"My name is Dreycey (like Dr. Dre with a C), and I have a twin brother who is also an engineer/scientist. We are both first generation educated with ambitions to make impacts in technology. The research I’m working on spans algorithms, bioinformatics and lab automation. Specifically the premise of my PhD is currently focused on creating a digital microfluidic device and accompanying software to aid in phage therapy."
- Stephan Allen, Department of Integrative Physiology
- Roberto Azaretto, Department of Critical Media Practices
- Brittney Banaei, Department of Theater and Dance
Liza is PhD candidate in Organizational Behavior at the Leeds School of Business. Prior to joining Leeds, she grew up in the greater Boston area and received her undergraduate degree in Organizational Studies and Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Michigan. After graduating, she worked in healthcare technology implementation and client operations. Presently, her research focuses on understanding the complexities and challenges of interpersonal relationships at work, such as disclosing personal information, advocating for oneself during difficult times, and building more compassionate workplaces. More specifically, Lisa studies how individuals navigate their career, work relationships, and identity after experiencing trauma in their personal lives.
- Fiona Bell, ATLAS Institute
"I love outdoor adventures and in this research am tackling the question of how to get gear across a body of water. The inspiration for this work is an adventure that originally started in Jackson Hole where people bike from downtown (27 miles one way), swim across Jenny Lake (1.3 miles), summit the Grand Teton (8 miles and 7,000 ft. elevation gain), and do it all in reverse in one day. The biggest logistical challenge is how to tow gear across the lake while you swim across it. In this research, I am creating a hydrodynamic dry bag that is water-tight and has a streamlined shape to reduce drag in the water. While the mountain adventure inspiration is a bit extreme I am also interested in how this bag may be used for backpacking, triathlon races, or even the military."
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "Prior to arriving in Colorado, I lived for a few years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a very diverse place where I was actively shifting between languages and cultures on a daily basis--something I grew up with and which oddly helps me feel at home. I was nervous about adjusting to a Boulder that people spoke of as insular. In my effort to meet to people, I attended several of the university’s ice-breaker events, the type where you make crafts and enjoy free pizza. At one of these events, the person sitting across from me had also recently arrived from Saudi Arabia, and invited me to an Arabic-language discussion group that was taking place half an hour later in the UMC. The topic to be discussed was, of all things, language and identity. I was blown away. I’ve been part of the group, which rotates between CU Boulder, CU Denver, and the School of Mines, ever since."
- Kristin Calahan, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Renata Carvalho Barreto, Department of Critical Media Practices
- Xiaoling Chen, Department of Geography
"My name is Janghee, and I'm from South Korea. My primary research falls in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), with a focus on personal well-being and sustainability concerns. My research explores the ways that people make sense of data-driven technologies (i.e., personal informatics, domestic technology) and how to design technologies for supporting critical reflection. As an HCI researcher, I aim to provide novel knowledge about how to design meaningful Human-AI Interaction, exploring new ways to build symbiotic relationships between people and commercial AI technologies. To do this, I draw from my background of social science and deploy humanistic epistemological commitments to discussions about what new technologies are needed for our society."
Why CU Boulder? "I initially applied to CU to work with world class faculty, including my advisor who is one of the preeminent scholars in my area of research as well as experts in all areas of social science research. Those professors are truly incredible and have been a huge part of my graduate school experience. When I interviewed at CU, I was most struck by the incredible community of graduate students in my department, and especially in the Social Psychology program. These people became my peers, collaborators, and friends and made CU the obvious choice for graduate school. I get to work every day with other passionate people who care about their research, their students, and each other."
- Zane Cupec, College of Music
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "I think one memory that still stands out is from my Master's Graduation at CU in Deceber 2018. That was the first time my parents had ever traveled outside of my home country India and they joined me for my graduation. Being able to bring them here for my special day, made me feel very proud and happy."
- Jing Deng, Leeds School of Business
- Nicholas Dragone, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
- Anden Drolet, Department of Anthropology
- Sebastian Duenas Ocampo, Department of Environmental Studies
"I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Environmental Studies program. My research project focuses on community-based natural resource management for mangrove forests in southern Thailand. Specifically, I aim to investigate the extent to which CBNRM for the protection of mangrove forests contributes to the improvement of the livelihoods of people in coastal communities and, additionally, to understand how such contributions are shared among people of different social statuses."
