Grad Student - ISSI

Jonathan Marty

City & Regional Planning, UC Berkeley

Jonathan is a PhD student in City & Regional Planning at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design with Designated Emphases in Global Metropolitan Studies and Political Economy. His current research examines the governance of urban public space in New York City, Oakland, and Paris, as well as international organizing and advocacy movements around social housing. A critical, interdisciplinary social scientist committed to the study of urban inequalities, statecraft, and the production of space, Jonathan has previously conducted work on the effects of gentrification in Chicago Public...

Brie McLemore

Jurisprudence and Social Policy, UC Berkeley

Brie McLemore is a Ph.D. candidate in Jurisprudence and Social Policy with a designated emphasis in Science and Technology Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She has a Masters in Public Policy/Master of Arts in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Brandeis University and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Gender Studies from New College of Florida. Her research focuses on the adoption and integration of technology in urban spaces and the implications for surveillance. She is a Health Policy Research Scholar at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Pauline White Meeusen

Jurisprudence and Social Policy, UC Berkeley

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

Lisa Ng

Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley

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...

Anna Palmer

Sociology, UC Berkeley

Anna Palmer is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research examines the convergence of extractivism, (post)colonial development, and the climate crisis in the Caribbean through a qualitative and spatial lens. Her current project focuses on political decision-making and resistance to oil extraction in Guyana through content analysis and interview methods. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Occidental College.