In the Spotlight
Fall 2009
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Kate Merkel-Hess
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in History (UCI)
- B.A. in East Asian Studies (Yale University)
Research: Modern China, Modern East Asia, World History
Bio: Kate Merkel-Hess became interested in studying China as an undergraduate at Yale, where she received a grant that allowed her to spend a summer and an academic term in Beijing and Harbin. She recently co-edited a book with UCI professors Kenneth Pomeranz and Jeffrey Wasserstrom and currently serves as editor of The China Beat, a well-received blog that examines media coverage of China.
Current Position: UCI Humanities Center Postdoctoral Fellow
News: Kate received a 2009 Andrew W. Mellon / ACLS Early Career Fellowship for Recent Doctoral Recipients. Her dissertation, “A New People: Rural Modernity in Republican China,” explores Chinese elite efforts in the 1920s and 1930s to modernize the countryside. Click here for Kate's story.
More information on the Mellon / ACLS Fellowship is available here.
Summer 2009
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Sheena Nahm
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in Anthropology (UCI)
- M.P.H. (Drexel University)
- B.A. in Biological Basis of Behavior and B.A. in Anthropology (University of Pennsylvania)
Research: Child Psychotherapy in Contemporary Korea
Bio: After years of cultivating her passion for interdisciplinary studies, recent UCI graduate Sheena Nahm today is flexing her academic research muscles in the entertainment capital of the world. Combining her science background with her love of the arts, Nahm works as a research specialist for the Hollywood, Health & Society program, which helps writers and producers develop credible and engaging health storylines. While pursuing her doctoral degree in anthropology at UCI, Nahm’s research interests focused on the implementation of play therapy programs in South Korea. Previously she studied public health in Pennsylvania, where she engaged in research projects from health issues among refugees to food insecurity among urban African American women.
Current Position: Research Specialist for the Hollywood, Health & Society Program at the USC Annenberg Normal Lear Center
News: Sheena received the 2009 Peter K. New Student Research Award from the Society for Applied Anthropology for her paper, “Between Stigma and Demand,” which investigates the development of child psychotherapy programs in Seoul. Click here for Sheena's story.
More information on the New Award is available here.
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Christopher Rex
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior (UCI)
- B.S. in Biopsychology (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Research: Understanding memory coding and psychiatric illnesses
Bio: Christopher Rex, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, studies molecular and cellular activity in the brain to understand memory coding and psychiatric illnesses. While a Ph.D. student at UCI, Rex examined how specific neurophysiological processes fail in early aging — a phenomenon that may be linked to age-related memory loss and certain cognitive impairments. He is currently an EpiCenter Postdoctoral Fellow, in the laboratory of Dr. Gary Lynch.
Current Position: UCI Postdoc Scholar
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Thomas M. Gilbreath III
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in Vector Biology and Epidemiology (UCI) - In Progress
- B.S. in Microbiology, Entomology, and Biology (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Research: Effects of deforestation on aquatic habitat and mosquito larval development, and how it contributes to malaria mosquito ecology and increased malaria transmission
Bio: As an undergraduate, Thomas Gilbreath studied abroad in Australia, conducted research as a National Science Foundation Fellow in Bangkok, Thailand, and interned with SC Johnson & Son's Global Mosquito Control research group. Today, Tom is working in the lab of Professor Guiyun Yan at UC Irvine and has formulated his Ph.D. research goals in malaria mosquito ecology and epidemiology based on his previous experiences. His work may lead to the development of new land use management strategies that reduce mosquito populations and malaria transmission, while at the same time increasing agricultural productivity and the economic well-being of the most impoverished human populations in sub-Saharan Africa.
Current Position: UCI Graduate Student
News: Chris recently was selected as one of the first 13 Kauffman Postdoctoral Entrepreneurship Fellows. Click here for his story.
More information on the Entrepreneurs Fellows Program is available here.
News: Tom received a 2009 Public Impact Fellowship to support his study on how land-use changes affect the spread of malaria. Click here for Tom's story.
More information on the UCI Public Impact Fellowship is available here.
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Mary Amasia
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (UCI) - In Progress
- M.S. in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (UCI)
- B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science / Minor in Engineering (Columbia University)
Research: Development of an automated CD-based Anthrax detection system for rapid testing and containment of anthrax
Bio: Mary Amasia developed an early interest in biomedical application as an undergraduate researcher and while working at a small pharmaceuticals company in New York City. In 2006, she joined the BioMEMS lab in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UCI, where she conducts interdisciplinary research in the field of microfluidic devices. Her current project involves the research and development of an automated CD-based anthrax detection system. The project aims to provide rapid testing to enhance medical intervention and expedite containment of anthrax.
Current Position: UCI Graduate Student
News: Mary received a 2009 Public Impact Fellowship to support her project — an anthrax detection system that permits a more rapid response to a deadly disease. Click here for Mary’s story.
More information on the UCI Public Impact Fellowship is available here.
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Maria Parente
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in Education (UCI) - In Progress
- M.S. in Psychology (Yale University)
- B.S. in Human Development (Cornell University)
Research: How child/adolescent self-care affects developmental outcomes of academic performance and social behavior
Bio: Maria E. Parente is a doctoral student in the Department of Education in the Educational Policy and Social Context specialization. She obtained her B.S. in Human Development from Cornell University in 2003 and her M.S. in Psychology from Yale University in 2007. Between these accomplishments, Maria worked as Project Coordinator for the Yale University Study of Children's Afterschool time, a five-year study investigating children's afterschool arrangements in an urban, low-income sample. As an early career fellow of the Yale University Zigler Center for Child Development and Social Policy, her interests lie at the intersection of research and policy, primarily concerning issues of child care, youth out-of-school time activities, neighborhood crime, and the consequences of living in poverty. Maria became the first student in the inaugural class of the UCI Department of Education Ph.D. program to advance to doctoral candidacy, having defended her dissertation proposal in November 2008. During her time at UCI, she also has taken on the responsibility of teaching the statistical program lab courses for incoming Ph.D. students.
Current Position: UCI Graduate StudentNews: Maria received a 2009 Public Impact Fellowship to continue her research on the effect of unsupervised after-school settings on children. Click here for Maria's story.
More information on the UCI Public Impact Fellowship is available here.
Spring 2009
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kate hers
Degrees:
- M.F.A. in Studio Art (UCI) - In Progress
- B.F.A. in Studio Art (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
Research: German Orientalism: Contemporary Artistic Practices in the Recuperation of the Other
Bio: kate hers is a Korean born American visual artist who grew up not far from Detroit, Michigan. She works in various artistic medium including but not limited to animation, collage, drawing installation, and video intervention. Mediating language and culture through visual engagements, kate hers’ works evoke the othering of Otherness, i.e., facing the unknown spirit within herself as a foreign subject. Her artistic research has taken her into the realm of recent scholarly contributions to German Orientalism, an exploration of specifically Germany’s contributions to the field of Orientalism, generally understood in Edward Said terms, “as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.” As a DAAD award recipient, she intends to observe and reflect in her own practice the effects on how notions of difference are perceived in Germany at the present in the context of contemporary art, eventually presenting her findings and contemplations in a solo exhibition in Berlin. www.katehers.com.
Current Position: UCI Graduate Student
More information on DAAD (the German Academic Exchange Service) is available at http://www.daad.org/. DAAD information for interested UCI students is available here.