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "This past summer, with many of our research plans disrupted, CU Boulder cultural anthropology graduate students and faculty collectively organized a weekly reading seminar. This virtual gathering ended up being a really special opportunity to get to know my colleagues better and to read and think together!"
- Stephanie Ellyse Schneider, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Caitrin Engle, Department Anthropology
- Lucia Escamilla Gonzalez, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
- Chet Falk, Department of Materials Science & Engineering
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "Attending environment and development courses at Art and Art History and Geography have truly been one of the my best experiences at CU till date. These classes are designed to incorporate diverse views and opinions and it truly facilities a critical learning experience for a PhD within the field of environmental studies."
- Alex Flores, Department of Psychology
- Anna Gilmour, Department of Psychology
- Airy Gonzalez Peralta, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Why CU Boulder? "For me, the sense of community within the Political Science department at CU made me feel a strong sense of belonging, even as a dazed and overwhelmed first year graduate student. Even during a pandemic, the faculty and graduate students in the department strive to maintain that sense of collaboration and camaraderie."
- Rachel Havranek, Department of Geological Sciences
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "My favorite memory is being able to fly to Florida with my research lab and flying on a NASA parabolic flight as part of a project exploring 3D printing on the Moon."
"My background is in industrial and systems engineering, and while working in the aerospace industry I discovered a deep interest in learning about social systems and how to improve the lives of those in them. My research is focused on supporting well-being in social systems. I'm working on developing systems for supporting well-being for individuals with bipolar disorder, PTSD, and creating scalable methods for assessing human need and satisfaction. One project I'm excited about is dream informatics: using technology to help individuals reconnect with their subconscious. Methodologically I'm exploring strategies from human computer interaction, natural language processing, and network science."
- Peter Innes, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
- Taylor Johaneman, Department of Geography
"In my dissertation 'Feminist Claims and the Politics of Reception,' I offer a thorough analysis of feminist political practices in contemporary U.S. society. Specifically, I investigate how feminist political practices are received by a divergent set of audiences in order to launch a challenge to practical and theoretical understandings of feminist political practice as largely unsuccessful. Through detailed analysis of select case studies, I contend that broadening the understanding of who is listening when feminists make political claims expands conceptualizations of what constitutes successful political practice. Each case reveals how getting heard is contingent on an intersecting system of race, gender, and class that affects feminists’ perceived legitimacy as well as uncovers the dominant practices that silence, erase, or dismiss feminist claims of injustice. The grounding theory provided in this project, however, is not limited to feminist political practice. Its identification of the divergent ways in which feminist voices are silenced shares similarities with the ways in which other marginalized communities interact with dominant systems of power and urges us to question what can be learned by expanding our understanding of who is listening."
- Varsha Srikanth Koushik, Department of Computer Science
- Nicollette Laroco, Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering
"I study conservation in China, particularly knowledge politics around the creation of China's new national park system. I think that studying human-environment relationships, and by what systems and politics those relationships are established and perpetuated, is hugely important for the future of both our environment and social justice. I am a second-language learner of Mandarin Chinese, and have long been interested in environmental politics in China in particular, and their implications at both the local level in China and at the international level of conservation and climate change politics."
Why CU Boulder? "I wanted to come to a university that could help me learn about deployable space structures, and one with a renowned program in Aerospace Engineering with interesting and challenging courses. It's been exactly that, and I'm very happy to be doing my graduate degree here."
- Ferrell McClean, Department of Anthropology
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "One of my favorite memories at CU so far was during my first week of graduate school. The behavioral neuroscience program hosts a Neuroscience Retreat at the Mountain Research Center in Nederland. During the day I was able to interact with the faculty, professional staff and graduate students and discuss our work. At the end of the day the graduate students all spent the night in cabins and we were able to bond and get to know each other and I realized then how great not only the science is within our program, but how unique the sense of community is."
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "My favorite experience at CU has been teaching my composition class. I have the ability to design my own syllabus and class structure. As a result, I get to learn from a huge range of musical interests, as well as share my own experience writing in a variety of genres. A second fond memory is being part of the CU NOW (New Opera Workshop) here in Boulder, where we workshop brand new operas with some of the best creative people in the industry today including Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer."
- Sergei Motov, Department of German & Slavic Languages & Literatures
"With an undergraduate degree in Physics and Astronomy from Johns Hopkins University, I came to CU Boulder to pursue a more down-to-earth area of science. At the ATLAS Institute, in the Living Matter Lab, I am merging Mechanobiology with Electrical Engineering and Music, and am studying the effects of the somatosensory system on muscle memory and how we learn physical actions."
