Training Program Fellows

Micah Card (she/they) is a writer and doctoral candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz Department of Education. Micah has previously served as a California Early Childhood Mentor Teacher and UCSC Graduate Pedagogy and Professional Development Teaching Fellow. Their current research centers on the workforce and political economy of early childhood education (ECE), specifically examining how cultural and historical narratives shape the working conditions of the field, particularly those concerning race, gender, and the politics of knowledge and expertise. From this perspective, Micah uses qualitative methods and critical theories to examine and illuminate the lived experiences of early educators.

Lilith Frakes is a PhD student in History of Consciousness, and has previously earned a MS in Primate Behavior and Ecology from Central Washington University, as well as a BA in Cultural Anthropology and Comparative Literature from Stanford University. Her master’s thesis examined paternal behavior in orangutans in different captive settings, which inspired her current research questions about conservation, speciation, and sexuality and pleasure within non-human primates. Drawing from Donna Haraway’s work on primatology and speculative fabulation about the natural world, Lilith aspires to better understand how we can better live alongside our fellow primates.

Emma Gee is a Ph.D. student in Environmental Studies advised by Drs. Katherine Seto and Elliott Hazen. Her research examines fishing on the high seas and its subsequent ecological effects through the lenses of environmental justice and neocoloniality. Emma brings her research closer to home by investigating relationships between Asian-Americans and marine conservation. Prior to her doctoral studies, Emma worked as a fishing data analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Oceana. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Systems Engineering and an M.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University.

Prajna Hebbar (she/her) is a PhD student in the Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics program. Her research interests are broadly in the field of comparative genomics with a focus on comparative gene annotation on vertebrate genomes. She has a BTech in Information Technology from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, India.

Matte Hewitt

Matte Hewitt is a filmmaker, writer, and environmentalist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their work is influenced by research from the fields of natural history, multispecies anthropology, queer Indigenous studies, gender studies, feminist science and technology studies. As part of their MFA thesis and SJTP project, Matte is producing a nonfiction film that explores Indigenous knowledges and settler histories through the trans figure of the hummingbird. They’re also researching military drone technology and biomimicry in relation to hummingbird physiognomy and other winged beings.

Before joining the Social Documentation program at UC Santa Cruz and becoming a Science and Justice Training Program Fellow, their documentary production training began in Philadelphia’s acclaimed Scribe Film Scholars, a media center for social change and community empowerment, founded in 1982 by Louis Massiah. There, Matte developed and produced the documentary “With Hope,” a film centering on the experiences of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people in Philadelphia who reconnect to the outdoors through the act of birding and, by doing so, discover a profound sense of belonging, joy, and hope. Matte holds a BFA in Sculpture from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.

Sam Kodama (he/him) is a PhD student in the Earth and Planetary Science Department who studies how the growth and retreat of past ice sheets impacted landscape evolution and sea-level across North America. Prior to UCSC he received a BA in Earth Science from Columbia University studying landscape evolution underneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Sam is interested in the role of undergraduate labor in research and the demilitarization of science.

Megha Srigyan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at UC Santa Cruz, where she studies ancient DNA research and its applications in taxonomy and conservation of various species. Hailing from India, Megha's academic journey began with a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from Delhi University, followed by a Master’s in Evolutionary Biology at LMU Munich and Uppsala University.

Previously, she has worked in ancient human DNA, carotenoid coloration in avian species, acoustic signaling in frogs and experimental evolution of fruit flies. Beyond the laboratory, Megha is drawn to the intersections of science with broader societal discourses through Science and Technology Studies (STS) and critical race theory. As a member of the UCSC Genomics Institute’s committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Megha co-leads the ‘Secret Society of Mentors’ initiative, aiming to cultivate a supportive mentorship ecosystem for graduate students mentoring undergraduate interns.

Amanda Syamsul is a Ph.D. student in the Earth Sciences, whose doctoral research is centered around seismology, crustal deformation, and climate impacts. Her research is currently focused on studying climatic-induced earthquakes, in both recent and million-year timescales. Prior to UCSC, she received her BSc in Geophysics from the University of Washington, with a minor in Applied Math, and her diploma at MARA College Seremban in Malaysia, which is where she started becoming active in community outreach and organizing, mostly centered around disability access in sports, and meeting the needs of unhoused communities.

Alissa Takesy (she/her/hers) is an international PhD student in the environmental studies department with a designated emphasis in coastal science and policy at UCSC. Her research interest is around Indigenous knowledge systems informing resource management on the ground, specifically in her Pacific islands context of Micronesia. She received her bachelor’s in biology from Fairfield University and master’s in sustainable international development from Brandeis University. This led her to work for her national (Federated States of Micronesia) government in resource management and development.

Divya Lakshmi Venkatraman is a Ph.D. student in the Biomolecular Engineering Department.

