Alicia Escobedo

Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

BA in Psychology, University of San Francisco, 2016

Email: aescobedo4259@sdsu.edu

Alicia Escobedo is a current doctoral student at San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego in Language and Communicative Disorders. Her research focuses on typical and atypical bilingual language development. Alicia's dissertation work focuses on developing a measure of Spanish grammatical productivity for assessing the emerging skills of Spanish-English bilingual children. She aims to reduce health and educational disparities through empowerment of culturally and linguistically diverse children, their caregivers, and students of diverse backgrounds.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Sonja Pruitt-Lord / San Diego State University

Research Interests:

Bilingualism; Language Development; Language Disorders; Morphosyntax; Language Sampling

Dissertation:

Spanish Grammatical Productivity in the Assessment of Spanish-English Bilingual Children

Angela T. Tate

Department of History, Northwestern University, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MA in History, Northwestern University, 2018

BA in American Studies and Public & Oral History, California State University, San Bernardino, 2017

Email: atpublichistory@gmail.com

Website: http://atpublichistory.com 

Angela T. Tate is a scholar of women and gender in African American History and the African Diaspora. Her research has been supported by a variety of funding bodies, from the Mellon Foundation to the Social Science Research Council. She is also curator of women's history at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), where she provides expertise on collecting, interpreting, and researching Black women's history. Her work has been published in Resonance: The Journal of Sound and Culture, Ubuntu Dialogues edited volume, and Smithsonian Books.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Tiffany Jones / California State University, San Bernardino

Research Interests:

Women and Gender; African American History; Black Internationalism; Radio History; Race and Empire; Material Culture

Dissertation:

"That's What a Song Can Do": Etta Moten Barnett's Chicago and the Broadcasting of Black Women's Internationalism, 1955-1964

Christián González Reyes

Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley, PhD Candidate, expected 2024

BA in Literature in Spanish & BA in Latin American Studies, University of California, San Diego, 2019

Email: gonzalezchris178@berkeley.edu

Christián González Reyes (They/He) is a Chancellor's Fellow at UC Berkeley, where they are completing a dissertation on Central American Literature and Film. Chris is interested in questions of politics and movements in Central American and U.S.-Latinx cultural production. Chris is currently working on a short-story manuscript entitled "Relatos del bulevar."

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Crystal Pérez / California State University, East Bay

Research Interests:

Central America; U.S.-Latinx; Marxism; Race and Ethnicity; Gender and Sexuality; Urbanity

Dissertation:

Imaginarios centroamericanos: Marxismos, desplazamientos y la violencia estatal en Centroamérica

Christopher Leo Chacon

Department of History, University of California, Irvine, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MA in History, California State University, Fullerton, 2016

BA in Anthropology, History, Religious Studies, California State University, Fullerton, 2013

Email: clchacon@uci.edu

Chacon is a seventh year History PhD Candidate and Teaching Assistant at UC Irvine and works on early twentieth century Hindu nationalism. As a Teaching Assistant, he facilitated group discussions in his teaching sections and applied contemporary pedagogical strategies to maximize knowledge retention and group inclusion. In 2022 and 2023, he completed international research at the British Library in London as an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellow as well as at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi as a Fulbright-Nehru Student Grant researcher. During this time, he digitized a number of documents pertaining to British colonial surveillance in India as well as personal letters and organization collections relevant to his research. Chacon completed his bachelor’s degree (2013) in Anthropology, History, and Religious Studies and his master’s degree (2016) in History at CSU Fullerton. He intends to complete his dissertation and graduate by Spring 2024. 

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Robert McLain / California State University, Fullerton

Research Interests:

Global History; Intellectual History; History of Nationalism and Transnationalism; History of Revolution, New Religious Movements; History of British India

Dissertation:

The Birth of Global Hindutva

Eduardo González

Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, PhD Candidate, expected 2024

MA in Politics, New York University, 2018

BA in Political Science and International Relations, Minor in Middle East and Islamic Studies, San Francisco State University, 2015

Email: eg11388@usc.edu

Website: https://www.egonzalez.me 

Gonzalez investigates mobile technology use among transient refugee populations in the Middle East and Latin America. Specifically, his work is concerned with how Syrian and Central American refugees employ technology for socioeconomic mobility, cultural acclimation, and survival in Turkey and Mexico, respectively. His work also considers the legal and political implications of the United States and European Union in broader migratory processes. 

