Current Team Members
Patricia Cabral
Patricia Cabral is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Psychology program at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Her research aims to understand the role of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status in accessing quality education while observing patterns of migration, segregation, and integration. She aims to address issues around educational equity for working-class Latinx immigrant-origin communities in the County of Los Angeles to develop school-based interventions.
Cynthia Estrada
Cynthia Estrada is a doctoral student within the Social Science and Comparative Education program at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a first generation college graduate and Chicana, her research interests center around college access and choice for students of underserved populations. She is particularly interested in learning if or how messages of prestige impact college decision making amongst students of color. Prior to UCLA, Cynthia studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara where she received her BA in English with a minor in Applied Psychology and Education.
Ramon Flores
Ramon Flores is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Psychology program at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. His research interests include bias in K-12 education and the acculturation process for Latinx individuals. Ramon earned his BA in Psychology from Pitzer College and his MA in Psychological Research from California State University, Long Beach.
Rachel Freeman
Rachel E. Freeman is a PhD candidate in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles where she is also a Research Associate for the Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education. Rachel’s research interests include access and equity in higher education for immigrant students, undocumented students, and students of color. Rachel has worked extensively with immigrant advocacy organizations including My Undocumented Life Blog and UndocuScholars, and has worked in the higher education sector for Bunker Hill Community College, MassBay Community College, Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Achieving the Dream, and Jobs for the Future. She received her Masters in Higher Education from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and her Bachelors in philosophy from The University of Chicago.
Rose Ann Gutierrez
Rose Ann E. Gutierrez is a PhD student in the Social Sciences and Comparative Education division specializing in Race and Ethnic Studies at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She received her bachelor‘s in Sociology at the University of Richmond and master’s at Seattle University in Student Development Administration. She has worked in K-12 public education as a middle school teacher in Miami, FL and student affairs practitioner in Seattle, WA. She has been engaged in the local community with her involvement in Pilipino American Unity for Progress, Inc. and Southern California Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Educators. Rose Ann serves as a research associate for the Institute of Immigration, Globalization, and Education and National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research explores the analytical nexus between racialization, immigration, and social stratification in education.
‘Inoke Hafoka
‘Inoke Hafoka is a doctoral student in Social Science and Comparative Education (SSCE) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) within the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS). His research aims to understand the issues and experiences of students of color, specifically Pacific Islanders, in education to better implement policy and educational practices that give them support within the educational system. ’Inoke earned a Master of Education in Education, Culture & Society (ECS) from The University of Utah and a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Brigham Young University.
Juliana Karras-Jean Gilles
Juliana Karras-Jean Gilles is leading the Making the Invisible Visible: Systematically Examining Classroom Bias with MET Data study. She studied Developmental Psychology at the Graduate Center City University of New York, and received her M.A. in Human Development and Social Intervention at NYU Steinhardt. Her multi-method work straddles both developmental and social research areas by focusing on the social development of children and adolescents in context. Throughout her research, she employs a structural lens to generate knowledge that can be used to challenge social systems which reproduce inequality. Her doctoral research examined the intersection of inequality and civic development across multiple ecological contexts (home, neighborhood, school) with Black American and Black immigrant families in the U.S. Currently, she is collaborating on an international program of human rights research that examines conceptions of children’s rights and inequality in developing contexts (West Indies, South Africa). The goal of her work is to support researchers, practitioners, and policymakers invested in applying empirical knowledge to rectify inequities that adversely impact marginalized communities.
Rosalinda Larios
Rosalinda Larios is a joint doctoral student in Special Education at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA). Her passion in working with Spanish-speaking families stems from childhood, when she would stand in as her father’s interpreter to help him navigate the American culture. Her father immigrated to the United States from Mexico, at the age of sixteen, and worked in the fields until she was born. After seeing so many Spanish speaking youth in special education she decided to learn more about the process and earned a master’s degree from CSULA in Multicultural/Multilingual Special Education. As an education specialist, she quickly saw that families who did not have command of the English language and the American educational system would tend to miss out on resources for their children, which has lead her to her research interest. Her research interests include making Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings accessible to culturally and linguistically diverse families and improving the quality of education for students with exceptionalities who are English language learners through culturally responsive teaching practices.
Annie Le
Annie is a doctoral student in the Social Science and Comparative Education (SSCE) Division at UCLA‘s Graduate School of Education, specializing in race and ethnic studies. Her research focuses on historically underrepresented students as well as racial and social inequities within an educational context. She studies these issues in correctional facilities, high schools, higher education, and urban communities. Annie received her Master’s in Higher Education from NYU and Bachelor of Arts in Feminist Studies from UC Santa Cruz.
Guadalupe Lopez
Guadalupe is a doctoral student in Human Development and Psychology (HDP) at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Broadly, her research focuses on how the immigration experience impacts the development of Latinx youth and young adults. Recently, her work explores how Latinx youth make sense of their social belonging in the U.S. and the implications to their wellbeing. Guadalupe is a first-generation college student. She immigrated to the U.S at the age of six from Mexico. She received her B.A from Northern Illinois University and her M.A in Human Development and Psychology from UCLA.
Elena Maker Castro
Elena is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Psychology program at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Her research interests include the civic development of immigrant-origin adolescents and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methodology. Previously, Elena served as a secondary Social Studies teacher in Rhode Island. Elena earned her BA in Education Studies and her MA in ESL and Cross Cultural Education from Brown University.
Stephanie Nguyen
Stephanie Nguyen is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Psychology program at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Her research interests center around the role of parent-child relationships and family dynamics in Vietnamese families. Stephanie is also interested in examining the role of parent-child relationships and socio-emotional development for immigrant-origin youth in educational settings. She received her M.S. in Child Development from San Diego State University and her B.A. in Psychology from California State University, San Bernardino.
Alfredo Novoa
Alfredo Novoa is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Psychology program at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. He is interested in understanding the ecological factors that shape the sociocultural experiences and academic development of immigrant-origin youth. His other interests include applying translational science within academic contexts. Alfredo received his Bachelors of Science in Applied Psychology from New York University.
Audrey Paredes
Audrey Paredes is a doctoral student in the Social Science and Comparative Education Division (race and ethnic studies specialization) in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at UCLA. As the daughter of immigrants and a first-generation student in the U.S. educational pipeline, her research aims to examine the experiences of first-generation students of color in higher education. With a specific focus on first and second-generation Central American students, Audrey hopes to impact policy and practice to transform and improve educational experiences and outcomes. Prior to entering the doctoral program, Audrey received her M.A in Education from UCLA and B.A from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Gender, Ethnicity, and Multicultural Studies.
Rikka Venturanza
Rikka Venturanza is a doctoral student at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education, specializing in Race, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies in Education within the Social Sciences and Comparative Education Division. Her research aims to understand the intersection of race and immigration status among underserved and underrepresented students with a focus on Asian American Pacific Islander students. Through her work, Rikka hopes to influence and impact educational policy and practice to improve the conditions and outcomes for students from immigrant backgrounds. Prior to entering the doctoral program, Rikka worked in public four- and two year minority serving institutions, specifically Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions. She received both her MS in Education and BA in Communications at California State University, Fullerton.
Ingrid Villanueva
Ingrid Villanueva graduated from UCLA in 2010 with a BA in International Development Studies and another in Study of Religion. She was born and raised in Los Angeles by her single mother and is the youngest of nine kids, four who were born in her native country of El Salvador. The daughter of immigrants and the first in her family to go to college, Ingrid is very excited to work for IGE. She hopes to learn more about the complex issues that arise for immigrants and first generation students entering higher education for the first time.
IGE Alumni
- Cynthia Alcantar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Higher Education Leadership, University of Nevada, Reno
- Jason Chan, Ph.D., Fellowship and Career Advisor and Assistant Director of the Center for Career and Professional Advising, Haverford College
- Monique Corral, Ph.D., Post-Doctoral Fellow at The UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families, University of California, Los Angeles
- Edward Curammeng, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, California State University, Dominguez Hills
- Edwin Hernandez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Special Education Rehabilitation & Counseling (SRC), California State University, San Bernardino
- Dalal Katsiaficas, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Minas Michikyan, Ph.D., Lecturer in Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles
- Mike Hoa Nguyen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Higher Education, University of Denver
- Bach-Mai Dolly Nguyen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Education, Oregon State University
- Olivia Osei-Twumasi, Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles
