Researchers

Tamara Afifi

Department Chair and Professor Communication

SSMS 4119
Tamara Afifi’s research examines how family and relational communication under stress affects personal, relational, and physiological health, and explores information regulation practices like avoidance, privacy, secrets, and stress contagion.

Gerardo Aldana

Professor of Chicana/o Studies
Director of Repository for Archaeological and Ethnographic Collections

1710 South Hall
Mayan hieroglyphic history, Mesoamerican art, indigeneity, experimental archaeology, science & technology studies.

Monika Banach

Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, UCSB

Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Giovanni Batz

Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor in the department of Chicana and Chicano Studies

Mary Bucholtz

Professor of Linguistics

Social identities and cultural practices as brought into being through linguistic interaction

Mary Bucholtz

Professor, Department of Linguistics

Sociocultural linguistics; language and identity; language and youth; language and race; language, gender, and sexuality; African American English; Chicano English and Spanish; language in California; discourse, cognition, and culture

Andrea Carlini

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Dr. Andrea S. Carlini's research focuses on developing dynamic biomaterials and devices using photo-induced processes, particularly through NITEC chemistry, to create fluorescent probes, polymers, and hydrogels for material assembly and reactive oxygen species sensing.

Mateo Carrillo

Lecturer of History
CSI Advisory Committee Member

Modern Mexico; Transnational Mexican Migration; Environmental History; History of Technology; Agricultural History; Digital Humanities; Oral History.

Dolores Inés Casillas

Professor of Chicana/o Studies
CSI Director

1705 South Hall
U.S. Spanish-language media; Chicana and Latina popular culture; radio and sound practices; racial politics of language; accent studies; language learning technologies.

Susan Cassels

Associate Professor of Geography

5710 Ellison Hall
Geographic mobility, sexual health and HIV prevention.

Mario Castellanos

Executive Director of OEP
CSI Advisory Committee Member

1501 South Hall
The Office of Education Partnerships (OEP) has a mission of increasing college-going rates for students who are primarily low-income and/or will be the first in their families to pursue higher education.

Veronica Castillo-Muñoz

Associate Professor of History
CSI Advisory Committee Member

HSSB 4238
Interested in analyzing the intersections of race, gender, regional, and transnational migration in the Mexico-U.S. borderlands.

Alison Cerezo

Assistant Professor of Education

GGSE Education 2137
Associations between trauma, social stress, mental health and substance use for diverse LGBTQ+ communities.

Claire Chevallier

Azalea Corral

Student Intern

UCSB ARC Scholar working on "How secure is our voting technology?" at the CSI.

Sandra Cruz

CSI + 805 Undocufund Intern

"During the virtual interviews, I saw how hopeful and thankful the applicants were about being one step closer to receiving much needed help, which made me feel like my help was making a difference in my own community." 

Mattanjah de Vries

Distinguished Professor Department Chair, Department of Chemistry

Dr. de Vries, a Professor of Physical Chemistry at UCSB, specializes in laser spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, photochemistry, and the UV photodynamics of DNA.

Bridgette Degnan

Graduate Student Fellow, Department of Anthropology

Bridgette Degnan, a graduate student in Archaeology at UC Santa Barbara, investigates how complex social systems in the Maya region adapt to environmental instability, with interests in economic systems, social networks, and computational archaeology.

Micaela Díaz-Sánchez

Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Studies

1704 South Hall
Chicana/o and Latina/o Performance Studies, Visual Culture and Cultural Studies, Afro-Latina/o Diaspora Studies, Chicana/Latina Feminisms, Chicana/o and Latina/o Theater History and Ethnomusicology, Dramaturgy, Acting Methodology

Somayeh Dodge

Associate Professor of spatial data science, Department of Geography

4814 Ellison Hall
Somayeh is an associate professor at UC Santa Barbara specializing in spatial data science, leading the MOVE Lab, and focusing on data-driven analytics and modeling of movement in ecological and social systems.
PhD candidate interested in inequalities, identity, and international mobility.

Alexandra Eleazar

Graduate Student, Department of Sociology

Alexandra Eleazar, a PhD candidate with a background in migration, gender, and postcolonial feminist theory, explores the impact of digital labor economies and colonial legacies on privileged migrants in Guatemala.

Erick Felix

Graduate Student in Education

Immigration, family support, protective factors, resilience, and social justice with an emphasis on Latinx communities.

San Juanita Garcia

Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Studies

1708 South Hall
Immigration; Latinx Sociology; Intersectionality; Medical Sociology; Sociology of Mental Health; Aging; Social Determinants of Health

Brooke Gardner

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB)

1117 Life Sciences
Dr. Gardner's research investigates how eukaryotic cells manage the biogenesis, growth, division, and specialization of peroxisomes, focusing on the role of approximately 30 Pex proteins in creating peroxisomes from scratch.

Amy Gonzales

Associate Professor in Communication
CSI Associate Director

Effects of social interaction via communication technologies on individual identity, social support and well being.

Toni Gonzalez

Graduate Student in Archaeology

Ritual, Landscape Utilization/Interaction, Sacred geography, Iconography, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Ethnoecology, Subterranean archaeology

Tracey Goss

CSI Business Officer

4515 South Hall
Financial and Payroll Oversite, Budget Analysis, Research and Project Administration, Contract and Grant Proposal Budget Development and Submission Assistance

Elisa Halewood

Specialist/Laboratory Manager, Marine Science Institute

3148 MBL
Elisa Halewood, the laboratory manager at UCSB’s Carlson lab, specializes in microbial oceanography and the biogeochemical cycling of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in marine environments.

Aida Hurtado

Professor of Chicana/o Studies
Luis Leal Endowed Chair
CSI Advisory Committee Member

1709 South Hall
Equity issues in education for Chicanas/os, Chicana feminist theory, media representations of Latinos & other ethnic & racial groups, social identity, including ethnic identity

Luke Janes

Graduate Student in Education

Trauma and resilience, culturally responsive measurement, and psychological group work.

Abril Jimenez

Student Intern

CSI Student Intern working on "How secure is our voting technology?"

Jennifer Kam

Professor of Communication

SSMS 4407
Research examines factors that protect immigrant youth against adverse mental health outcomes, poor academic performance, and alcohol and other substance use, particularly when faced with stressors.

Jennifer Kam

Professor and Communication Department Vice Chair

Jennifer Kam uses quantitative and qualitative methods to study how structural barriers impact the health and wellbeing of immigrant youth and their families. She also researches factors at various levels—individual, interpersonal, community, institutional, and cultural—that promote resilience and thriving.

Danny Katz

Graduate Student in Education

The role that language plays in conceptualizing measurement in education and psychology, studying philosophy to help clarify research aims and claims, and psychometric models, broadly.

Jin Sook Lee

Professor of Education

3131 Education
Bilingualism; Heritage language maintenance; ESL; Second/foreign language acquisition and education; Multicultural education

María Lumbreras

Assistant Professor/Undergraduate Advisor, Department of History of Art & Architecture

Arts 1256
María Lumbreras, a historian of early modern Iberian art and visual culture, explores antiquarianism, replication, and material experimentation in her research on the intersection of artistic and scientific practices in Habsburg Spain.

Mavel M Marina

International Advisement Specialist & Instructor

Dr. Mavel Marina, an international specialist at UCSB, oversees the Exchange Program for International Academics and Researchers, advising on immigration regulations and managing the paperless system.

Hui-Ling Malone

Assistant Professor of Education

Professor, Researcher, Consultant, & Scholar-Activist interested in Educational equity.

Dana Mastro

Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel
Professor of Communication
Chair, CSI Advisory Committee

SSMS 4413
Media Psychology; Media Effects on Stereotyping, Identity, & Race/Ethnicity; Intergroup Communication; Content Analysis

Andrew Maul

Associate Professor of Education

The conceptual foundations of research methodology in the human sciences, and in particular on the theory and practice of measurement.

Monique Meunier

Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance

Theater Dance West 2512
Miss Meunier has staged Balanchine ballets for the Balanchine Trust and has served as rehearsal director for Karole Armitage.

Julien Middleton

Postdoctoral Investigator

Julien Middleton, a Ph.D. isotope geochemist from MIT-WHOI, is a Postdoctoral Investigator at UC Santa Barbara. They specialize in marine isotope geochemistry.

William Nomikos

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science

William Nomikos, a scholar in International Relations, focuses on how identity and domestic politics influence international intervention and peacekeeping, with research on civil wars, climate change, and identity politics.

Nicole Olmedo

CSI + 805 Undocufund Intern

"805 Undocufund has taught me so much and given me an opportunity to grow as both a Spanish speaker and as a human being."

Ryoko Oono

Associate Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB)

1116 Noble Hall
Ryoko Oono's research focuses on the evolution of plant-microbe symbiotic relationships, using genetic and experimental methods to study legume-rhizobia interactions and foliar fungal endophytes.