Gonzalez produces collaborative research with migrant communities that includes data privacy and data literacy workshops in English, Spanish, Turkish and Arabic. Gonzalez's research is published in communication and media studies as well as education journals. His research has received funding from the University of Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania, Oxford University, UC Berkeley, New York University, San Francisco State University, and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program (Turkey 2015-16; Mexico 2023-24).

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Lucia Volk / San Francisco State University

Research Interests:

Migration and Media; Internet and Platform Governance; Digital Equity and Literacy; Culture and Media; Civic Participation and Research Methodologies; Race and Ethnicity

Dissertation:

Refugees in Movement: Smartphone use of Syrian and Central American Refugees in Turkey and Mexico during Junctures of Legal Liminality

Essence Lynn Wilson

Department of Communication, University of Southern California, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MA General Experimental Psychology, California State University, Northridge, 2020

BA in Psychology, California State University, Northridge, 2017

Email: essencew@usc.edu

Essence Wilson is a mixed-methods scholar interested in combatting health disparities with the youth of color communities and leveraging non-traditional research approaches. Meeting for this call, she aims to utilize community-based participatory research to develop digital health interventions, employing an egalitarian approach in all research stages, including development, testing, and implementation. While numerous digital infrastructures aid in conveying critical health information, she is drawn to the potential of animation as a transformative tool. This medium has historically and effectively reached and engaged diverse audiences, deserving great attention especially in intervention research. 

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Andrew Ainsworth / San Francisco State University

Research Interests:

Mixed-Methods Research; Youth and Adolescents; Race and Ethnicity; Intervention Development; Digital Technologies with special interest in Animation

Dissertation:

The Road to Black Jasmine: Developing a culturally-adapted digital mental health intervention using participatory animation to reduce stigma and enhance help-seeking among African American adolescents undergoing moderate to severe depression 

Ilianna Vásquez González

Spanish and Portuguese, Yale University, PhD Candidate, expected 2024

MA in Spanish, California State University, Sacramento, 2020

BA in Spanish, California State University, Sacramento, 2018

Email: ilianna.vasquez@yale.edu

Ilianna Vásquez is a PhD student in the Spanish and Portuguese Department at Yale University. In addition, she is pursuing certificates in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. In 2020 Ilianna earned a Master of Arts in Spanish from California State University, Sacramento. Her work has been presented at multiple venues, such the Renaissance Society of America and the Latin American Society of America. Her current studies focus on coloniality, slavery, sex work, and marginality in Mexico. 

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Miquel Bota / California State University, Sacramento

Research Interests:

Gender and Sexuality; Race; Colonial Studies; Religious Studies

Iván González-Soto

Department of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, University of California, Merced, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MA in Interdisciplinary Humanities, University of California, Merced, 2022

BA in Environmental Studies, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, 2016

Email: igs38@humboldt.edu

Website: https://www.ivan-g-soto.com/

Iván González-Soto is a PhD Candidate with the Interdisciplinary Humanities Graduate Group at the University of California, Merced. He is a proud first-generation Mexican American and a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow. His dissertation project explores the social cost of technological innovation and addresses the relationship between mechanized agriculture and ethnic Mexican farmworkers in Southernmost California’s Imperial Valley on the US-Mexico borderlands. He employs historical methods in archival research and oral history in his work, and he is building an archive with his community. In the classroom, Iván draws from personal experiences to broaden the paradoxical and complicated history of labor and built environments. The intersections of critical environmental studies, history, and ethnic studies are comfortably in alliance in his work, and he explores them through frameworks which blur the lines of each discipline.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. John M. Meyer / California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

Research Interests:

Social history; critical environmental justice; U.S.-Mexico borderlands; U.S. American West; rural studies; comparative ethnic studies

Dissertation:

Laboratory of Nature: Race, Labor, and the Environment in the Making of Southern California's Imperial Valley, 1960-1990

Jesús E. González Franco

Department of Linguistics, The University of Arizona, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MA in Linguistics, The University of Arizona, 2022

BA in Spanish: Linguistic with a Minor in English: Language & Linguistics, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2019

Email: jeg7@arizona.edu 

Jesús E. González Franco is a doctoral candidate in Linguistics in the Linguistics Department at The University of Arizona. He graduated from CSU Dominguez Hills where he obtained a BA in Spanish linguistics and a minor in English: language and linguistics, for which he was also recognized as a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and Sally Casanova Scholar. González Franco’s research focuses on documentation and revitalization of Indigenous languages and their historical development, in particular the languages spoken by Zapotec communities of the Central Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Teaching and mentoring, in particular of minoritized students and first generation students, is part of González Franco’s academic mission, together with his research. He enjoys supporting students on linguistic course work, succeeding in academia and career paths. González Franco’s long-term career goal is to become a professor and contribute to community improvement through linguistics research and teaching.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Iara Mantenuto / California State University, Dominguez Hills

