibit the growth of closely related bacteria through a poorly understood mechanism. Dr. Cuthbert’s research focuses on understanding the initial contact and recognition that initiates CDI and triggers the translocation of a toxin into the target cell. Prior to joining UC Irvine, she completed her Ph.D. in biochemistry at Duke University in 2017 and received her B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology at Reed College in 2010. Throughout her career, Bonnie has demonstrated a passion for research and education. At UCI, Dr. Cuthbert is working to advance her pedagogical skills by participating in TAP-STEM (Teaching Apprenticeship in STEM), CTEP (Certificate in Teaching Excellence Program) and UCI-GPS-CIRTL (Center for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning).
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Structural Investigation of CDI Target Cell Recognition
Mentor:
Dr. Celia Goulding
Department, School:
Department of Biology and Biochemistry; School of Biological Sciences
Dr. Chistian Guerrero-Juarez
University of California, Irvine
Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Sciences
Dr. Christian F. Guerrero-Juarez earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine. His dissertation focused on Delineating Mechanisms of Cutaneous Wound Healing and Regeneration in Adults. His current research topic as a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow in the Departments of Mathematics and Developmental and Cell Biology will focus on predictive multi-scale modeling of skin regeneration. His articles have been published in journals that include Science, Cell, Elife, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Cell Metabolism and Nature Reviews.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Predictive Multi-scale Modeling of Skin Regeneration
Mentor:
Dr. Qing Nie
Department, School:
Department of Mathematics, School of Physical Sciences
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences
Dr. Stefan Vogler
Northwestern University
Doctor of Philosophy Sociology, 2018
Dr. Stefan Vogler’s research is broadly concerned with the constitutive relationship of law and science and processes of legal and scientific measurement and categorization, particularly in regard to gender and sexuality. His research and teaching interests include gender, sexuality, law, science and knowledge, crime, culture, and feminist and queer theory. He was recipient in 2017 of a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, a Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN) Dissertation Writing Fellowship, and a Martin P. Levine Memorial Dissertation Award from the Sexualities Section of the American Sociological Association.
His dissertation Ruling Sexuality: Law, Expertise, and the Making of Sexual Knowledge, examined how measurement and classification processes were institutionalized in the law. He examined how legal bureaucracies attempted to objectively measure the subjective phenomenon of sexuality for legal decision-making in the United States by juxtaposing two sites where individuals needed to prove their sexualities – in asylum claims by sexual minorities and in risk assessments of sex offenders. His project argued that science and law co-produced sexuality as a regulatory category and cooperated to render sexual subjects legible to, and thus manageable by, the state. These explorations showed that different networks of expertise formed to support competing conceptions of sexuality in each area of law, resulting in divergent ways of understanding sexuality and disparate governance outcomes.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Policing of LGBTQ neighborhoods and interactions between LGBTQ people and police
Mentor:
Dr. Valerie Jenness
Department, School:
Department of Criminology, Law, and Society; School of Social Ecology
Visit Dr. Vogler’s website: https://www.stefanvogler.com/
Dr. Sandra Harvey
University of California, Santa Cruz
Doctor of Philosophy - Politics, with emphasis in Feminist Studies, 2017
Dr. Sandra Harvey researches the production of race and gender through surveillance technologies originating in colonialism and chattel slavery. Her book manuscript, "Passing for Free, Passing for Sovereign: Blackness and the Formation of the Nation," traces narratives of race/gender passing within science, settler colonial law, conceptual art, and Enlightenment philosophy. It contextualizes accusations of race/gender passing in the U.S. as rooted in 19th-century surveillance of fugitive slaves and entangled in the above institutions which manage the state's biopolitical concerns. In this way, she asks after the assumptions about blackness that emerge in the passing regime and how these might influence contemporary notions of freedom, sovereignty, the nation, and the citizen.
