Grad Student - AARC

Joshua Acosta

Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley

Joshua Acosta is a PhD candidate in Ethnic Studies whose research interests are in Asian and Asian American studies, Disability Studies, History of Medicine, and Filipino American and Philippine studies. He is a recipient of the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship and was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and California State University Sally Casanova Scholar. His dissertation, “State of Insanity: Medicalizing Madness and the Imperial Subject in the Philippines, 1898-1965,” research traces how the interplay between colonial bureaucrats, Philippine medical scientists, mental illness patients,...

David Cao

Computer Science, UC Berkeley

David Minh-Duy Cao is a PhD Student in Computer Science with a Designated Emphasis in New Media. Engaging the intersection of programming languages research, human-computer interaction, and ethnic studies, their work imagines computing interfaces that embody a Third World politics of self-determination. As part of their work, David has been involved in creating a digital archive around the beginnings of the Asian American movement of the 60s and 70s, in collaboration with some of AAPA's founding members. Their research practice also encompasses designing experimental programming tools in...

Dori-Taylor Carter

Sociology, UC Berkeley

Dori-Taylor Carter (she/her/hers) is a sociology PhD student, Chancellor's Fellow, and NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She is interested in the construction of identity categories and populations, the political representation of identity groups, and the mobilization of shared identities and experiences toward collective liberation. Her previous work has examined how Asian American and Filipinx American community organizers mobilized the 2020 census in Chicago, and her master's project examines how political action committees construct identity representation in U.S. politics.

Julia Chang

Geography, UC Berkeley

Julia Chang's research focuses on socio-spatial configurations of capital, land, and labor, with a regional focus in the Asia Pacific and the United States. Their current dissertation project explores remittance flows, land speculation, and state capitalism in agrarian regions of the Philippines. As part of a team, Julia is also working on a project to map the composition of the AAPI working class in Northern California, particularly among low-income refugee and immigrant workers in the logistics sector. With abiding interests in Marxist political economy, labor geographies, and agrarian...

Tak-Huen Chau

Political Science, UC Berkeley

Tak-Huen Chau is a PhD candidate in political science and MA candidate in economics. He is interested in social identities and political behavior in general. Currently, he is working on projects that utilize formal theory and surveys to explain dominant group attitudes on national identity, assimilation, and bilingual education.

Lena Chen

Performance Studies, UC Berkeley

Lena Chen is an artist and Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. Her research examines the performance practices of Asian American/diasporic artists, sex workers, and community organizers in Los Angeles and New York City. A recipient of the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship, she holds a B.A. in Sociology from Harvard University and a M.F.A. in Fine Art from Carnegie Mellon University.

Her work has appeared in Amerasia Journal, PUBLIC...

Xinyi Chen

Psychology, UC Berkeley

Xinyi is a PhD student in Developmental Psychology with six years of experience working with children and families from underrepresented backgrounds in psychological research. Her research focuses on how socio-ecological factors (neighborhood, school, and family) shape the cognitive and socioemotional development of children from low-income and immigrant backgrounds. Her goal is to provide insights for policy and community programs supporting ethnic minority children and families.

Joyce Cheng

School of Public Health, UC Berkeley

Joyce Cheng joined the Doctor of Public Health program in Fall 2024. Joyce aims to strengthen her training in community engagement partnership and research, equitable health information delivery as well as to explore cross-sectoral partnership and innovative systems thinking. Joyce started her career in the non-profit community health sector in 2006 and held a leadership role since 2020. Joyce serves as the Executive Director and Community Researcher at the Chinese Community Health Resource Center to lead a mission to build a healthy community through culturally and linguistically...

Claire Chun

Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley

Kathleen Corpuz

School of Public Health, UC Berkeley

Kathleen Corpuz is a DrPH student at the School of Public Health and a Filipina settler in Hawai'i, deeply committed to fostering interethnic collaboration to improve public health systems for Filipinos, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. With a background in strengthening research capacity and community services through university partnerships, she supports grassroots movements that prioritize collective solidarity. Kathleen actively engages in community-led research practices, advocating for food sovereignty by restoring lo'i kalo and promoting wrap-around services for justice-...