Past Undergraduate Research Fellows

Paulina worked with Allison Butler, Department of Communication, on the project The Judgment of Gender, which explores patriarchy as a form of censorship, focusing on how women who speak, act, or challenge norms are silenced. It uses case studies of women like Sinéad O'Connor, Britney Spears, and Anita Hill, as well as cultural phenomena like NDAs and Gamergate, to examine the intersections of gender, race, and class in media portrayals. The text begins with Roe and Dobbs’s cases on reproductive rights and concludes with a critical media literacy framework to deconstruct and resist the media's treatment of women.

Saniya worked with Viviana Wu, School of Public Policy, on a project that investigated how foundation grantmaking adapts to prioritize social justice, with a focus on marginalized communities. Their goal was to identify how foundations may perpetuate or address social inequalities through their funding practices. 

Prisha worked with Toussaint Losier, Social Thought and Political Economy program, on a project that involved reviewing recent literature on prisoner activism, updating statistics on mass incarceration, and incorporating new scholarship on marginalized groups for the second edition of Rethinking the American Prison Movement.  

Génesis worked with Jonathan Wynn, Department of Sociology, on a project focused on housing discrimination. This project seeked to explore the backgrounds, perceptions, and challenges faced by these testers, shedding light on the ethical complexities and human aspects behind this important research tool

Sherell worked with Bridgette Davis, School of Public Policy, on a study that examined the burdens of obtaining need-based financial aid and/or student loan debt relief. She explores how these burdens can be reduced and participant’s experiences of power, privilege, and the politicization of their efforts to obtain a college degree and secure debt cancellation benefits for which they are eligible.

Luke worked with Ah Ram Lee, Journalism, to develop foundational research on effective communication strategies for older adults who are crucial to society but are often the most neglected members of the public. Even though the number of older individuals has been increasing in this rapidly aging world, there has been little research on effectively communicating with them.

Bel worked with Seth Goldman, Communications, to study the impact of news coverage on racial population projections that continue to chart fast-rising racial and ethnic diversity in the U.S. In contrast to prior studies that narrowly focus on news framing on White anxiety, this project will use 2023 Census data to document the full range of news frames around racial projection and the changing demographics of Black, Latinx, White, and multiracial Americans. Bel was also chosen as a fall 2024 Rising Researcher. 

In conjunction with the UMass ADVANCE-Institutional Transformation project and Laurel Smith-Doerr, Sociology, Nicole studied faculty equity in access to Centers and Institutes at UMass. She continued working with Professor Smith-Doerr on this extensive project during the fall ’22 semester, with the intention of presenting their findings to the UMass Faculty Senate and during the CJLS/SBS RISE Summer Research Symposium.

Xavier and Cedric de Leon, Sociology and Labor Studies, examined the contributions of Black labor organizations in the growth of interracial solidarity among Black and White labor organizations in the 1910s and 20s for a book project, A Constant Sorrow: The Black Freedom Struggle and Organized Labor in the United States. Xavier continued his work as a funded research assistant in collaboration with Professor de Leon, researching the next book chapter. With Professor de Leon’s support, Xavier planned on writing an article on their findings for the Berkeley Undergraduate Journal of Sociology. The duo also presented at the CJLS/SBS RISE Summer Research Symposium.

Konah and Professor Kelsey Whipple, Journalism, explored the ways in which American journalists who belong to media unions perceive their lives, their outlets, and their work to have been influenced by their membership in those unions. She continued to collaborate with Professor Whipple on a funded assistantship during the fall ’22 semester. Later that semester, the dyad presented their findings at the CJLS/SBS Summer Research Symposium.