Research Interests:

Language Documentation; Language Revitalization; Oto-Manguean languages; Language Contact

Dissertation:

Santa Ana Zegache Zapotec

Jose Lumbreras

Department of History, University of California, San Diego, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MA Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University, 2018

BA in Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2010

Email: jlumbreras@saddleback.edu

Jose studies multiracial/multiethnic mobilizations during post-Fordism Los Angeles. For his research, he asks how and why do working-class communities of color build solidarity across differences, and how did their understanding of racial justice and economic equality change with organizing with one another.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Cesar "Che" Rodriguez / San Francisco State University

Research Interests:

Comparative/Relational Race and Ethnicity; 20th century US History; Social Movements; California History; Los Angeles History; Cultural Geography; Race and Space

Dissertation

Shared Imaginations: Community-based Mobilizations in Los Angeles, 1965-1994

Kristen Reynolds

Department of American Studies, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation)

MA in English Literature, University of North Carolina - Charlotte, 2016

BS in Biology, Johnson C Smith University, 2009

Email: reyno832@umn.edu

Kristen Reynolds is a doctoral candidate in the department of American Studies at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. She studies the role that Black speculative art plays in decentering the human in dominant technologies. She’s especially invested in considering the ways that Afropessimist and Black Feminist theories of the human and Afrofuturist interrogations of being shift our understanding of dominant digital technologies and who those technologies are built to serve. Her work currently explores datafication, cryptocurrency, blockchain, and surveillance. She is published in Fiyah Literary Magazine and continues to explore opportunities to place her creative and academic work in conversation.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Kimberly Hester-Williams / Sonoma State University

Research Interests:

Liberal Humanism; Race and Ethnicity; Anti-blackness; Science and Technology Studies

Dissertation:

The Human in the Machine: Black Speculation and Revolutionary Technoculture Beyond the Human

Lorise A. Diamond

Cultural Studies Department, Claremont Graduate University, PhD Candidate, expected 2025

MA in Rhetoric and Writing Studies, San Diego State University, 2021

MALAS in Communication, San Diego State University, 2019

Email: lorise.diamond@cgu.edu

Lorise "Rise" Diamond (she/they) researches, teaches, and advocates at the critical intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and nationality. She leverages perspectives from Cultural Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, Media Studies, Rhetoric, and Intercultural Communication as approaches to pedagogy, digital humanities, and civic discourse.

Rise is on the doorstep of a doctorate in Cultural Studies with a certificate in Women's and Gender Studies at Claremont Graduate University. She was selected to speak at the U.N.'s 64th Commission on the Status of Women, and her work spans varied platforms, including an outstanding master's thesis entitled "Implicitly Biased Diversity: An Ideological Aporia in Digital White Space.” Digital projects include “MnJani: A Place at the Table” and “MLK Queered: Epochtypical Queer Love.” Enacting praxis, Rise founded and directs Linguistic Communication Development Center—a 501(c)3 organization prioritizing historically overlooked communities.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Consuelo Salas / San Diego State University

Research Interests:

Culture, Media, and Race; Gender and Sexuality, Transnational Feminism; Digital and Queer Methods; Semiotics

Dissertation:

Racial Justice: Epochtypical Queer Literacy

Rusty Rust 

Department of English, University of California, Riverside, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MA in Literature, California State University, Long Beach, 2014

BA in Literature, California State University Channel Islands, 2011

Email: rusty.rust@email.ucr.edu

Rusty Rust is pursuing their PhD at UC Riverside by researching the intersections of disability, trans identity, and intergenerational trauma. They have been an adjunct professor at CSU Long Beach for 10 years teaching First-Year Composition and Technical Writing courses and serving as the faculty advisor for Queers and Allies. 

