31 inspiring California fellow and grant recipients are studying in California this year and are available to share nuggets of their fascinating studies. Watch the short video introduction by each fellow and grant recipient and see what, and who, your AAUW Fund dollars support. Learn about Immigration, Reproductive Healthcare, Gender, Race & Ethnicity, Inequality and Social Policy, Incarcerated women, kinship, and activism, and other topics.
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Make a donation to AAUW Fund and note that it is “In honor of AAUW California Fund Event.”
Speaker Information
Check back in mid-December for introductory speaker videos.
| First Name | Last Name | Institution | Degree Sought | Primary Area of Expertise | Specialization | Award Program Name | Project Name | City | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Adamaka | Ajaelo | Self-eSTEM | Early STEM Immersion Program | Community Action Grant | Science, Technology, Eningeering & Mathematics | Oakland | ||
 | Shannon | Bae | University of California-Irvine (Irvine-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Anthropology | Cultural Anthropology | American Dissertation Fellowships | Reconciling DNA: Making Kinship and Nation through Genetic Testing in South Korea | Irvine |
| Faith | Bennett | University of California-Davis (Davis-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | History | Gender and Labor | American Dissertation Fellowships | Side Work: Class Consciousness and Political Activism Amidst the Decline of San Francisco Bay Area Restaurant Unions from the 1940s to 1980s | Davis | |
| Anna | Bukareva | Her Idea SF | Dare to Dream Fellowship | Community Action Grant | Project-Based Learning / Mentorship | San Francisco | |||
| Bonnie | Cherry | University of California-Berkeley (Berkeley-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Law | Law and Organizations, Federal Indian policy, Critical Security Studies | American Dissertation Fellowships | Little Kingdoms: Administrative Power and Legalized Security in Indian Country | Berkeley | |
 | Megan | Chung | University of California-Los Angeles (Los Angeles-CA) | Master of Science | Engineering | Electrical Engineering- Physical and Wave Electronics | Selected Professions Fellowships | Low Power Tunable Multiferroic Flux Sources for Steering and Focusing | Los Angeles |
 | Abigail (Abbie) | Cohen | University of California-Los Angeles (Los Angeles-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Education | Youth-serving community organizations, philanthropy, public schools, democracy, race | American Dissertation Fellowships | After the Final Bell: A Critical Ethnography With a Youth Serving Community-Based Educational Non-Profit | Los Angeles |
 | Joanne | DeCaro | University of California-Irvine (Irvine-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Criminal Justice & Criminology | Punishment and Trauma | American Dissertation Fellowships | Unnamed Wounds: Carceral Trauma and Wellness in Reentry | Irvine |
| Gina | Hakim | University of California-Irvine (Irvine-CA) | Doctorate | Anthropology | Migration, Environment, Water Infrastructure | American Dissertation Fellowships | Here We Made Another Urequío: Water Infrastructures and Mexican Transnational Migration | Irvine | |
 | Samjhana | Khanal | University of California-Davis (Davis-CA) | Doctorate | Agriculture | Genetics and Biotechnology | International Doctoral Degree Fellowships | Dentification and functional characterization of candidate genes conferring resistance to downy mildew in lettuce caused by oomycete Bremia Lactucae | Davis |
 | Rachel | Klein | University of Southern California (Los Angeles-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Gender Studies | Incarcerated women, kinship, and activism | American Dissertation Fellowships | "Incarcerating Motherhood: The Carceral State and Insurgent Kinship Networks in California" | Los Angeles |
 | Nahaleh | Lotfi Malakabadi | University of California-San Diego (La Jolla-CA) | Master of Public Policy | Public Policy | Inequality and Social Policy | International Master's/First Professional Degree Fellowships | AAUW International Fellowship offer | California |
 | Dena | Malakian | Bright Futures for Youth | STEAM Explorers | Community Action Grant | Positive Youth Development | Grass Valley | ||
 | Maggie | Matern | Stanford University (Stanford-CA) | Post Doctorate | Biology | Otolaryngology | American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowships | Developing a CRISPR toolkit for inner ear organoid gene control | Stanford |
 | Zoe | Miller-Vedam | University of California-Irvine (Irvine-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Sociology | Immigration, Reproductive Healthcare, Gender, Race & Ethnicity | American Dissertation Fellowships | Standing on the threshold: birthright citizenship and immigrant incorporation during the perinatal period | Irvine |