- Duong Nguyen, Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering
- Anna Paraskevopoulos, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
- Will Patterson, Department of Integrative Physiology
Why CU Boulder? "I came to CU for their anthropology and, more specifically, archaeology program. The anthropology department has amazing faculty that I have already learned so much from. My advisor, Dr. Sarah Kurnick, also has research interests that closely align with mine. These include topics such as community archaeology and studying inequality in the past."
"As an emerging professional cellist, I am primarily interested in the performance and advocacy of work by living composers. My work at the University has been geared towards celebrating exceptional work for the cello that exists beyond the scope of the traditional canon. I am attracted to the collaborative potential associated with working with living artists and the agency therein to engage historically underrepresented artists through performance and commission."
"Growing up in far northern Wisconsin allowed me to spend a lot of time in cold weather and snowy landscapes. The complex and dynamic behavior of snow makes choosing grip wax an art form, one that everyone in my home town is taught at a young age. This lead to my interest in studying the snowpack internal energy system and especially cold content, which can influence the timing of snowmelt (cold content is a good energy signal to understand when choosing grip wax as well)."
"I am a PhD Student in Dr. Katie Suding's lab in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I study riparian ecosystems from a restoration and plant community ecology perspective. I work in Rocky Mountain National Park and more locally in Left Hand Canyon for my dissertation research."
- Adrienne Scott, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Kailey Shara, ATLAS Institute
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "Attending a meeting at the NASA Johnson Space Center as part of my research, which is a rare privilege for a foreign national."
- Samantha Sheppard, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "My favorite CU experience so far has been getting to GPTI my own class. I love teaching and helping students to understand the world from different perspectives."
- Bertha Bermudez Tapia, Department of Sociology
Sanggay Tashi is PhD student in Cultural Anthropology at University of Colorado Boulder, and conducts research on herding history, culture, music, and recent changes including resettlement projects, labor migration, and kinship relations on the Tibetan Plateau. Sanggay eceived his BA in Cultural Anthropology and Documentary Studies at Duke University (2020).
Why CU Boulder? "My research focuses on how communities view and value rivers in the American West, and how those views and values might inform responses to increasing drought. CU is physically located near the headwaters of many of these rivers. More importantly, my advisor is engaged in anthropological research related to rivers."
- Chia-Nien Tsai, Department of Mechanical Engineering
"With this funding, I will begin production on a podcast called 'Gender Games.' Through a mixture of Queer Theory, Deconstructionism and live interview, I will produce a series of media archaeologies on the (re)presentation of gender in the virtual worlds of video gaming."
Why CU Boulder? "I came to CU in 2017 to pursue research in Sociology of Disaster. CU is home to the Natural Hazards Center (NHC), one of the nation’s oldest and most widely respected social science and interdisciplinary hazards and disaster research centers. I intended to work with Dr. Lori Peek, Professor of Sociology and Director of the NHC. Also, the location is beautiful. As someone who had never lived outside of Texas, I figured I couldn't go wrong with Colorado."
- Corinne Walsh, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
- Kimberley Warren, Department of Critical Media Practices
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "Working with the members of the Sleep and Chronobiology Lab has been my favorite experience. We have a wonderful team of undergraduates and graduate students, along with Professional Research Assistants, who make every aspect of my work extra fun and rewarding. The mentoring I have received at CU Boulder has also been especially important to my education."
Favorite CU Boulder Memory: "During Spring 2020, I had the opportunity to publish an essay as part of a collection in the Pandemic Diaries series on the American Ethnologist website. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, one of my graduate seminars (Affect Theory) found ourselves directly and collectively experiencing topics we had been learning about all semester. With the support of our professor, we wrote a collection of essays that explored some of the topics from our class in the context of the early days of the pandemic. It was empowering to write and think together during this time. Meeting so many incredible people in my department and getting to know the work of my fellow graduate students has also been a continual source of inspiration."
Why CU Boulder? "It was the day before COVID closed the campus in March. I was torn between three schools and I had to make a decision. I was absolutely paralyzed by the choice and a researcher I worked with offered to get tea with me and talk it out. I clearly remember what she said after I had babbled all my anxieties and my internal pro-con lists at her: 'It’s obvious to me that you want to stay here at CU.' In the end, it was obvious. Even though I had completed my undergraduate at CU, and many people encouraged me to go elsewhere for my graduate degree, there is no better place for me to continue growing in my chosen field."
