Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program

Jarenni Ambriz is an Asian/Asian American Studies major with an Anthropology minor. Her experience living in Mexico sparked an interest in cross-national studies, specifically in the power dynamics across empires. Her passion for music, specifically Metal, has welded her research interests in media imperialism, the music industry, and Metal studies scholarship. Her MMUF project explores the power relationships in the music industry through the analysis of local Metal bands in Southern California in attempt to identify the experiences of Metal musicians who are at the lower ends of the industry hierarchy. She plans to obtain a PhD and expand her current research into a cross-national setting in order to explore contemporary imperialist practices.

Giovanna Calderon is a first-generation student who is majoring in Chicana (o) and Latina (o) Studies. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and grew up in Boyle Heights. Her research examines how organizations have boosted businesses as an avenue to community. After graduating from Cal State LA, Giovanna plans to pursue a doctorate. Receiving a Ph.D. will further her goal of building inclusive academic institutions.

Jeanette Calderon was raised in Boyle Heights for most of her life. She is currently pursuing a major in History and a minor in Asian American Studies. Her academic pursuits align with her interest in the exploration of bilingual education and its effects on the Mexican-American community during the 1970s-1990s in California. She became interested in this topic after observing the multifaceted ways in which individuals in her community engage with their heritage languages. Jeanette hopes to help record the historical struggles of her community and aspires to help first-generation students like herself. 

Haley Castello is a proud commuter, transfer, and first-generation college student who completed her minor in Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies and will receive her B.A. in History. She utilizes her interdisciplinary skills and intersectionality to pursue research for her Mellon Mays project in the San Gabriel Valley and specifically the city of Baldwin Park. Drawing on her experiences with displacement and eviction,  her life of displacement from evictions, she critiques modernity, capitalism, and colonialism in the suburbs while centering ethnic community healing and resistance. Her research explores the conversations, attitudes, and emotions of daily-life residents from the 19th century onward, through close reading of archival material to dissect contemporary gentrification. Haley has experience in union leadership, grassroots organizing, and teaching. She plans to become a community college professor where she hopes to disrupt traditional academic standards and incorporate decolonial wellness into her teaching.  

Kimberly Conde is a first-generation student and a political science major. Her experience in the Summer Bridge Summer Program at Cal State LA sparked her interest in how first-generation students use navigational capital tools in higher education. Her research the impact of various peer mentoring models on the success of first-generation Latinx students. Kimberly hopes that her scholarship and academic training will illuminate social-academic issues that affect first-generation Latinx students.

Tania Galvez is an Anthropology major with a minor in Woman, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.  Her research focuses on women’s health, particularly regarding healthcare access, in cross-cultural contexts.  Her interest in the topic was aroused during familial visits to her mother’s family in Zamora, Michoacán, Mexico where medical facilities in the small town are limited. More recently, she has undertaken a research project that explores the temporal aspect of women’s health.  Utilizing pre-Columbian pelvises from several dozen individuals recovered from a Maya cave, Tania will determine if women were at greater risk of suffering from osteoporosis than men in this sample dated to the ninth and tenth centuries.

Karina Gutierrez is currently a History major with a minor in Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies. As a first-generation Mexican American college student, she wants to understand how immigration law and policies between the U.S – Mexico impact communities. Her current research explores how different organizations have advocated for immigrant rights in the Inland Empire. In her free time, she provides resources and guidance to people in her community on their path to citizenship. In the future, she hopes to become a professor to not only mentor other Latinx students, but to also combine academic work with organizing to give back to her community.

Berto Hernandez Mendez is a Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Major. Their research project focuses on the impact of ICE detention on undocumented gender-variant folks. Berto’s interest in the topic emerged after they experienced firsthand the harmful effects of ICE detention as a queer person of color. They approach their work through an abolitionist lens, centering the humanity and the dignity of people who are experiencing detention through punitive systems. Berto is an organizer and advocate with the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, working with people currently detained at ICE facilities to provide them and their families with resources to achieve their liberation. They work with various communities to build solidarity and collective power.