Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
2019 Ph.D in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Track: Cultural Anthropology and History
University of California, Merced
2008 B.A. in Political Science and Ethnic Studies
University of California, Berkeley
RESEARCH INTERESTS
political/urban anthropology, subnational politics/institutions, urban geography & poverty, California Studies, history of Oakland, CA., the Central Valley, state-formation, ethnographic methodologies & the Digital Humanities
PUBLICATIONS
“Doubling Down on ‘Downtown’ in Fresno, CA.”
Anthropology News. American Anthropological Association, July 6, 2018
“Fresno, CA’s New Downtown: Visualizing Policy through Anthropology”
The Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, Harvard University Press Vol. 30 (2018)
"Intersecting Race, Space, and Place through Community Gardens"
Co-Authored with Emily Hite, Dr. Qasimah Boston and Dalila D’Ingeo.
Annals of Anthropological Practice, Wiley. 2017, 2(41): 55-66
“Water, Space and Placemaking: Futurecasting in Fresno, CA”
Winter 2017 Issue, Boom: A Journal of California, University of California Press
"Change and Memory on the Fresno Fulton Mall"
Streetnotes, Fall 2016 Special Issue: "Public Space: Between Spectacle and Resistance", Vol. 25
“A Changing ‘Patriotism’. Book Review: Exhibiting Patriotism by Theresa Bergman.”
Current Anthropology, University of Chicago Press 2014 (5)33: 359-360
Other Academic Writing
2017 “Money, Debt and Shame: Financing Our Humanist Futures”
University of California Humanities Research Initiative (UCHRI) Humanists@Work Blog
2016 “Oakland’s Changing Narrative”
“The Oakland School of Urbanism” Blog, UCHRI-funded UC Research Group
2015 "Troubadours and the Production of Early Chicano Literature"
University of California, Merced Center for the Humanities Blog
2015 "Early Modern England's Social Bag of Tricks"
University of California, Merced Center for the Humanities Blog
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS & AWARDS
2018-2019 Fellowship, University of California President’s Dissertation Year Award
2017-2018 Fellowship, University of California President’s Dissertation Year Award [Declined]
2016 Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Honorable Mention
2015-2016 University of California Humanities Network Research Group,“The ‘Oakland School’ of Urbanism” - $500
2015-2016 Graduate Fellow, Center for the Humanities at UC Merced- $21,000
2015 UC Merced USAP Summer Funding - $3800
2014 UC Merced USAP Summer Funding - $4000
2013 UC Merced USAP Summer Funding - $7800
2006 Fellowship, Public Policy (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
PRESENTATIONS
Invited Talks
2017 “Political & Economic Organizations” Anthropology 5: Applied Anthropology
California State University, Fresno - Invited by Dr. Michael Essinger
2016 “Remembering Downtown: Placemaking and Memory on Fresno’s Fulton Mall”
2016 Whitsett Graduate History Seminar at CSU Northridge- Northridge, CA
Guest Lectures
2017 “Urban Space and Citizenship” Anthropology 190: The Anthropology of Citizenship
University of California, Merced Invited by Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle
2016 “California, Chaos and Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower”
English 112: California Literature, University of California, Merced
Invited by Dr. Jan Goggans
2015 “The Revitalization of the Fresno Fulton Mall”
History 112: The Other California, University of California, Merced
Invited by Dr. Michael Essinger
2015 “Research in Urban Anthropology”
Anthropology 190: Urban Anthropology, University of California, Merced
Invited by Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle
2014 “Oakland, Urban Space and Robert Self’s American Babylon”
History 107: The American City, University of California, Merced
Invited by Dr. David Torres-Rouff
Conference Presentations
2018
(Accepted) “Tech Won’t Save Us”: Negotiating Precarity in the Workplace”
Co-Authored with Zyed Ismailjee (Cognitive & Behavioral Science, UC Merced)
2018 UC Merced Interdisciplinary Humanities Graduate Conference - Merced, CA
2017
“Water, Space and Power: Placemaking in California’s Central Valley”
2017 American Anthropology Association Poster session presenter - Washington, D.C.
“Water, Space and Power: Placemaking in California’s Central Valley”
2017 Society for Applied Anthropology, Poster session presenter - Santa Fe, NM
2016
"Space and Power: Water Policy as Placemaking in California's Central Valley"
2015-2016 Center for the Humanities Seminar Series, UC Merced
“Intersecting Race, Space and Place through Community Gardens” Co-Authored with Emily Hite, Kia Fuller and Dalia D’Ingeo 2016 Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Conference – Vancouver, B.C.