Dr. Harvey received her Ph.D. in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her research has been supported by the UC Consortium for Black Studies in California and the UCSC Center for Science and Justice.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
19th Centry race/gender surveillance regimes; theories of sovereignty and abolition; visual studies
Mentor:
Dr. Sora Han and Dr. Jared Sexton
Department, School:
Department of Criminology, Law, & Society, School of Social Ecology (Han) and Department of African American Studies, School of Humanities (Sexton)
Dr. Anna Nierenberg
University of California, Santa Barbara
Doctor of Philosophy-Physics, 2014
Dr. Anna Nierenberg's research is focused on using gravitational lensing and statistical studies of luminous galaxies to test models of dark matter and galaxy formation. Dr. Nierenberg received her B.S. in physics from UCLA in 2008, and completed her Ph.D. in physics at UCSB in 2014. After finishing her thesis, Dr. Nierenberg received a fellowship to conduct independent postdoctoral research at the Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, at The Ohio State University. Dr. Nierenberg participates in outreach particularly aimed at middle school and high school aged children, and has appeared in 22 episodes of the YouTube space news show Space in Your Face.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
The nature of dark matter and galaxy formation on small scales
Mentor:
Dr. James Bullock and Dr. Michael Cooper
Department, School:
Department of Physics and Astronomy; School of Physical Sciences
Visit Dr. Nierenberg's website: annanierenberg.com
Dr. Sarah Aarons
University of Michigan
Doctor of Geology, 2016
Dr. Sarah Aarons has conducted ice core research with a focus in isotope geochemistry, climate change, and paleoclimate. Her previous research used variations in the composition of aerosols (dust, sea salt) preserved in the ice core record to infer variations in the hydrologic cycle, land use change, anthropogenic input, wind trajectories, dominant climate systems, and sea-ice extent. Her current project aims to use sulfur isotopes in the ice core record to reconstruct marine biological activity, atmospheric conditions, and how these vary during major climate transitions. This research may distinguish the sources of climate forcers, and how these forcers interact and fluctuate on glacial-interglacial timescales. She recently completed a Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan. Prior to that, she earned a master's degree from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University. In an effort to increase the number of Native Americans in STEM fields, she has participated as a graduate student instructor in a residential summer institute for Native high school students at the University of California, Irvine led by one of her mentors Dr. Kathleen Johnson.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Sulfur isotopes in ice cores: A tracer of atmospheric conditions during major climate changes
Mentor:
Dr. Kathleen Johnson and Dr. Eric Saltzman
Department, School:
Department of Earth System Science; School of Physical Sciences
Download Dr. Aarons’ CV (PDF)
Where are they now: Dr. Sarah Aarons has accepted a faculty position at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD.
Dr. Tayloria N.G. Adams
Michigan Technological University
Doctor of Chemical Engineering, 2014
Dr. Tayloria Adams graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with bachelor's degrees in Chemical and Life Science Engineering and Applied Mathematics. After completing her undergraduate education, she received the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Sciences (GEM) Fellowship and attended Michigan Technological University (MTU) where she earned a M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. Her doctoral research examined human mesenchymal stem cells' dielectric behavior for cell sorting in microfluidic devices. She published 3 peer-reviewed journal publications from her graduate work and also filed a patent for a handheld dielectrophoresis device to analyze blood samples. In addition to research, while at MTU Dr. Adams was actively involved with the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and worked as Outreach Coordinator. In this role she provided underrepresented minority students academic support through a tutoring program she developed. Dr. Adams is committed to helping increase diversity in STEM as well as advancing stem cell research, which motivated her decision to join Dr. Lisa Flanagan's lab as a postdoctoral researcher at UCI. Here she studies the dielectric and differentiation properties of neural stem and progenitor cells for stroke therapeutics using microfluidic technology. Dr. Adams is active in a variety of professional organizations including the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers (2016-2018 SWE Magazine Editorial Board), and the AES Electrophoresis Society (2017 Annual Meeting Organizer).
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Novel separation of neural lineage cells to determine progenitor cell characteristics
Mentor:
Dr. Lisa Flanagan
Department, School:
Department of Neurology; School of Medicine
Visit Dr. Adams’ website: www.linkedin.com/in/TayloriaAdamsPhD
Dr. Lee Cabatingan
The University of Chicago
Doctor of Anthropology, 2015
Dr. Lee Cabatingan has conducted extensive ethnographic research in Cuban and Anglophone Caribbean courts, including long term fieldwork at a newly established regional tribunal in Trinidad & Tobago, where she analyzed the Court’s complex relationship to region-formation. In her current project, Dr. Cabatingan seeks to explore how public debates over race, crime, and (under)development in Trinidad challenge classic theories of sovereignty. She hopes that this research will lead to a rethinking of the relationship between law and sovereignty and allow for a globally southern perspective to find a voice amongst predominantly globally northern theories. Dr. Cabatingan received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago, where she held a Mellon Foundation Fellowship during her final year. Prior to that, she worked as a litigator in San Francisco after receiving a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She earned her A.B. from Princeton University.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Redefining Sovereignty: Race, Crime and Discourses of (Under)Development in Trinidad & Tobago
Mentor:
Dr. Mona Lynch
Department, School:
Department of Criminology, Law, and Society; School of Social Ecology
Visit Dr. Cabatingan’s website: https://uci.academia.edu/lcabatin
Where are they now: Dr. Lee Cabatingan is an Assistant Professor in Crimonology, Law, and Society at UCI.