| Amira | Noeuv | University of California-San Diego (La Jolla-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Ethnic & Cultural Studies | Critical Refugee Studies; Critical Global Health Studies | American Dissertation Fellowships | Scabbing: Second-Generation Cambodian American Transgenerational Trauma Healing | La Jolla | |
 | Esther | Nwanna | University of California-Davis (Davis-CA) | Post Doctorate | Health & Medicine | Biochemist | International Postdoctoral Fellowships | Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Potential of Selected Medicinal Plans for the Treatment of Baacterial Infections in Dairy Cattle | Davis |
| Jacqueline | Phan | University of California-Berkeley (Berkeley-CA) | Post Doctorate | Biology | Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry | American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowships | Regulation of Shigella infection via the gut microbiome | Berkeley | |
| Mayra | Puente | University of California-Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara-CA) | Post Doctorate | Education | Higher Education | American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowships | A Platicando y Mapeando Mixed Methods Research Study on Rural Latinx Students? College Access and Choice Processes in California?s Central Coast | Santa Barbara | |
| Candy | Ramirez-Hale | University of California-San Francisco (San Francisco-CA) | Master of Nursing | Health & Medicine | Nurse Midwifery/Women's Health | Career Development Grants | Certified Nurse Midwivery/Women's Health NP Masters | San Francisco | |
| Hira | Sheraz | American Film Institute Conservatory (Los Angeles-CA) | Master of Fine Arts | Creative Writing | Film | International Master's/First Professional Degree Fellowships | Boy and the Cobbler | Los Angeles | |
 | Nefertiti | Smith Christman | University of California-Irvine (Irvine-CA) | Doctor of Science | Biology | Aquatic Ecology | American Dissertation Fellowships | Left in the Dust: Suspended Sediment impacts Zebrafish | Irvine |
| Felicity | Stone-Richards | University of California-Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Political Science | Political Theory and Japanese Studies | American Dissertation Fellowships | The Search for Acknowledgment: Anti-racist and Pro-immigration Praxis in Japan | Santa Barbara | |
 | Ann Ngoc | Tran | University of Southern California (Los Angeles-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | History | Southeast Asian Diaspora | American Dissertation Fellowships | "The Ark is Already Gone: A History of Boat Refugee Non-Arrival" | Los Angeles |
 | Christine | Vega | San Jose State University (San Jose-CA) | Ethnic & Cultural Studies | Motherscholarship - Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality Studies | American Short-Term Research Publication Grants | Love by Any Means Necessary: Women of Color, Mothers, Scholars, y Activistas | San Jose | |
 | Anaïs | Vo?ki | Stanford University (Stanford-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Environmental Studies | Environmental psychology | International Doctoral Degree Fellowships | Beyond Western climate anxiety: Planetary eco-emotions and the moderating role of psychological distance and environmental justice | Stanford |
| Ameera | Waterford | Stanford University (Stanford-CA) | Master of Science | Engineering | Technology and Engineering Management | Selected Professions Fellowships | Management Science and Engineering | Stanford | |
 | Essence | Wilson | University of Southern California (Los Angeles-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Communications | Health Communication | American Dissertation Fellowships | The Road to Black Jasmine: Developing a culturally-adapted digital mental health intervention using participatory animation to reduce stigma and enhance help-seeking among Black youth | Los Angeles |
 | Sora | Woo | University of California-San Diego (La Jolla-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Music | Integrative Studies | American Dissertation Fellowships | Korean American Women: Loving Music In-Between | La Jolla |
 | Layla | Zbinden | University of Southern California (Los Angeles-CA) | Doctor of Philosophy | Ethnic & Cultural Studies | Arab American Studies; Medical Humanities | American Dissertation Fellowships | Butterfly Affect: Arab Feminist Worldmaking in the Wake of Pain and Illness | Los Angeles |
  | Ifsha | Zehra | University of California-San Diego (La Jolla-CA) | Doctorate | Communications | Critical Gender Studies, Visual Cultures | International Doctoral Degree Fellowships | Gendering Occupied Visions and Centering Imaginations | La Jolla |