CLACLS Research & Projects
Learn about faculty- and student-led projects and collaborative initiatives facilitated through CLACLS.
Faculty-Initiated Projects
2025
María Luisa Di Stefano
College of Education
Project: International Symposium and Workshop: Unlocking the Opportunities of Bilingual Education in the Americas
This initiative convened scholars, practitioners, and students to advance multilingual learning, biliteracy, and educational equity. The symposium strengthened the bilingual education research network at UMass and generated meaningful engagement with the broader community.
Carolina Banks
Department of Sociology, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
Project: Research on Students’ Immigration Status
This ongoing project examines students’ immigration status and has fostered cross-disciplinary dialogue around education, policy, and social inclusion.
2024
María Galano
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Natural Sciences
Kiran Asher
Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, College of Humanities & Fine Arts
Project: Transnational Approaches to Policing and Its Impact on Latinx Families in Western Massachusetts
This collaborative initiative examines how policing affects Latinx families in the region. Support from CLACLS contributed to a partnership with Alianza DV Services in Holyoke, creating an opportunity to conduct a community needs assessment as part of a broader, DPH-funded violence prevention initiative.
Student Projects (Graduate & Undergraduate)
2025
Ben Schaffer
Mechanical Engineering, Riccio College of Engineering
Project: Biogas Heating System to Sustainably Warm One of the Nuestras Raíces Organization’s Greenhouses
This project developed a sustainable biogas-based heating system to support greenhouse operations at Nuestras Raíces, contributing to environmentally responsible food production and community-based sustainability efforts.
Marco Figueroa
Communications, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
Project: Experimental Narrative – “El No Vidente de la Salsa”
This creative media project explores narrative experimentation through storytelling and cultural expression, highlighting Latino identity and artistic production.
Autumn Liguori-Bills
Public Health Sciences and Spanish, School of Public Health & Health Sciences
Project: Infant Co-Sleeping Practices among Puerto Rican Caregivers
This project examines infant co-sleeping practices within Puerto Rican caregiving communities, contributing to culturally informed understandings of family health practices.
Mariana Pinto Alvarez
Doctoral Candidate, Community Health Education, School of Public Health & Health Sciences
Project: Understanding Suicide among Older Adults in Bogotá, Colombia: A Mixed-Methods Approach
This project examines suicide among older adults in Bogotá through a mixed-methods approach, including a systematic review, survey analysis, and a photovoice study. By integrating social determinants and critical perspectives, the research aims to inform public health policies and interventions that support mental well-being in aging populations.
Carol Pinzón Masmela
Ph.D. Student, Department of Anthropology, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
Project: Embodied Transitions: Female Ex-Combatants and the Gendered Realities of Colombia’s Post-Agreement Period
Following Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement, female FARC ex-combatants face persistent stigma and the challenges of reconciliation. This project examines how women reconfigure their gendered subjectivities as they navigate social expectations, legacies of violence, and the redefinition of imposed roles in the post-conflict period.
Gerardo Zelaya
Ph.D. Student, Language, Literacy & Cultures, School of Education
Project: Last Name, Identidad, and Heritage Spanish Speakers: A Raciolinguistic Inquiry in a Novice Spanish Classroom
This ethnographic study examines how heritage Spanish speakers perceive their linguistic identities and roles within a novice Spanish classroom in a predominantly White school context. Drawing on classroom observations, interviews, and thematic analysis, the project explores distinctions between heritage speakers and second-language learners.