Diversity & Community Fellows

Ajah Quawiy is a Master of Development Practice candidate in the Goldman School of Public Policy with experience in sustainability, community engagement, and climate justice. She has worked with organizations such as Marin Clean Energy, Alameda County’s Office of Sustainability, and SEI as a Climate Corps Fellow, supporting initiatives in renewable energy access, waste reduction, and equity-centered program design. She is passionate about translating environmental policy into actionable community solutions.

Akirah’s research focuses on the intersections of air quality and race, class, and social justice. She leverages satellite, ground-based measurements, and chemical transport models to examine the spatial and temporal distribution of air pollutants, with a focus on uncovering systematic and distributive inequalities. In her free time, she enjoys playing volleyball, singing karaoke, and line dancing.

Ale Geisel-Zamora is pursuing a doctoral degree in Biological Anthropology, interested in how psychosocial and physical environments interact with and shape human biology. Her research explores experiences of the menopausal transition among midlife adults living in the Salinas Valley, CA. Prior to her doctoral studies, she graduated from Dartmouth College in 2023 with a B.A. in anthropology.

Alejandro is a Bay Area native, where some of his fondest memories come from caring for and riding horses with his dad, experiences that taught him the value of discipline and hard work. His research interests lie in chronic interstitial lung disease, including both idiopathic and environmentally driven disease. His thesis work uses spatial transcriptomics and computational approaches to better understand cellular organization and interactions in fibrotic lung tissue.

Alex is interesting in mentoring students from underrepresented backgrounds find their path in higher education. Through DCF, Alex has been mentoring undergraduate students at Berkeley navigate internships and other aspects of life in STEM.

April’s academic research is on MR spectroscopy in neurological disorders and hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI in patients with brain tumors. She enjoys life in the Bay Area, especially with the outdoor activities such as hiking and camping.

Berenice brings over five years of experience working on environmental issue advocacy campaigns across the U.S. and abroad (everything from conservation to clean energy) through public policy advocacy. Her interests include climate justice and its intersections with public health and the built environment. She is also an Arcus Social Justice Corps Fellow.

I am pursuing a PhD in Chemical Engineering to explore science and engineering approaches to solving climate change. My research focusses on improving biofuel production from microorganisms using metabolic engineering.

Catherin is a UC Berkeley alum and transfer student, now pursuing her PhD in Metabolic Biology with a focus on interventions of aging. She is passionate about building an inclusive scientific community, mentorship, and making grad school accessible to all. Outside of the lab, you can find her with her cats, making ceramics, or in her garden!

Christián (they/he) is a PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature where they focus on Central American and Mesoamerican literature and culture. They have published work on incarceration, labor, and Indigenous sovereignty. Outside their research, they are interested in higher education access for historically marginalized communities.

Originally from El Salvador and raised in the U.S., Deibi is a first-generation college graduate whose background informs his deep commitment to mentoring and supporting underrepresented students in STEM. At Berkeley, he has mentored through GiGS, From Day One, Latinx & the Environment, STEM FYI, and URAP. He has held leadership positions with the ESPM Graduate Diversity Council, the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) committee, and the American Indian Graduate Student Association. Through these roles, he has built mentorship pipelines, expanded programming, and spearheaded proposals that strengthen resources for historically marginalized graduate students.

As a Diversity and Community Fellow, he is dedicated to fostering inclusive academic communities and helping students across disciplines navigate graduate school while cultivating opportunities for leadership and professional growth.

Derek is a community-centered designer whose primary interests include affordable housing, housing justice, and the translation of cultural and ritual practice into architecture. In addition to being a Diversity & Community Fellow, Derek is an Arcus Social Justice Corps Fellow within the College of Environmental Design and currently an admissions ambassador for the Department of Architecture. Derek intends to remain in the Bay Area and pursue architectural licensure post-graduation.

Liz is a PhD student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Her research interests span control theory, formal methods, statistical learning, and robotics. Specifically, she studies how to quantify and understand the behavior and uncertainty of complex systems to enable safe, automated decision making. Prior to UC Berkeley, she received a Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, Bloomington in Computer Science.

I’m passionate about being able to support people where they are and work actively with communities to meet their goals. In the future, I want to do research actively with communities to address systemic issues that impacts their nutritional health. In my free time I like gardening, watching anime, and hanging out with friends.

Gabriela is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Geosystem program at UC Berkeley’s Civil Engineering Department with a designated emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies, working under the guidance of Professor Adda Athanasopoulos-Zekkos.
Her research explores infrastructure resilience and social vulnerability, focusing on regional Flood risk analysis and simplified seismic vulnerability assessment of levees in the Sacramento Delta region.

Hi I’m Grace, and I grew up in the suburbs of Long Island, New York! My PhD research focuses on building a computer vision-guided bioprinter to precisely pattern cells in 3D microenvironments for tissue engineering. Outside of the lab, I enjoy working with organizations such as BEAST and STEM*FYI, cooking/playing board games with friends, and hiking in the Bay Area’s great outdoors.

Jasmine’s research focuses on advancing alternative energy technologies and sustainable practices that mitigate pollution. Jasmine’s current work in Dr. Van P Carey’s Energy and Multiphase Laboratory focuses on utilizing statistical thermodynamics and computational modeling to evaluate thermal behavior in heat pump technologies, with the goal of improving their safety and performance. Outside of the lab, Jasmine enjoys mentoring aspiring engineers and scientists, scrapbooking, puzzles, and musical theatre.

I am Jessica Ortiz, a PhD candidate in the Stahl lab. I work on stem cells models and organ on a chip systems in the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine field. In my free time I enjoy reading, running, and watching movies.

