Christopher Joseph Lee
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of English: Literature and Languages, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., Religion and Comparative Literature, Boston University; MTS, Women, Gender, Sexuality, Religion, Harvard Divinity School; Ph.D., Brown University, English
Dissertation: Unspectacular Violence: Narrating Trans/Queer Death in Contemporary American Culture
Thesis Advisor: Ralph E. Rodriguez, Professor of American Studies and English, Brown University
Research Topic: Developing a book manuscript on the trans and queer aesthetic strategies available to transform the politics of damage beyond carceral solutions and catastrophic reprisal. Research areas include trans literature and poetics, queer necropolitics, visual studies, critical prison studies, Asian American studies, and HIV/AIDS cultural studies.
Mentor: Nigel Hatton, Professor of Literature and Philosophy, University of California, Merced
Natalie Santizo
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., Psychology and Sociology, University of Southern California; M.S., Justice Studies, Arizona State University; Ph.D., Chicana/o and Central American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
Dissertation: Critical Latinx Foodways: Racial Formation, Regional Identity, and Placemaking in the San Gabriel Valley, 1900-1968
Thesis Advisor: Genevieve Carpio, Professor of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
Research Topic: Developing a critical foodways lens in historical and contemporary investigations of identity, placemaking, and survival of Latinx people. My project, Critical Latinx Foodways: Food Politics, Race, and History in Southern California, 1900-2020, argues that historical and contemporary struggles of food workers are vital to our understanding of placemaking and survival of Latinx populations. I do so by focusing on food laborers and vendors that shape the places they work (labor), live in (placemaking), and their movement across regional boundaries (mobility).
Mentor: Mario Sifuentez, Professor of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, University of California, Merced
Kaozong Nancy Mouavangsou
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., English, University of California, Davis; M.A., Education, University of California, Davis; Ph.D., Education, University of California, Davis
Dissertation: A Critical Ethnography of Hmong American Students Navigating and Transforming Their University
Thesis Advisor: Julia Menard-Warwick, Professor of Linguistics, University of California, Davis
Research Topic: Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Education, Hmong American, and Epistemology and Methodology
Mentor: Ma Vang, Professor of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, University of California, Merced
Cristina Gomez-Vidal
Current Position: Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Public Health, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies Field, University of California, Berkeley; M.S.W., Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: The Legal Reproduction of Infant Health Inequities in Unincorporated Communities
Thesis Advisor: Anu Manchikanti Gómez, Professor of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley
Research Topic: Government systems and community resilience and adaptation to climate-change related health threats in unincorporated communities
Mentor: A. Susana Ramirez, Professor of Public Health, University of California, Merced
Mairin Balisi
Current Position: Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., Integrative Biology and B.A. Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley; M.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles
Dissertation: Carnivory in the Oligo-Miocene: Resource specialization, competition, and coexistence among North American fossil canids
Thesis Advisor: Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles
Research Topic: The isotopic signature of humans on carnivores over a century of urbanization
Mentor: Jessica Blois, Professor of Life and Environmental Sciences, and Sora Kim Professors of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced
Hannah Palmer
Current Position: Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Department Life and Environmental, University of California, Merced
Education: B.S., Marine Biology, University of California, Los Angeles; Ph.D., Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis
Dissertation: Oceans and climate change in the Northeast Pacific through the Holocene
Thesis Advisor: Tessa Hill, Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences and Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis
Research Topic: Geochemical tracing of California wildfire: implications for paleofire reconstruction and wildfire pollutant distribution
Mentor: Sora Kim, Professor of Life and Environmental Sciences, and Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Professor of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced
Nathan P. Acebo
Current Position: Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Critical Mission Studies, Department of Anthropology & Heritage Studies, University of California, Merced
Education: BB.S., Anthropology, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; M.A., Anthropology, Stanford University; Ph.D., Anthropology, Stanford University
Dissertation: Re-Assembling Radical Indigenous Autonomy in the Alta California Hinterlands: Survivance at Puhú
Thesis Advisor: Barbara Voss, Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University
Research Topic: California Indigenous social networks, subaltern resistance and governance, colonialism, decolonizing practices
Mentor: Kathleen Hull, Professor of Anthropology & Heritage Studies, University of California, Merced
Kyungjin Min
Current Position: Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced
Education: B.SB.S., Life Science, POSTECH, Korea; M.C.P., Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, Korea; Ph.D., Ecology, University of Kansas
Dissertation: Temperature responses of microbial soil organic matter decomposition and associated respiration at various scales, ranging from exo-enzymes to populations to ecosystems
Thesis Advisor: Sharon Billings, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas
Mentor: Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Professor of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced
Myles Ali
Current Position: Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., History, York University; M.A., History, York University; Ph.D., History, York University
Dissertation: "Here in the Queen's Territory. Every Man and Woman is Free": Slavery and the Lives of the Enslaved in Late Nineteenth Century Sierra Leone
Thesis Advisor: José C. Curto, Professor of History, York University
Research Topic: CSlavery and Emancipation in British West Africa
Mentor: Kevin Dawson, Professor of History, University of California, Merced
Aaron Alvarado
Current Position: President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., American Studies and Women & Gender Studies, University of California, Davis; M.A., Ethnic Studies, University of California, Riverside; Ph.D., Ethnic Studies, University of California, Riverside
Dissertation: Reckoning the Rural: The San Joaquin Valley, California, and the Politics of Knowledge
Thesis Advisor: Dylan Rodriguez, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of California, Riverside and Nick Mitchell, Professor of Feminist Studies and Critical Race & Ethnic Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
Research Topic: The intersections of knowledge production, racial capitalism, and agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley
Mentor: Mario Sifuentez, Professor of History, University of California, Merced
Colleen Cheverko, Social Sciences
Current Position: Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Merced
Education: B.S., Anthropology, Psychology, Binghamton University-State University of New York; M.A., Anthropology, California State University, Chico; Ph.D., Anthropology, The Ohio State University
Dissertation: The biological impact of developmental stress: correlations between growth disruptions and mortality risk in bioarchaeology
Thesis Advisor: Clark Spencer Larsen, Professor of Anthropology and Mark Hubbe, Professor of Anthropology, Ohio State University
Research Topic: Childhood stress and mortality risk in prehistoric California
Mentor: Christina Torres-Rouff, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Merced
Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young, Social Sciences
Current Position: Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Arts, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., Spanish, Swarthmore College; M.P.H., Maternal and Child Health, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Community Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
Dissertation: Producing citizenship position through state immigrant policies: an examination of the relationships between health, policy, citizenship, and race in the United States
Thesis Advisor: Steven P. Wallace, Professor of Community Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
Research Topic: Immigration policy and health
Mentor: Tanya Golash-Boza, Professor of Sociology and Susana Ramirez, Professor of Public Health Communication, University of California, Merced
Marie-Claire Chelini, Life Sciences
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., Biological Sciences, Universidade de São Paulo; M.S., Biological Sciences, Universidade de São Paulo; Ph.D., Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Dissertation: Proximate and evolutionary causes of sexual size dimorphism in the crab spider Mecaphesa celer
Thesis Advisor: Eileen Hebets, Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Research Topic: Malaria as a driver of phenotypic diversity in a California lizard
Mentor: Carolin Frank, Professor of Natural Sciences, and Danielle Edwards, Professor of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced
Fernanda Santos, Mathematics, Engineering & Physical Sciences
Current Position: Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Natural Sciences: Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced
Education: B.S., Geography, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; M.A., Physical Geography, Hunter College of the City of University of New York; Ph.D., Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Dissertation: Carbon and nitrogen dynamics from slow pools of soil organic matter in a temperate forest: pyrogenic organic matter and root litter.
Thesis Advisor: Jeffrey A. Bird, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Research Topic: Terrestrial controls of fire-derived carbon exported from land to rivers
Mentor: Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Professor of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced, and Sanjai Parikh, Professor of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis
Oana David, Arts & Humanities
Current Position: Dr. David is an Analytical Linguist with Google. In her role, she works across Google platforms to drive improvements in quality, classification, information structure, and natural language understanding and generation.
Education: B.A., Anthropology and Japanese Language & Literature, Boston University; M.S., Modern Japanese Studies, University of Oxford; M.S., Linguistics and Philology, University of Oxford; Ph.D., Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: Metaphor in the Grammar of Argument Realization
Thesis Advisor: Eve Sweetser, Professor of Linguistics and George Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley
Research Topic: Computational and experimental approaches to the study of metaphor in communications about immigration, climate change, disease and other societal challenges.
Mentor: Teenie Matlock, Professor of Cognitive & Information Sciences, University of California, Merced
Mark Fleming, Social Sciences
Current Position: Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts: Public Health, University of California, Merced
Education: B.A., Biology, Oberlin College; M.S., Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Ph.D., Medical Anthropology, University of California, San Francisco/University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: Stress and the Biopolitics of Work
Thesis Advisor: Sharon Kaufman, Professor of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Research Topic: : "Hot Spotting" and the Political and Economic Management of Chronic Disease in the Urban Poor
Mentor: Nancy Burke, Professor of Public Health, University of California, Merced
