Grad Student - ISSI

Bri Matusovsky

Medical Anthropology, UCSF-UC Berkeley

Bri Matusovsky's dissertation research follows green monkeys (Chlorocebus Sabaeus), invasive pests on the island of St. Kitts, a primarily Black Caribbean island with small minorities of wealthy white and East Indian residents who control a significant amount of its wealth and resources. Green monkeys were introduced as a by-product of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and are now differently valued in scientific research, tourism, and conservationism. The increasing frequency of encounters between humans and monkeys, and related food insecurity experienced by both humans and monkeys, is...

Pauline White Meeusen

Jurisprudence and Social Policy, UC Berkeley

Cristina Mendez

Cristina S. Méndez (she/ella) is a Chicana educator, scholar, and poet. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley School of Education and a member of the interdisciplinary designated emphasis program in Indigenous Language Revitalization. Her research focuses on the lived experiences and sense-making of Maya Mam women lideresas who organize for the vitality of their language and culture and for the wellbeing of their communities across the United States, México, and Guatemala. Through her research and other collaborations, Cristina is committed to centering...

Elijah Mercer

School of Information, UC Berkeley

Elijah Mercer is an interdisciplinary researcher and advocate committed to driving positive social change through data-driven insights. Holding a B.A. in Criminology with a Minor in Communication Studies from American University, Elijah has dedicated his career to empowering marginalized communities. As the Founder and CEO of Data for JustUS, he leads a consulting firm focused on amplifying underrepresented voices through strategic support in data analysis, research, and communication strategies. Elijah's expertise extends to various fields, including crime analysis, policy evaluation, and...

Farnam Mohebi

Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley

Farnam Mohebi is a PhD student at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and a researcher in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco. She has previously earned her MD and MPH degrees. Her research focuses on the intersection of professionals and emerging technologies, drawing from the fields of medical sociology, organizational theory, and science and technology studies. She is particularly fascinated by the evolving relationship between physicians and artificial intelligence, the phenomenon of physician influencers, and...

Bernardo Moreno Peniche

Anthropology, UC Berkeley

Bernardo is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology. He studies the (dis)locations of tropicality in relation to the emergence of zoonoses and vector-borne diseases in the Global North. He focuses on Chagas, a parasitic disease transmitted by an insect vector, that has gained its epidemiological relevance in the US through its association with human migration from Latin America despite growing evidence of local transmission cycles that have continuously been part of US landscapes. He asks about the effects that framing Chagas disease as a foreign threat have on public health policy and clinical...

Michael J. Myers II

African American Studies, UC Berkeley

Srihari Nageswaran

Anthropology, UC Berkeley

Srihari Nageswaran is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. His prior research examined the relationship between India’s model of quasi-federalism and regionalist political mobilization in its southernmost state of Tamil Nadu. His tentative dissertation project leverages the tools of economic anthropology, critical geography, and South Asian studies to examine special economic zones in Chennai.

Lisa Ng

Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley

Lisa Ng is a PhD candidate in the Ethnic Studies Department with a Designated Emphasis in Science and Technology Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She interrogates the relationships between the racialized histories of waste and technology and their potential roles in social movements. Her current research examines how grassroots urban beautification projects in Asian (American) communities in Oakland, California, can represent new imaginations of relationality, resistance, and futurity. Beyond academia, she is an experienced multilingual community educator and...

Martha Ortega Mendoza

School of Education, UC Berkeley

Martha Ortega Mendoza is the proud daughter of two former restaurant cooks. Currently, Martha is a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dissertation builds upon the scholarship focused on undocumented students by documenting and uplifting the academic, social, and financial experiences of undocumented graduate students. Through her research, Martha identifies how institutional agents (e.g., staff, administrators, and faculty) can attract, retain, and help undocumented graduate students complete their graduate studies. In...