Dr. Constance Iloh
University of Southern California
Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education Policy, 2015
Dr. Constance Iloh is an education scholar committed to advancing understanding of the changing landscape of higher education and its impact on underrepresented students. Her research addresses two primary areas: (1) privatization in higher education, and (2) equity, access, and the experiences of underserved students in postsecondary education. Iloh has published several research articles focusing on student experiences and institutional practices at for-profit universities and community colleges. Most recently, she published a study on for–profit and community college choice in Teachers College Record. She earned a master’s degree in business management from Wake Forest University and a PhD in urban education policy from the University of Southern California, Rossier School of Education. Prior to notification of her selection as a UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Iloh was offered and accepted a position as an assistant professor of higher education at the University of California, Irvine School of Education. As a result of receiving the prestigious UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Program Fellowship, she will delay her faculty appointment for one year.
In addition to maintaining a productive research agenda, Iloh’s expertise has been sought after in numerous scholarly and policy arenas. She has served as an invited speaker for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, the Hammer Museum, the Institutional Design Frontiers Summit, the Education Credit Management Corporation, the African American Policy Forum, and numerous colleges and universities. Iloh has also been quoted and had her research featured in popular outlets such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, National Public Radio (NPR), Inside Higher Ed, and Diverse Issues in Higher Education – who headlined her as a "Higher Ed Powerhouse." Dr. Iloh’s research, publications, and media can be found on her website: www.constanceiloh.com.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
When Higher Education Grows Up: Towards a New Understanding of College Pathways for Adult Students
Mentor:
Professor Jacquelynne Sue Eccles
Department, School:
Department of Education; School of Education
Visit Dr. Iloh’s website: www.constanceiloh.com
Where are they now: Dr. Constance Iloh is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at UCI.
Dr. Maria Patrice Amon
University of California, Irvine
Doctor of Drama, 2014
Maria Patrice Amon is a recent PhD in drama from the University of California, Irvine. Her dissertation is titled “Little Girls and Legal Defendants: Theatricalization and Performances of Innocence in Modern American Culture.” She is a dramaturg and has worked with San Diego Rep and Clairemont Act One. Maria Patrice holds a Juris Doctorate from California Western School of Law.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Brown Bag Theatre Company: Performances of Latino/a Student Activism in the Academy
Mentor:
Professor Lonnie Alcaraz
Department, School:
Department of Drama; School of Arts
Visit Dr. Amon’s website: https://uci.academia.edu/PatriceAmon
Where are they now: Dr. Patrice Amon is a Dramaturg and Producer in Residence at San Deigo Repertory Theater. Dr. Amon is also a Lecturer at San Deigo State University in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies.
Dr. Shandee Dawn Dixon
University of Michigan Medical School
Doctor of Microbiology & Immunology, 2012
Dr. Dixon attended Pasadena City College where she joined the Bridges to the Baccalaureate program. This allowed her to transition into the Minority Biomedical Research Support-Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS-RISE) Program at California State University Los Angeles where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in microbiology and master’s degree in biology as a graduate fellow in MBRS–RISE M.S to Ph.D. During this tenure, she worked full time in a virology research lab and served as the Student Advisory committee Biology representative. Dr. Dixon earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan where her dissertation project focused on iron acquisition mechanisms in Bacillus anthracis giving her the opportunity to learn a range of techniques spanning drug discovery, genetic engineering, and microbial pathogenesis, along with extensive experience working with murine and tissue culture models of infection. After completing her dissertation, she began postdoctoral training in Prof. Ken Bradley’s lab at University of California, Los Angeles. This appointment expanded her knowledge of bacterial pathogenesis and cell biology by exploring how an emerging family of bacterial toxins gains access into human cells to cause disease. Skills acquired by Dr. Dixon in both graduate school and during her first postdoctoral appointment at UCLA have laid the groundwork for her to succeed in her current postdoctoral position in Prof. Celia Goulding’s lab at the University of California, Irvine. Her diverse scientific training puts her in a unique position to facilitate a microbiological context to the findings of a lab focused on the protein chemistry of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Currently Dr. Dixon aims to explore the utility of a recently discovered bacterial microcompartment, Encapsulin, in Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a novel therapeutic and vaccine delivery nano–vehicle to combat intracellular infections including TB. In addition to the honor of being named a UCI Chancellor’s Fellow, she is a 2015 award winner of the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her postdoctoral training at UCI will focus on cultivating skills that will bolster her passion of mentoring other aspiring scientists. Complementing expertise at the bench and interest in biomedical sciences with development as a productive mentor and communicator has been a unifying theme throughout Dr. Dixon’s research.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Characterization of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis stress–response nanocompartment–encapsulin
Mentor:
Dr. Celia W. Goulding
Department, School:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry; School of Biological Sciences
Visit Dr. Dixon’s website: www.linkedin.com/in/shandeed
Where are they now: Dr. Shandee Dixon is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).
