Berkeley Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System Fellow
Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley
Jose is a doctoral student in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership program at UC Berkeley’s School of Education. His research interests include using computational social science methods to understand the factors influencing the aspirations of men of color in higher education, the access and equity in higher education for first-generation and traditionally underrepresented students, and students’ career pathways within educational contexts. Before this, Jose was a Computer Science & Math Teacher in Los Angeles, providing differentiated instruction for diverse students. Additionally, he...
Berkeley Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System Fellow
Social Welfare, UC Berkeley
Neena Albarus is a Ph.D. student in Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. She has a Master of Social Work from The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. Additionally, she has contributed to academia by instructing courses in the field of social work. Her research portfolio spans quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methods, with a focus on critical social issues such as substance use, mental health, and social violence in Jamaica. She is interested in integrating computational tools for social justice advancement.
Berkeley Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System Fellow
Statistics, UC Berkeley
Sequoia is a PhD student in the statistics department at UC Berkeley. Prior to joining Berkeley, she worked as a Research Engineer contractor at NASA and focused on wildfire safety related research. She holds a B.S. in mathematics and psychology from Santa Clara University, M.S. in statistical data science from San Francisco State University, and is an awardee of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. She is passionate about applying computational methods to complex and impactful real-world problems, with a focus on social good applications.
Berkeley Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System Fellow
Statistics, UC Berkeley
Alex is a PhD candidate in the Statistics department at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on explainability, fairness, and auditing in machine learning. Most recently, he has worked on leveraging longitudinal data to improve feasibility in counterfactual explanations. Alex also was a member of the inaugural cohort of the AI Policy Hub, where he worked on policy proposals regarding explanations from AI decision-makers. Prior to his PhD program, Alex received a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Howard University.
Elizabeth Breen is a PhD student in the Sociology and Demography departments at UC Berkeley. Her research interests center on the social and historical determinants of human health, particularly the distribution and repercussions of infectious disease. Her current project examines the internalization of neoliberal economic ideology and its effects on workers’ fundamental social ties, like those to family, friends, and broader communities, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Breen's faculty mentors at UC Berkeley are Professors Christopher Muller and Laura Enriquez....
Berkeley Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System Fellow
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), UC Berkeley
David Minh-Duy Cao is a first-year PhD student in Computer Science. His research work aims to engage the intersection between computing and social justice, designing computing and programming tools to reify just futures and empower minoritized communities towards self-determination. Prior to beginning his PhD, he received majors in Computer Science (B.S.) and Ethnic Studies (B.A.) from UC San Diego. His current computing interests draw from his prior research work, which focused on using program synthesis and programming languages research to improve programming accessibility. He has...
Caitlin Chan is a PhD student in the division of epidemiology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Ahern. Her research seeks to explore the epidemiological underpinnings of transmission of trauma through communities by untangling the relationships between violence, trauma, economic adversity, and institutional marginalization. She is particularly interested in understanding who is most likely to be missing from conventional sources of epidemiological data on violence, and how to improve public health surveillance of these vulnerable individuals....
Alagia Justice Cirolia is a combined MSW/PhD student in UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare. Their research interests center on improving school equity through the implementation of school-based mental health and wellness programs serving marginalized youth & families, particularly through research-practice partnerships. In addition, Cirolia hones their clinical interests in trauma-informed care and school social work. Cirolia holds a BA in Cognitive Science with High Honors from UC Berkeley. With support from their faculty mentor, Dr. Valerie Shapiro, Cirolia aims to conduct...
Berkeley Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System Fellow
Political Science, UC Berkeley
Pia Deshpande is a Political Science PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley. She is broadly interested in race, political behavior, and social inequity in American Politics. So far, she has worked on projects examining white American reactions to demographic change, narrative techniques to reduce prejudice against different outgroups, and asymmetric political mobilization as a result of elite weaponization of language. She is starting new work on evictions leading to political disenfranchisement. Before starting at Berkeley, Pia worked as an academic researcher at the...
Benjamin Fields is a PhD student in the sociology department at the University of California, Berkeley. A health-oriented social scientist, he wants to focus his research on a social understanding of diet and its relationship to well-being, looking beyond the physiological definition of food towards one that includes social, cultural, political, and economic considerations.