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Jordan Kraemer
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology (UCI) - In Progress
- M.A. in Social Sciences (University of Chicago)
- B.A. in Medieval Studies (Wesleyan University)
Research: Emerging identities of new media users
Bio: Jordan Kraemer is a 2009-2010 recipient of the DAAD The DAAD graduate scholarship will support Jordan's dissertation fieldwork in Berlin covering ten months of ethnographic research with new media users. Her project focuses on the relationship between emerging forms of social and digital media (such as online social networking, microblogging, and texting) and shifting identities in post-national Europe -- specifically, the changing scales at which identities are imagined and experienced. Germany, and Berlin in particular, have been central to the shifts transforming Europe since the Cold War, with the unification of East and West Germany, and the rise of the supranational European Union. This research will examine the link between emerging identities in this context (such as local, national, or transnational communities) and the way users are taking up new forms of digital media, which are increasingly interactive and user-centered.
Current Position: UCI Graduate Student
Previously, Jordan has conducted predissertation fieldwork in Berlin to assess the feasibility of the project, investigating German and other music fans who incorporate new media into their everyday social interactions. She is pursuing this research as part of her Ph.D. program in Cultural Anthropology at UCI, and has additionally conducted fieldwork in Chicago on youth and social networks for her Master's thesis at the University of Chicago. As an undergraduate, Jordan studied a somewhat different field, medieval art history, at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She hopes her research will provide a better understanding of the ways different users in contemporary Germany are integrating new media into their lives, while assessing the social implications of both new media and increasingly global and supranational forms of political organization.
More information on DAAD (the German Academic Exchange Service) is available at http://www.daad.org/. DAAD information for interested UCI students is available here.
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Brook Haley
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (UCI)
- M.A. in Comparative Literature (UCI)
- B.A. in French (Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge) B.A. in English (LSU-BR)
Research: Experimental Poetry and Poetics in English and French, Critical Theory, Psychoanalysis
Bio: Brook Haley grew up in rural North Georgia and southern Louisiana, where a family love of literature and a Francophone cultural context influenced his decision to study English and French at Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge before accepting a chancellor’s fellowship in comparative literature at UCI. Through a UC exchange program, he also studied psychoanalysis and contemporary French poetry at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and returned to France to teach English at the Université de Paris X-Nanterre while continuing research for the dissertation. While a graduate student, he taught composition, poetry, drama, French, and Humanities Core at UCI, and led academic preparation workshops for the Humanities Out There program, a partnership between UCI and Santa Ana public schools. He has served as student representative to the Comparative Literature faculty and the UCI Academic Senate Graduate Council, and was elected president of the Associated Graduate Students of UCI for 2006-07.
Current Position: Lecturer in UCI's Humanities Core Course and Pomona College's Department of English
He completed his dissertation, “Atomic Poetry: Materialist Rhythms in Lucretius, Du Bellay, and Mallarmé,” a study of the importance of ancient atomic materialism for experimental French poetics, and was named the UCI Alumni Association’s Outstanding Graduate Student in 2007.
“Atomic Poetry” was recently awarded the American Comparative Literature Association’s Charles Bernheimer Prize for Best Dissertation 2008. Brook is currently a lecturer at UCI and at Pomona College in Claremont.
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Jennifer Dwyer
Degrees:
- M.D./Ph.D., School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology (UC Irvine) - In Progress
- B.A. with Distinction, Neuroscience (University of Virginia)
Research: Developmental Neuropharmacology
Current Position: Graduate Student, UC Irvine
Bio: Jennifer Dwyer grew up in Great Falls, VA and attended the University of Virginia for her undergraduate degree. Her interest in biomedical research began early during her undergraduate career examining the effects of hormones on brain function and behavior. She received a Harrison Undergraduate Research fellowship that allowed her to study the role of estrogen in the etiology of depression and anxiety at the l'Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire in Strausbourg, FR. Jennifer is currently an M.D./Ph.D. candidate in the department of Pharmacology and studies the development of the adolescent brain. Adolescence is a unique developmental period and critical time for the emergence of neuropsychiatric disorders and for the initiation of drug abuse. Jennifer's research aims to better understand the pharmacology of the adolescent brain in order determine the etiology of psychiatric illness and the basis of the unique responses of adolescents to pharmacotherapies and drugs of abuse.