Broadly, she is interested in transnational research in making mental health interventions more accessible accessible for marginalized communities, especially within Asian and Asian American communities, de-stigmatizing mental health in the media, and promoting (mental) health advocacy. In her free time, Julia enjoys playing video and tabletop games, crocheting, collecting trinkets and stationery, and exploring the Bay Area for new food spots!

Logan is an artist-scholar, Black Studies educator, and doctoral student from Atlanta, Georgia. As a Posse Atlanta Scholar, Logan received her B.A. in African & African- American Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and English from Brandeis University. Her research interests include Black critical theory, Black aesthetics, and performance. As a Diversity and Community Fellow, she is passionate about connecting students to the resources they need to not only survive but thrive at UC Berkeley.

I’m passionate about advancing practical, equitable solutions to environmental challenges and enjoy working at the intersection of science, policy, and law. My interests include environmental justice, environmental compliance, natural resource management, clean energy, and climate policy. Outside of school and work, you’ll usually find me rock climbing, reading, writing, or spending time with guide dog puppies in-training.

As an immigrant, Maria’s lived experiences galvanized her toward a career in public health and shaped her commitment to advancing health equity. Maria has worked as an evaluation consultant, partnering with nonprofits, consulting firms, and government agencies to support program evaluation, research, and social impact initiatives.

Outside of work, Maria enjoys reading literary fiction, staying active through lifting and running, and attending live music events.

Natalie has self published five young adult novels and is a proud daughter of first generation Mexican immigrants. Find her on Nataliereports.org.

I’m the son and grandson of Mexican and Colombian immigrants who immigrated to New York City in the mid-to-late 1980s from Puebla, Mexico, and Bogotá, Colombia. Raised in Corona, Queens, New York, I got my degrees at Queensborough Community College and Cornell University and everything else from Queens.

Nathaly Santos is a doctoral student in Education Policy, Politics, and Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research centers on Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and the ways in which colleges and universities adopt and embody an HSI identity at the organizational level. To this end, she is also interested in examining the implications of becoming a racialized organization on processes of organizational change.

Prior to her arrival at UC Berkeley, Nathaly earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology & Philosophy, followed by a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology all from the University of Virginia. She is the daughter of two immigrant parents and the first in her family to attend a four-year university.

I am interested in researching multilingual education, English learner policy, and translanguaging pedagogies that foster belonging and affirm students’ linguistic and cultural assets. As a former English/History teacher, ELD specialist, and district researcher, I hope to bridge research and practice to support educators and create more equitable and inclusive classrooms.

Samantha is interested in how displacement and cultural disruption shape health and well-being in Native and immigrant communities, particularly among youth. Her work explores how communities use cultural identity, placemaking, and aesthetics to sustain themselves, and how this knowledge can inform more effective public health and social interventions.

Samantha is a 2nd year chemistry PhD student in the Polly Arnold group where she works on fundamental nuclear chemistry in conjunction with the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. She is currently focused on probing the covalency of actinide-oxo bonds to give further context on rare-earth metals and nuclear waste separations. From the border city of El Paso, she understands how important it is for underrepresented minorities to feel a sense community and representation. Samantha is excited to work with the College of Chemistry (CoC) to build an inclusive community for all students to learn and thrive.

Sariyah is interested in adaptation: designing sites of remembrance that withstand climate change over time and reusing urban relics for activated public spaces. Her background is in African American Studies, painting, and urban agriculture.

I am part of the Berkeley Biomechanics Laboratory working under Dr. Grace O’Connell where I focus on developing methods to use full-body motion and force testing for in-clinic orthopedic diagnostics and injury prevention. I am passionate about developing these techniques to improve healthcare autonomy and accessibility.

Steven is an MBA candidate at UC Berkeley Haas with a background in accounting, audit, and data analytics, including four years at Deloitte. He is focused on the intersection of finance, technology, and AI and is actively involved in the Haas community through leadership in the First-Generation/Low-Income community.

Owen’s work spans data science and bionanotechnology: quantifying data misrepresentations in bar graphs and colormaps in biological research, analyzing proteins adsorbed onto nanoparticle surfaces, and characterizing the kinetics of the physical interactions between lipid nanoparticles and model membranes. As an international first-generation graduate student, Owen is committed to building an inclusive environment for scholars from diverse backgrounds. In his free time, Owen enjoys running by the water and playing badminton.

In my PhD research, I am developing physics-informed machine learning methods that recover diffraction-limited resolution from aberrated fluorescence microscopy data, making cellular-level brain imaging accessible on standard microscopes for the study of diseases like Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and more. I am passionate about making physics and research accessible to students who don’t see themselves represented in STEM.

Valentina Flores is a graduate student at Berkeley Law’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy (JSP) Ph.D. Program. They hold a joint Political Science and Human Rights Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree from Bard College. Currently, they are developing a project interested in the intersections of urban inequality, race, geography and property.

Yaw is a PhD student in Environmental Engineering with a Designated Emphasis in Development Engineering. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Purdue University, where he participated in intercultural development training, mentored underrepresented first-year engineering students, and organized alumni and industry mentorship programs within the School of Civil Engineering. Drawing on this background, along with his experiences navigating academic spaces across cultures as a Ghanaian American, he is committed to scaling student-centered mentorship for undergraduate students within the Berkeley College of Engineering.

At Berkeley, I study cholesterol metabolism and explore how we might engineer metabolic processes within and beyond the cell. Outside the lab, I am usually hunting for great food, good movies, or an excuse for a road trip. As a D&C Fellow, I hope to help create a welcoming and inclusive community where everyone feels supported, valued, and empowered to grow.