Daniel Oropeza

Assistant Professor, Department of Materials

Prof. Oropeza's research focuses on optimizing manufacturing processes to control material microstructure and performance, integrating material science and mechanical engineering for applications in aerospace, prosthetics, energy, robotics, and hypersonics.

Marcelina Ortiz

Financial and Payroll Assistant
Chicano Studies Institute

4517 South Hall
Financial and Payroll Transaction Processing, Purchasing and Event Planning

Karla Partida

Student Assistant

4512 South Hall
Administrative Office Assistant

Erika Prado

Graduate Student, Department of Linguistics

Sociocultural linguistics; linguistic anthropology; community-centered ethnography; critical disability studies; autism; bilingualism; communication technologies; embodiment; Latinx linguistic practices; social justice; Spanish; translanguaging

Mayra Puente

Assistant Professor of Higher Education

Assistant Professor. Professor, CCSP Graduate Advisor, International Center for School Based Youth Development Director

Anastasia Quintana

Assistant Researcher/Lecturer, Department of Environmental Social Science

Anastasia Quintana is a professional researcher at UCSB focusing on the human dimensions of small-scale fisheries management and coastal conservation, employing mixed methods to study fisherfolk cooperation in the face of global pressures.

Amaranta Ramirez

Graduate Student in Education

Promoting mental health via social media platforms for underserved communities.

Sean Reid

Graduate Student in Education

Urban dynamics, human mobility, machine learning and nature-society interactions.

Angela Reyes

CSI + 805 Undocufund Intern

"Volunteering with 805 UndocuFund has been a grand eye-opening experience."

AJ Rice

Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. Research on education reform, race, and capitalism.

Sarah Roberts

Associate Professor of mathematics education, Cognitive Science Program

Equity in mathematics education across the P-20 continuum, mathematics language routines in K-12 education, bilingual mathematics instruction, postsecondary mathematics, and higher education research.

Sylvia Rodriguez Vega

Assistant Professor

Interdisciplinary scholar and assistant professor at UCSB's Department of Chicana/o Studies.

Ayrton Rojas

Research & Media Intern

Highly motivated college student focused on using experience and knowledge of communication, leadership and interpersonal skills to creat

Ana Romero Morales

Graduate Student in Education

Currently conducting research on how immigration status impacts the relationship between Mexican/Mexican American undocumented and U.S. citizen siblings.

Laura Romo

Professor of Education

GGSE Education 3133
Impact of the Latina mother-daughter relationship on adolescent well-being. Topics include how mother-daughter communication is associated with their dating and sexual behaviors, body image, academic achievement and aspirations. 

Nick Saglimbeni

PhD Student, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB)

Noble Hall 1113
Nick Saglimbeni, a PhD student at UCSB, specializes in optimizing restoration projects in coastal ecosystems affected by invasive Carpobrotus edulis and exploring restoration in the context of changing fire regimes.

Dr. Emiko Saldivar

Lecture & Associate Research Scientist

Researcher Affiliate. Anthropology. Race in the Americas. Professor in the Anthropology department

Daina Sanchez

Assistant Professor

Daina Sanchez

Daina Sanchez

Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Studies

1707 South Hall
Transnational Migration and Children of Immigrants; Identity and Community Formation; Oaxaca, Los Angeles

Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj

Associate Professor, Department of Education at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education

Immigrant-origin youth, family-school relationships, educational policy and evaluation, qualitative research methods, school choice, college access, educational equity.

Lior Sepunaru

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Chem 1161
The Sepunaru Lab specializes in electrocatalysis across both macro and nanoscale dimensions, as well as bioelectrochemistry, with a particular emphasis on biosensor applications.

Mark Shishim

Academic Initiatives Director
CSI Advisory Committee Member

Antar Tichavakunda

Assistant Professor

CBSR Affiliated Faculty; Assistant Professor, Department of Education

Dario Trujano Ochoa

Ph.D. Candidate at UCSB. Experimental, and Behavioral Economist

North Hall 3047
Dario Trujano Ochoa is a Ph.D. candidate at UCSB in Experimental and Behavioral Economics, focusing on higher-order beliefs, willingness to pay for information, risk preferences, and misinformation.

Carina Yosaira Zamora Luna

CSI + 805 Undocufund Intern

"As the daughter of two immigrant parents and having been undocumented myself truly allowed me to empathize with applicants and feel their worries."

Dr. Adanari Zarate

Associate Director for EXITO

Associate Director/Professor: ÉXITO Program. PhD in Chicana and Chicano Studies