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Araceli Esparza / California State University, Long Beach

Research Interests:

Gender and Sexuality; Disability; Narratives of Mental Health;  Race and Ethnicity; Culture and Media; Intersectional Feminism

Dissertation:

(Trans)cestral Medicine: The Case for Healing with Feminism

Shane L Burrell Jr

School of Journalism and Communication, Media Studies, University of Oregon, PhD Candidate, expected 2025

MA in Media Studies, California State University, San Bernardino, 2021

BA in Mass Communication, California State University, San Bernardino, 2016

Email: sburrell@uoregon.edu

Shane Burrell is a First-Generation, Southern California Native, LGBTQ+, Latino (bi-racial) graduate student at the University of Oregon. Shane is the first in his family to achieve his PhD and currently studies Media Studies, specifically Gaming Studies. Shane’s primary interest in Gaming Studies lie in Identification, Virtual Reality, Embodiment, Immersion, and Presence.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Liliana Conlisk-Gallegos / California State University, San Bernardino

Research Interests:

Media Psychology; Human-Machine Interactions; Qualitative Analysis, Quantitative Analysis; Culture and Media; Intercultural Communication; Media Ethics; Communication Theory

Skye H. Choi

Department of Health, Exercise, and Sports Science, University of New Mexico, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MS in Kinesiology: Exercise Science, California Polytechnic State University, Humboldt, 2023

BS in Kinesiology: Pre-Physical Therapy with a minor in Psychology, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, 2019

Email: schoi1@unm.edu

Skye has excelled as an undergraduate and graduate student at the California Polytechnic State University, Humboldt. She has achieved her BS in Kinesiology: Pre-Physical Therapy with a minor in Psychology and her MS in Exercise Science. Her research focused on the physiological processes of human performance across various populations and contexts. Skye has showcased her dedication, reliability, and organizational skills as a teaching and research assistant in the Human Performance Lab. Her active contribution to various research projects, commitment to excellence, and collaborative spirit earned her accolades and recognition as one of Cal Poly Humboldt’s Outstanding Student Researchers, as well as at the California State University Research Competition. Pursuing a PhD in Exercise Science, Skye aims to continue her academic journey while aspiring to join the California State University System as a tenure-track instructional faculty member.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Young Sub Kwon / California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

Research Interests:

Exercise Prescription for General Population; Exercise Prescription for Special Population (Firefighters, Law Enforcement, Military); Insulin Resistance; Chronic Diseases; Non-Traditional Athletes

Stephany Bravo

English and Chicano/Latino Studies, Michigan State University, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2024

MA Mexican-American Studies, California State University, Los Angeles, 2018

BA Chicana/o Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2015

Email: bravoste@msu.edu

Stephany Bravo was born in Los Angeles and raised in Compton, California. She is pursuing a dual doctoral degree in English and Chicano/Latino Studies at Michigan State University. Stephany is the co-founder of mij[a]rchives where she processes family archives alongside Gabriella Sanchez. Additionally, she is director of Archivo 310, an experimental analog/digital microlab stemming from the Diaspora Solidarities Lab which centers community-based archives in Compton. Her poems appear in Boundless: The Anthology of the Rio Grande Valley and Sad Girl Review. Select essays appear in The Journal of Latina Critical Feminism, Dryland Literary Journal and Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Ester Hernández / California State University, Los Angeles

Research Interests:

Archives; Race and Ethnicity; Youth Cultures; Chicanx and Latinx Literature

Dissertation:

Hub City Fractals: Tracing Relations and Building Home in Compton, California

Victor R. Rodriguez 

Department of History, Auburn University, PhD Candidate (ABD or All But Dissertation), expected 2025

MA in U.S. History, San José State University, 2018

BA in History, San José State University, 2014

Email: victor.rodriguez02@sjsu.edu

Victor Rodriguez is a Bay Area native, a former McNair Scholar, and an alumnus of San Jose State University.  He received a BA with honors in History and later received an MA in U.S. History.  His research and teaching interests include U.S. political and cultural history, the history of science and technology, world history, technology and civilization, intellectual history, and public history.  Victor has taught at two CSUs: CSU Monterey Bay and he currently teaches American Identities and Institutions at San Jose State University.  Victor also worked in libraries and archives for three years.  His dissertation research focuses on the intersections of American space technology and US political history.  His advisors are Dr. Monique Laney and Dr. Roger Launius, a former Associate Director of the National Air and Space Museum.  Victor endeavors to introduce students to the importance of the public history field and the centrality of technology in history.

Faculty Mentor / Host Institution:

Dr. Glen Gendzel / San José State University

Research Interests:

US political and social history; intellectual history; history of technology; public history 

Dissertation:

Aerospace Endeavors: Failed Doctrine at Redstone Arsenal, 1954-1960