Dr. Laura E. Enriquez
University of California, Los Angeles
Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology, 2014
Dr. Enriquez earned undergraduate degrees in Sociology and History from Pomona College. During her time there she began working closely with undocumented immigrant students and researching issues related to undocumented immigrant communities. Earning her Masters and Doctoral degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles, she has researched, presented, and published on a range of issues related to the educational, economic, political, and social experiences of undocumented young adults who immigrated to the United States as children. Putting her research into practice, she works directly with colleges and community organizations to help them better serve undocumented immigrants. Additionally, she is a contributing blogger at the Huffington Post and participates in community-based workshops and panels to raise awareness about undocumented immigrant issues.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
For Love and Papers: Latina/o Family Formation in the Shadows of Immigration Policy
Mentor:
Professor Rubén Rumbaut
Department, School:
Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences
Download Dr. Enriquez's CV (PDF)
Visit Dr. Enriquez's website: http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/lauraenriquez/
Where are they now: Dr. Laura Enriquez is an Assistant Professor in Chicano/Latino Studies at UCI.
Dr. Nathan S. Garcia
University of Southern California
Doctor of Philosophy in Biology, 2012
Dr. Nathan Garcia’s interest in the biological consequences of global change began as an undergraduate at Michigan State University where he graduated with honors in Fisheries and Wildlife and Spanish. He subsequently earned a master’s degree in Marine Biology at the College of Charleston and later a PhD in Marine Environmental Biology at the University of Southern California. The implications of global warming on oceanic nutrient chemistry, microbial diversity, and web interactions and food web interactions animate his on-going research and scientific papers. In addition to advancing his research program, Dr. Garcia is looking forward to contributing to the UCI chapter of the California Alliance for Minority Participation in Science (C.A.M.P.). Motivating and mentoring future science students has been an integral part of his graduate career. In a NSF funded program at the College of Charleston, he not only worked one-on-one with a range of student learners from elementary, middle school, to high school, but also developed inquiry-based science lesson plans in collaboration with teachers in seven area schools.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Nutrient controls on oceanic phytoplankton communities - modeling global change in the oceans.
Mentors:
Professors Adam Martiny & Keith Moore
Department, School:
Department of Earth System Science, School of Physical Sciences
Visit Dr. Garcia’s websites:
http://www.ess.uci.edu/researchgrp/amartiny/home
http://www.ess.uci.edu/~jkmoore
Where are they now: Dr. Nathan S. Garcia is a Postdoctoral Associate in Microbial Ecology at Duke University.
Dr. Joseph Morales
University of California, Berkeley
Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies, 2012
Dr. Joseph Morales is interested in the intersections of race and religion, Chicano/Latino literary and cultural studies, and colonial/postcolonial theory. Dr. Morales' research is informed by his own progression as a first-generation and low-income student. His work seeks to reimagine the questions of how, by whom, and for whom "knowledge" is produced. Starting his educational path at a California community college, Dr. Morales later earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish and Religious Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, a master's degree in Divinity from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Morales' research is focused on the politics of organizing and disseminating information, including race-based forms of cultural nationalism, especially as it relates to the critical study of religion. His current project examines how religion and spirituality has contributed to the formation of Latina/o literature; and also engages debates connected with digital humanities, Latina/o migrant politics, and Black-Latina/o struggles for social justice.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
The Politics of "Ethnic" Archives and Databases
Mentor:
Professor Rodrigo Lazo
Department, School:
Department of English, School of Humanities
Visit Dr. Morales' website: https://uci.academia.edu/JosephMorales
Where are they now: Dr. Joseph Morales is Assistant Director for Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships in the Office of Inclusive Excellence.