Carrie Hamilton is a PhD student in environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz. Her work draws on political ecology and critical resource geographies to examine the social and environmental dilemmas posed by the expanding U.S. energy transition mineral frontier. Prior to coming to UCSC, she worked as a program associate at the Social Science Research Council, the administrative coordinator of the Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science, and a research technician at the Center for the Study of Adolescent Risk and Resilience at Duke University. She earned her bachelor’s in environmental science and geography from UNC Chapel Hill.

Kellie Petersen (she/her) is a PhD student in the Sociology department. Her research interests broadly concern future-focused themes such as climate change and the Anthropocene, technology, and urbanization. She has a BA in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Northern Iowa and an MA in Sociology from the University of South Florida.

Jonas Oppenheimer is a second-year member of the paleogenomics lab with Beth Shapiro in Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics. Jonas works to understand the evolutionary dynamics of Beringian megafauna through ancient DNA, investigating the consequences of climate, population history, and hybridization on these species. Jonas is also a Fellow with CITL (Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning) learning pedagogical techniques to make an education in science accessible to all.

Jenny Pensky is a third-year member of Professor Andrew Fisher’s hydrogeology lab in Earth & Planetary Sciences. Jenny focuses on how managed aquifer recharge (MAR) can be used to improve both water supply and quality. For their SJTP project, Jenny and Jonas will explore the relationships between “invasive” plants, botanical gardens, and colonialism.

Jon Akutagawa is a graduate student following the PBSE BMEB Track working with Angela Brooks’ Lab. Jon holds a B.S. in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley. Jon wants to develop better models to predict disease progression and drug resistance in cancers that arise from mutations that alter splicing and the transcriptome. Jon’s current project involves uncovering mutations in the 5′ untranslated regions of genes and characterizing their effects on transcription and translation. When not in the lab, Jon enjoys discovering new rock walls to climb, re-imagining childhood Japanese dishes, and fiddling with new frameworks for data visualization.

Dennis Browe obtained his MA in sexuality studies from San Francisco State University and a BA in philosophy from Binghamton University - State University of New York (SUNY). Dennis is a graduate student is Sociology with research interests in the fields of medical sociology, science & technology studies (STS), and sexuality and gender. Faculty Advisor: Jenny Reardon.

Halie Kampman is a graduate student in the Environmental Studies department. Research interests address agricultural projects in sub Saharan Africa which are designed to improve nutrition. More specifically, I study the recent effort to solve malnutrition through biofortification, the breeding of staple crops to be richer in essential micronutrients. Rather than accepting biofortification as the silver bullet it is often made out to be, my research troubles biofortification to examine the degree to which it offers an alternative to conventional approaches (short term nutritional supplements), and how its outcomes may be gendered.

Dorothy R. Santos is a Filipina American writer, editor, and curator whose research interests include digital art, computational media, and biotechnology. Born and raised in San Francisco, California, she holds Bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of San Francisco and received her Master’s degree in Visual and Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz as a Eugene V. Cota-Robles fellow. Her work appears in art21, Art Practical, Rhizome, Hyperallergic, Ars Technica, Vice Motherboard, and SF MOMA’s Open Space. Her essay “Materiality to Machines: Manufacturing the Organic and Hypotheses for Future Imaginings,” was published in The Routledge Companion to Biology in Art and Architecture. She serves as a co-curator for REFRESH, in partnership with Eyebeam, and is the program manager for the Processing Foundation.

Caroline Spurgin is a graduate student in the Education department.

Erica Zurawski is a graduate student in the Sociology department working on food justice and has a blog: onthetableblog.com. Areas: Food Studies; Food Inequality & Food Access; Race & Ethnicity; Cultural Studies; Cultural & Anthropological Studies; Social Theory; Urban Sociology; Ecofeminism; Historical Sociology; Critical Ethnography; Urban Political Ecology

Krisha Hernandez’s doctoral research works at the interfaces of anthropology, Native and Indigenous studies, and sciences and technologies studies. Hernández examines the ways in which U.S. conventional agricultural research, development and practices may (re)produce settler colonial structures and ethics by reinforcing invisibility of and violence against Native and Indigenous lives and bodies.

Paloma Medina is a PhD student in the BioMolecular Engineering Department at UC Santa Cruz. The diversity of life is a true wonder to behold: from the smallest microbial cell to the largest redwood tree, millions of years of evolution have given rise to these diverse forms of life. Paloma’s research centers around the science of de-extinction, population genetics, and sex and gender diversity in nature.

Vivian Underhill is a PhD student in the Feminist Studies program at UC Santa Cruz. Previously, she worked at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, digitizing and mapping historical records of Arctic sea ice concentrations. She is interested in the intersections of queer ecology, feminist and decolonial science studies, and polar oceanography. Her work focuses on the politics of knowledge production in land management and permitting processes, specifically related to oil and gas extraction on Alaska’s Northern Slope.

2024-2025 Fellows

2022-2023 Fellows

2020-2021 Fellows

2018-2019 Fellows

2017-2018 Fellows

2014-2015 Fellows

2013-2014 Fellows

2011-2012 Fellows

2010-2011 Fellows