2015
“Street Protest: Space, Memory and the Built Environment in 21st Century Oakland, CA”
2015 American Association of Anthropology - Denver, CO
“The Hills to the Flatlands: Freeways, Cars and 20th Century Power in Oakland, CA”
2015 Urban Affairs Association Annual Conference - Miami, FL
“Streets as Sites of Power: An Anthropology of Urban Infrastructure in Oakland, CA”
2015 Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Conference - Pittsburgh, PA
2014
“Changing Urban Memory: Placemaking at the Mall”
2014 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting - Washington, D.C.
“Saving this Place: Change on the Fresno Fulton Mall”
2014 Southwest Regional Anthropology Association Annual Meeting - Anaheim, CA
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE & TRAINING
2017 Graduate Writing Tutor, University of California, Merced Graduate Division
2016 Presenter, University of California, Merced 2016 Research Week
2015 Ethnographic Field School (funded by National Science Foundation)
with Dr. Lance Gravlee, Dr. Sarah Szurek (University of Florida, Gainesville) and Dr. Krista Harper (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)- Tallahassee, FL
2015 Presenter, University of California, Merced 2015 Research Week
2014 Community Research Workshop (CCREC), University of California, Santa Cruz
2014 Presenter, University of California, Merced 2014 Research Week
2014 Graduate Student Coordinator, Merced Youth Fund Research Project
TEACHING
2018 History 17: 20th Century America, Summer Session 2018 at UC Merced
Anthropology 1: Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Summer Session 2018
at UC Merced
Urban History 108: The Great American City, Instructor of Record Spring 2018 at UC Merced
2017 Anthropology 1: Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology Instructor of Record, Summer Session 2017
at UC Merced
Teaching Assistantships
2017 History 117: California History Practicum with Dr. David Torres-Rouff
2014 History 17: 20th Century America with Dr. Brandon Wolf-Hunnicutt
2013, 2016 Anthropology 1: Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology with Dr. Robin Maria DeLugan
2013 Political Science 106: Urban Politics with Dr. Jessica Trounstine
2012 Political Science 3: Comparative Politics with Dr. Jon Carlson
RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE
2018-2019 Policy Analyst, Merced Division of the University of California's Academic Senate
2016-2017 Vehicle Test Assistant, Google X Self-Driving Car project (now Waymo)
2014 Summer Program Evaluation Research Assistant, Affiliated Community Research Development
2011-2012 Constituent Liaison, Office of Oakland City Councilmember Libby Schaaf
2009-2011 Office Manager, Office of State Assemblymember Nancy Skinner
Fall 2008 Campaign Staff, Kerry Hamill for Oakland City Council
Spring 2008 Campaign Staff, Nancy Skinner for State Assembly
SERVICE
2017-2018 Graduate Mentor, Interdisciplinary Humanities Graduate Program
Graduate Mentor, Grad EXCEL program, UC Merced Graduate Division
2016-2017 Graduate Student Advisory Board Member, Humanists@Work Initiative, through University of California Humanities Research Institute at UC Irvine
2014 Campus Unit Chair, Local UAW 2856 Graduate Student Union
2013-2014 World Cultures Graduate Group Representative, Graduate Student Association
2013 Graduate Student Representative, UC Merced Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
2014- Urban Affairs Association
2014- Society for Applied Anthropology
2014- Southwest Regional Anthropology Association
2013- American Anthropological Association
2013- California Studies Association