Beatriz Rios Rojas is a second-year grad student at UCI, will be working on “Park Visitor Experiences through Community-Based Research” with Crystal Cove Conservancy, a research project that examines the facilitators and barriers to park visitors and overnight guests, particularly those historically excluded from public spaces. Beatriz is also a 2nd-year grad student in the Bracken lab, within the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Beatriz is a Venezuelan marine ecologist interested in explaining how the distribution patterns of marine invertebrate assemblages are influenced by processes that operate at different spatial scales in marine environments.
Ada Acobta is a third year Ph.D. candidate in the department of Earth System Science at UCI. Ada will be working with GREEN-Madison Park Neighborhood Association on “Citizen Science Popular Education Fellows” as part of the RJS. This project involves designing and creating popular education and data collection tools for citizen science, engaging communities on the topic of environmental pollution. For her PhD dissertation, Ada aims to understand the impact of commodity trade on the benefits that we obtain from nature- ecosystem services. She works closely with local community members to quantify some of these impacts. Ada is passionate about addressing environmental issues that disproportionately negatively impact marginalized communities. She strongly believes in equal access to a healthy and safe environment for everyone, despite race, social status or any form of segregation.
Lyric Russo is a 4th year Ph.D. student in the Social Ecology Core program. Lyric will be working on the project “Park Visitor Experiences through Community-Based Research” with Crystal Cove Conservancy, a project that examines the facilitators and barriers to park visitors and overnight guests, particularly those historically excluded from public space. Her Ph.D research focuses on understanding, intervening, and preventing gender-based violence. Lyric is specifically interested in how the social, community, and cultural contexts in which trauma survivors recover affect their well-being, as well as factors of personal, cultural, and community resilience that may buffer the detrimental health effects of violence and adversity.
Darshana Rawal is a Ph.D. student in the Program in Public Health. Her RJS project is “Membership-based Organization Governance Structure Development” alongside Orange County Environmental Justice, in which she will be continuing the development of a horizontal decision making structure for the organization’s membership. Her Ph.D research interests lie in the social determinants of health, primarily as they relate to sexual and reproductive health within ethnic communities. Specifically, she is interested in understanding how socio-cultural perspectives and expectations impact the sexual/reproductive health and health-seeking behaviors of South Asian Americans, and underserved populations such as gender and sexual minorities. Her work seeks to destigmatize the topic of sexual/reproductive health within the Asian community as well as improve access to care and information. She also has the goal of contributing to research and policies that address the reproductive health disparities within the United States.
Luc McKenzie is a Ph.D. student in the department of sociology at UC Irvine. Luc will be working on “Environmental Justice Water Quality Photovoice Curriculum Development” with Orange County Environmental Justice, a project that involves writing up and packaging a train-the-trainer curriculum for water monitoring through PhotoVoice. For his Ph.D, Luc researches the global political and economic impacts of development on the environment of communities of color in Southern California. This includes how global commodity chains and state supported infrastructure projects transform urban space to create underdeveloped communities through racialized labor regimes. Luc is also interested in how movements of resistance form in regions characterized historically by settler colonialism, white supremacy, and racial capitalism.
Karen Valladares is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Environmental and Occupational Health Department in the Program in Public Health. Karen will be working alongside the GREEN-Madison Park Neighborhood Association on “Community-campus Research Collaborative Team Science,” a project that involves collaborating with UCI faculty and staff researchers on research about air quality. Her Ph.D. research is focused on understanding how PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) may affect human health and how other social and environmental stressors may exacerbate those effects. Through the RJS fellowship she hopes to gain more experience and knowledge in how to create and maintain connection with local communities. Karen believes we need to have communities be a part of the research process in order to effectively press for remediation and future prevention of the numerous social and environmental burdens.
Dejay Hodge is a middle-school teacher and semi-pro rugby player currently studying to receive their doctorate in Education from the University of California, Irvine. Dejay will be working on “Environmental Justice Water Quality Photovoice Curriculum Development” with Orange County Environmental Justice, a research project that involves writing up and packaging a train-the-trainer curriculum of water monitoring through PhotoVoice. Dejay’s Ph.D research works to understand the damaging effects of compulsory education and the transformative potential of community-based liberation schools in Afrikan and Indigenous communities. Dejay works alongside two grassroots educational organizations building self-determination inside of their communities: Neighbor Program and the Unidos Homeschool Cooperative.
Syeda Mahmood is a second year student in UCI’s Anthropology Ph.D. program, with an emphasis in legal anthropology. Syeda will be working alongside GREEN-Madison Park Neighborhood Association on “Community-campus Research Collaborative Team Sciencer,” a project that involves collaborating with UCI faculty and staff researchers on research about air quality. She hopes to pursue a JD/Ph.D. to both service communities and to better understand how people experience different legal mechanisms. Her work is informed by past and present organizing experiences and her politics of care. Syeda finds the RJS Fellowship to be an exciting site to further engage in community based research as she gains training from her Ph.D.
Seyfullah Ozkurt is a third-year Ph.D. student in the department of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. Alongside the GREEN-Madison Park Neighborhood Association, Seyfullah will be working on “Citizen Science Popular Education,” a project that involves designing and creating popular education and data collection tools for citizen science, engaging communities on the topic of environmental pollution. He received his BA at Bogazici University in Istanbul and his MA at Marquette University in Wisconsin. His research focuses on citizenship, migration, and political exclusion; particularly on how states use data and algorithms to target minorities and migrants in similar ways.
Katherine Waggoner is a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society. She will be working on “Membership-based Organization Governance Structure Development” with Orange County Environmental Justice, a project that involves continuing the development of a horizontal decision making structure for the organization’s membership. Katherine has a background in community engaged research and a passion for research equity and community partnership. Her research has focused on prison policy, the impacts of criminal legal system involvement, and identity.
Follow us