Graduate Student

Anthony Whitten

Anthony Whitten is a doctoral student in Cohort 3 of the Leaders for Equity and Democracy program. Anthony’s research interests include access to and equity in graduate study for underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

Anthony has an education career spanning 21 years, including secondary and higher education. Currently serving as the Director of Diversity Admissions at Berkeley Haas, he works across all Haas undergraduate and graduate degree programs strengthening the diversity partnerships and pipelines used to build diverse classes.

Prior to joining Haas, Anthony served...

Katelin Tharp

Katelin Tharp (she/her) is currently pursuing both her Masters in Education and her Single Subject Teaching Credential in English with additional authorizations in Computer Science and Psychology through the Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP).

Katelin is originally from Mountain View, Calif. Her journey began at Northeastern University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Cognitive Psychology with a minor in English. Her academic career extended internationally during a summer semester at University College London, where she achieved distinction...

Daniel Jovan Pulido

Daniel Jovan Pulido is a master’s student in the Cultural Studies of Sport in Education program at UC Berkeley. His research explores how youth sports can serve as civic infrastructure—bridging education, health, and community development. As President of Merced United, a long-standing youth organization in California’s Central Valley, Jovan leads programs that use sport to strengthen academic engagement, health equity, and social belonging for underserved families.

Jovan’s lived experience shapes his perspective: after three kidney transplants and 19 years on dialysis, he...

Brendan Henrique

Brendan is a fifth-year doctoral student at the Berkeley School of Education in the Learning Sciences and Human Development (LSHD) cluster and is advised by Prof. Michelle Wilkerson. His research sits at the intersection of the learning sciences, computer science (CS) education, and teacher education. His research focuses on critically conscious CS education, studying the ways in which pre-service teachers navigate critical perspectives of computing in a CS teacher preparation program.

He is a graduate student researcher with Prof. Lisa Yan in the College of Computing, Data Science...

Julián Ángel

Julián G. Ángel (He/Él/Leti’) is a Chancellor Fellow and PhD student in Policy, Politics, and Leadership in the Berkeley School of Education. Born and raised in New Mexico, Julián found his passion for public education, civic engagement, and community-engaged research in the rich farming community of Hatch. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Chicana and Chicano Studies, specializing in Intersectional Politics and Social Movements, from The University of New Mexico (UNM). Julián's journey through higher education is a testament to the transformative influence of public education and the...

Vo Ram Yoon

Vo Ram Yoon (him/his) is a doctoral student in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster at the Berkeley School of Education. Ethnically Korean and raised in Bolivia, his passion for advancing social justice and equity in education have been shaped by his international upbringing and witnessing how privilege and marginalization manifest in education from the classrooms of Chicago Public Schools to the private English academies in Tokyo. His research interests include the impact of EdTech on K-12 schools, the racialization of AAPI students, and the relationship between schools and the...

Shantay Alvarez

Shantay Alvarez is a first-year doctoral student in the Social Research Methodologies cluster at the Berkeley School of Education. Her research focuses on psychometrics, structural equation modeling, and longitudinal approaches to educational assessment and measurement. She is particularly interested in how measurement bias influences testing outcomes and how latent variable modeling, including Item Response Theory (IRT) and hierarchical modeling techniques can improve the validity, reliability, and fairness of educational instruments.

Shantay approaches measurement as both a...

Asha Nidumolu

Asha Nidumolu (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Language, Literacy and Culture cluster of UC Berkeley’s School of Education. Her research interests lie at the intersections of sociocultural theories of literacy, teacher education, ethnic studies pedagogy, translingual pedagogies, and Cultural Historical Activity Theory. As a researcher and educator, Asha studies the liberatory potential of co-constructed learning environments that engage multiple ways of languaging and meaning-making.

Asha has 8+ years as a public school educator. She has taught high school Ethnic Studies and...

Melissa Magrath

Melissa Magrath (she/they) is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program at UC Berkeley’s School of Education.

Before Berkeley, they received their bachelor's degree in Government and Legal Studies and Psychology from Bowdoin College. After graduating from Bowdoin, Melissa worked as the Elementary English Language Fellow at the American Farm School in Thessaloniki, Greece. Melissa then moved to Maha Sarakham, Thailand, working as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant.

Born and raised in Appalachian Maryland, Melissa’s primary research interests center on rural...

Bird Sellergren

Bird Sellergren is a Ph.D. student in Education at the University of California, Berkeley, within the Language, Literacy, and Culture cluster. They are an educator and disability justice advocate committed to advancing autism acceptance and self-advocacy. Bird’s research examines autism not only as a neurotype but also as a political and cultural identity, exploring autistic epistemologies and relationality through the lenses of disability justice, decoloniality, and critical theory.

They serve as Executive Director and head facilitator of Bay Area Autism Collective, a nonprofit...