Dr. Philip Tanedo
Cornell University
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, 2013
Dr. Philip "Flip" Tanedo's research in theoretical high energy physics focuses on the underlying particle properties of dark matter, hypothetical ideas such as supersymmetry and extra dimensions, and the interplay of experimental efforts to test these ideas. Flip received his Ph.D in physics from Cornell University as an NSF Graduate Research fellow and Soros fellow. Prior to that, he completed master's degrees from Durham University and Cambridge University as a Marshall scholar and a Bachelors of Science with honors & distinction from Stanford University as a Goldwater scholar. As part of his efforts to explore new media for science outreach, he was a writer for the US/LHC (now part of Quantum Diaries) blog and has recently founded the ParticleBites blog.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Dark Matter and new physics at the Large Hadron Collider
Mentor:
Professor Timothy Tait
Department, School:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences
Visit Dr. Tanedo's website: http://www.physics.uci.edu/~tanedo/
Where are they now: Dr. Philip Tanedo is an Assistant Professor of Physics at UC Riverside.
Dr. Jaye Austin Williams
University of California, Irvine
Doctor of Philosophy in Drama, 2013
Dr. Williams is an artist-scholar and recent graduate of UC Irvine’s Ph.D. Program in Drama. For nearly thirty years prior to her return to school, Jaye worked as a critically acclaimed stage director, actor, playwright and cultural consultant on and off Broadway and regionally. Among her credits are the regional premieres of David Auburne’s Proof and Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog. She is a recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Kennedy Center. Her research frames the ways in which Black playwrights examine blackness as not only a locus of cultural identity and expression, but also as a condition and predicament warranting closer and ongoing critical analysis. Jaye will join the faculty in the Department of Theatre Arts at California State University Long Beach in the Fall of 2015.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Situating the Black Feminist Dramatic Perspective within the Discourse on Diversity
Mentor:
Professor Daniel Gary Busby
Department, School:
Department of Drama, Claire Trevor School of Arts
Visit Dr. Williams's website: www.jayeaustinwilliams.com
Where are they now: Dr. Jaye Austin Williams is an Assistant Professor of Theater Arts at California State University, Long Beach.
Dr. Nathan S. Garcia
University of Southern California
Doctor of Philosophy in Biology, 2012
Dr. Nathan Garcia’s interest in the biological consequences of global change began as an undergraduate at Michigan State University where he graduated with honors in Fisheries and Wildlife and Spanish. He subsequently earned a master’s degree in Marine Biology at the College of Charleston and later a PhD in Marine Environmental Biology at the University of Southern California. The implications of global warming on oceanic nutrient chemistry, microbial diversity, and web interactions and food web interactions animate his on-going research and scientific papers. In addition to advancing his research program, Dr. Garcia is looking forward to contributing to the UCI chapter of the California Alliance for Minority Participation in Science (C.A.M.P.). Motivating and mentoring future science students has been an integral part of his graduate career. In a NSF funded program at the College of Charleston, he not only worked one-on-one with a range of student learners from elementary, middle school, to high school, but also developed inquiry-based science lesson plans in collaboration with teachers in seven area schools.
Chancellor’s ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Nutrient controls on oceanic phytoplankton communities - modeling global change in the oceans.
Mentors:
Professors Adam Martiny & Keith Moore
Department, School:
Department of Earth System Science, School of Physical Sciences
Visit Dr. Garcia’s websites:
http://www.ess.uci.edu/researchgrp/amartiny/home
http://www.ess.uci.edu/~jkmoore
Where are they now: Dr. Nathan S. Garcia is a Postdoctoral Associate in Microbial Ecology at Duke University.
Dr. Sarah Holmes Miller
University of Oxford
Doctor of Philosophy in Astrophysics, 2012
UCI Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellow 2014-2015
Dr. Miller earned honors undergraduate degrees in both Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. As a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, she pursued observational astrophysics with a special interest in galaxy assembly and dark matter. Since completing her doctorate in astrophysics, Dr. Miller has continued her research and publishing activity on the evolution of matter in the universe as a joint postdoctoral fellow at UC Riverside and Caltech. In Texas and England as well as in California, she has been engaged in educational outreach to underserved communities and in mentoring students from underrepresented populations. Dr. Miller is writing and hosting a science promotional series called Beyond. She is also currently producing a collection of short videos called Phys-kicks. These series, which will feature scientists who break the mold of typical stereotypes, are designed to de-mystify natural phenomenon (like dark energy or black holes) while encouraging children, teens, and adults to believe that physics is completely within their reach.
Chancellor's ADVANCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Topic:
Fresh Leads on the Astrophysical Nature of Dark Matter
Mentor:
Professor James Bullock
Department, School:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences
Where are they now: Dr. Sarah Holmes Miller has a position with the Federal Government.
The UC Irvine Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship is a partnership of several campus units including the Offices of the Provost, Graduate Division, and Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity.