University of California
President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipients 2011-2012
Arts & Humanities
Education: B.A., American Studies in Gender and Ethnicity, Political Science, University of Southern California; Ph.D., Politics, Designated Emphasis in Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
Dissertation: The Prison of Democracy: US Legal Culture and the Idea of Leavenworth Penitentiary
Thesis Advisor: Gina Dent, Professor of Feminist Studies, History of Consciousness, and Legal Studies, University of California, San Cruz
Research Topic: The Prison and the Citizen: Limits of Democratic Punishment
Mentor: Kelly Lytle Hernández, Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles
Education: B.A., History and Latin American Studies, Brown University; Ph.D., History, University of California, Irvine
Dissertation: Spinning the Bottle: Ethnic Mexicans and Alcohol in Prohibition-Era Los Angeles
Thesis Advisor: Vicki L. Ruiz, Professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies, University of California, Irvine
Research Topic: John Barleycorn in the Borderlands: Alcohol, Migration, and Daily Life at the US/Mexican Border, 1900-1940
Mentor: Luis Alvarez, Professor of History, University of California, San Diego
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History, University of California, San Diego
Education: B.A., Political Science and Asian American Studies, University of California, Irvine; M.A., Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego; Ph.D., Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego
Dissertation: Suspended Futures: On The Vietnamization of History and the Memory in the 21st Century
Thesis Advisor: Yen Le Espiritu, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego
Research Topic: The Early History of Techno – Orientalism and American Empire
Mentor: Jodi Kim, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Riverside
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Riverside
Education: B.A., History and English Literature, Simon Fraser University; M.A., History and Politics, Texas A&M University, Kingsville; Ph.D., History, University of California, San Diego
Dissertation: Understanding Elián: The Politics of Childhood in Havana and Miami, 1959-1962
Thesis Advisor: Luis Alvarez, Professor of History, University of California, San Diego
Research Topic: The Cold War politics of Cuban- and Mexican-American struggles for bilingual education, 1960s-1980s
Mentor: Raúl Fernandez, Professor of Chicano/Latino Studies, University of California, Irvine
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Chicano/Latino Studies Program, University of California, Irvine
Education: B.A., Women’s and Gender Studies, Columbia University; Ph.D., History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
Dissertation: History Before Black History: Black Studies, Historical Discourse, and the Limits of Institutionalization
Thesis Advisor: Angela Y. Davis, Professor of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
Research Topic: Disciplining Black Studies: History, Institutionalization and the Question of the Human
Mentor: Ula Taylor, Professor of African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Education: B.M., Music Education, Central Washington University; M.A., Music, University of Nevada, Reno; Ph.D., Musicology, University of California, Los Angeles
Dissertation: The Politics of Inuit Musical Modernities in Alaska
Thesis Advisor: Olivia Bloechl, Professor of Musicology, University of California, Los Angeles
Research Topic: Sounding Pathways of Self-Determination: Contemporary Scenes of Yup’ik Musical Life in Alaska
Mentor: Jocelyne Guilbault, Professor of Music, University of California, Berkeley
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Music, University of California, Berkeley
Life Sciences
Education: B.S., Microbiology, University of California, Santa Barbara; Ph.D., Molecular Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dissertation: A novel role for the transcription elongation factor NusA in DNA repair/damage tolerance pathways in Escherichia coli
Thesis Advisor: Graham C. Walker, Research Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research Topic: Regulation of polyploidy during the circadian cycle in cyanobacteria
Mentors: Susan S. Golden, Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Joseph Pogliano, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology, University of California, San Diego
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego
Education: B.S., Microbiology, University of Texas, Arlington; Ph.D., Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Dissertation: Host-Based Mechanisms of Ribavirin Resistance: Implications in Treatment Response of Hepatitis C Virus Infection
Thesis Advisor: Julie Pfeiffer, Professor of Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Research Topic: Examination of FcgR utilization during secondary dengue virus infection
Mentor: Eva Harris, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, University of California, Berkeley
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Public Health: Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, University of California, Berkeley
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University; M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: Sleep dynamics and seizure control in a mesoscale cortical model
Thesis Advisor: Andrew Szeri, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Research Topic: Analysis of human epileptic networks for targeted surgical resection
Mentor: Dario Ringach, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
Mathematics, Engineering & Physical Sciences
Education: B.S., Physics and Mathematics, University of Oregon; M.A., Physics, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Physics, University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: Physics and Applications of Carbon Nanotube and Graphene Nanoscaled Systems
Thesis Advisor: Alex Zettl, Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
Research Topic: Nanoelectronics and Nanomechanics of One and Two-dimensional Systems
Mentor: Andrew Cleland, Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Education: B.S., Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley; M.S., Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology; Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
Dissertation: Electrocatalysis in Solid Acid Fuel Cells
Thesis Advisor: Sossina M. Haile, Professor of Materials Science and of Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
Research Topic: In-situ studies of catalysts for photoelectrochemistry
Mentor: Alexis T. Bell, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley; M.S.E., Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dissertation: Techniques for Battery Health Conscious Power Management via Electrochemical Modeling and Optimal Control
Thesis Advisors: Jeffrey L. Stein, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Hosam K. Fathy, Professor of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
Research Topic: PDE Control and Estimation Techniques for Advanced Battery Management Systems
Mentor: Professor Miroslav Krstic, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego
Social Sciences
Education: B.S., Social Science Education, Grambling State University; Ph.D., Education, University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: Fanon’s Children: The Black Panther Party and the Rise of the Crips and Bloods in Los Angeles
Thesis Advisor: Daniel Perlstein, Professor of Education, University of California, Berkeley
Research Topic: Fanon's Children: The Military Defeat of the Black Panther Party and the Rise of the Crips and Bloods in Los Angeles
Mentor: Ramon Grosfoguel, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Education: B.A., International Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.A., Political Science, University of Chicago; Ph.D., Political Science, University of Chicago
Dissertation: Making Democracy Work from Abroad: Remittances, Hometown Associations and Migrant–State Coproduction of Public Goods in Mexico
Thesis Advisor: Steven Wilkinson, Professor of Political Science, Yale University
Research Topic: Migrant Bi-national Civic and Political Engagement in Sending and Host Societies
Mentor: Roger Waldinger, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
Education: B.A, Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles; Ph.D., Politics and International Relations, University of Southern California
Dissertation: Transnational (After)Life: Migrant Transnationalism and Engagement in U.S. and Mexican Politics
Thesis Advisor: Ricardo Ramírez, Professor of Political Science, University of Southern California
Research Topic: Migrant Transnationalism and Political Engagement in the U.S. and Mexico
Mentor: Jonathan Fox, Professor of Latin American & Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Latin American & Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
Education: B.A., Psychology, University of California, Berkeley; M.PH., Public Health, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dissertation: The Health Consequences of Asian Immigrant Integration
Thesis Advisor: Arline T. Geronimus, Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Research Topic: Underemployment and Health among Foreign Born
Mentor: Gilbert Gee, Professor of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles
Current Position: President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles