Building Belonging Student Showcase

May 17, 2023

The Institute for Social Transformation hosted an end-of-year celebration and student showcase event to honor the work that has been accomplished in the Building Belonging Program. Students involved in the program in 2022-2023 presented their contributions to research projects. This annual event provides Building Belonging Fellows an opportunity to share their research with the community.

Read this Q&A with Building Belonging Fellows >>

Since the Building Belonging program launched in 2020, we have awarded over 340 student scholarships–totalling more than $500,000 going directly to students–and supported over 130 faculty research projects.

Video Recording

Event Photos

Student Presentations

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Intersectionality, Close Relationships, and Sense of Belonging in First-Generation College Students
Kayla Mendoza (Sociology & Legal Studies)
Isabelle Vo (Psychology)     
Faculty Mentor: Margarita Azmitia, Psychology Department

Educational Equity in Agroecology    
Paradyse Oakley (CRES / CMMU / POLI) 
Faculty Mentor: Damian Parr, Center for Agroecology

Intersections of Race, Affect and Environmental Action
Paradyse Oakley (CRES / CMMU / POLI)   
Faculty Mentor: Flora Lu, Environmental Studies Department

Asian American Environmentalisms 
Laura Galanos (Critical Race and Ethnic Studies)    
Faculty Mentor: Flora Lu, Environmental Studies Department

Hurricane Devastation in Nicaragua
Lilith Guzman (Environmental Studies and Legal Studies)  
Faculty Mentor: Ravi Rajan, Environmental Studies Department

Impacts of Global Trade Relationships: A Case Study of Jalisco, MX
Maya Mendoza (Environmental Studies)    
Faculty Mentor: Ravi Rajan, Environmental Studies Department

Assessing Habitat Use by Mammals and Birds in Restored Tropical Forest 
Selma Ruiz (Environmental Studies)    
Karla Vaca (Environmental Studies/Biology)    
Faculty Mentor: Karen Holl, Environmental Studies Department

Drought Resilience in Joshua Trees
Azarely Bedolla (Environmental Studies/Environmental Sciences)
Faculty Mentor: Michael Loik, Environmental Studies Department

Social Influences on Memory Conformity
Gavin Provencio (Cognitive Science/Linguistics)   
Faculty Mentor: Jeremy Yamashiro, Psychology Department

Think/No-Think 
Lucinda Veloz (Intensive Psychology)   
Faculty Mentor: Jeremy Yamashiro, Psychology Department

Black Muslim Worldmaking: Race, Religion, and Gender in the Lives of Black Muslim College Students 
Zina Hamrouni (Psychology/Education)
Jade Goree (Education/Intensive Psychology)
Theresa Bostic (History/Sociology/Black Studies Minor)
Faculty Mentor: Saskias Casanova, Psychology Department

Kelp RISES: Kelp Restoration for an Integrated Social Ecological System 
Carly McCaw (Intensive Psychology)   
Faculty Mentor: Carrie Pomeroy, Coastal Science & Policy Program

Black Farmer Resilience in the Face of Ongoing Land Dispossession
Marielena Benavides (Sociology/Legal Studies)   
Faculty Mentor: Madeleine Fairbairn, Environmental Studies Department

Building Diversity in Sociology and Science and Technology Studies:
UC-HBCU Pathways Initiative    
Dimitri Cardona (Sociology)   
Faculty Mentor: James Doucet-Battle, Sociology Department

Digital Enclosures and the Digital Divide
Sophia Partida (Psychology/Sociology)
Arianna Fabian (Education/Psychology)
Faculty Mentor: Roberto de Roock, Education Department

School Youth, Restorative Justice, and the Dilemmas of Structural Violence    
Lizeth Peña Sanchez (Education, Democracy, and Justice/LALS/Sociology)
Elizabeth Peña Sanchez (LALS/Sociology)   
Faculty Mentor: Rekia Jibrin, Education Department

Chimpanzee Video Coding Team    
Halena Soto (Anthropology/Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)   
Faculty Mentor: Vicky Oelze, Anthropology Department

EEG Replication Project 
Mia Laskan (Cognitive Science)
Lupita Mercado (Cognitive Science)
Ángel Sánchez (Psychology)
Faculty Mentor: Liv Hoversten, Psychology Department

Lived Tensions of Institutionalizing K-12 Ethnic Studies: Learning from the Political Dreams & Struggles of Teachers of Color
Autumn Montez (Intensive Psychology)
Juli Sofijski (Sociology)
Faculty Mentor: Josephine Pham, Education Department

Harm Reduction For All    
Rafael Revolorio Keith (Global & Community Health/Critical Race & Ethnic Studies) 
Faculty Mentor: Carlos Martinez, Latin American & Latino Studies Department

Language Comprehension and Cognitive Control    
Lea Toledo (Cognitive Science)    
Faculty Mentor: Megan Boudewyn, Psychology Department

Education’s Surveillance Quandary: Exploring the Cost vs. Convenience of Post-COVID Technology Application
Maria Cecilia Soto (Applied Linguistics & Multilingualism: TESOL and Linguistics)
Alex Santos (Education, Democracy & Justice)
Luyue Zhang (Education/Sociology)
Joshua Garcia (Education, Democracy, and Justice)
Faculty Mentor: Nolan Higdon, Education Department

Gen Z, Social Media, and Visibility: Navigating the Intersections of Gender and Sexuality in the Context of Whiteness 
Gabriella Garcia (Intensive Psychology)    
Faculty Mentor: Adriana Manago, Psychology Department

Family Planning Incentives and Child Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment    
Sanjana Dukkipati (Business Management Economics)    
Faculty Mentor: Ariel Zucker, Economics Department

We Belong: Community Initiated Student Engaged Research
Alysia Leon (Sociology)
Crystal Alvarez Castillo (Sociology)    
Faculty Mentor: Steve McKay, Sociology Department