Graduate Student

Ja’Nya Banks

Ja’Nya is a second year PhD student in the Education Policy, Politics and Leadership cluster. She is a proud East Coast native, raised in the “DMV”: DC, Maryland, Virginia region. She started her career as a Special Education Teacher and case manager, eventually transitioning into roles around youth mentorship, and race and identity facilitation for educators.

As a practitioner and researcher she is interested in understanding communal ties amongst school based stakeholders (parents, students and teachers) during the plight of policy shifts. She looks at opportunities for shift in...

Jin Hyung Lim

Jin Hyung Lim is a PhD student in the 2022 cohort of the School Psychology Program at the Berkeley School of Education. He obtained BA in Education (with Summa Cum Laude) and MA in Special Education at Seoul National University in South Korea. Jin Hyung also received a prestigious scholarship for his PhD work funded by Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies (KFAS). His research interests include multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), psychoeducational assessments, evidence-based & culturally-informed practices, and teacher's professional development.

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Isabella Ahrens

Isabella Ahrens is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the School Psychology Program. She is currently working at an elementary and high school in San Francisco Unified School District as a school psychology intern. Isabella has engaged in assessment, consultation, and therapy practicum experiences in schools in the East Bay and a private practice in San Francisco.

Her research explores parent involvement in youth sport and student athlete academic engagement. Isabella has contributed to research exploring Native Hawaiian mental and behavioral health, patients...

Umara Hansen

Umara Hansen (she/her/hers) is a first year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at UC Berkeley. Umara attended the University of Ottawa, Canada and graduated with the highest distinction of Honours in Psychology, BSc where she studied the impact of stress on wellbeing through fMRI measures. Prior to graduate school, Umara worked as a research assistant in a variety of research labs throughout Canada and the United States, including the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Lab at the University of British Columbia and the Stress and the Development Lab at Harvard University....

Jennie Greenstein

Jennie Greenstein is a 3rd year PhD student in the School Psychology Program in the Berkeley School of Education. Prior to joining the BSE, Jennie received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychological & Brain Sciences and Educational Studies from Washington University in St. Louis.


Jennie’s research interests include universal social-emotional learning interventions to promote student well-being, as well as school-based mental health services designed to support students through multi-tiered systems of support. She currently works with Dr....

Jackie Lopez Santiago

Jackie is a PhD student in the School Psychology Program under the advisement of Professor Frank Worrell. Jackie’s primary research interest include: understanding the educational experiences of low income, Latine students; parent education as a mediator for Latine students academic success; and the social networks of Latine parents, particularly mothers.

Jackie is a first-generation college graduate who was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif. She is an alumnae of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) where she began her research experience as a second year...

Krina Patel

Krina, a Kenyan-born Indian, has always been intrigued by the diverse educational systems across different countries. Her passion for engineering design was sparked during her senior year of high school when a baking mishap inspired her to pursue an engineering degree at Penn State. As an undergraduate, she was involved in design thinking, engineering education, and organizational psychology research at the Pennsylvania State University (Do-iT Lab). Upon completing her Bachelor's in Engineering Science from Penn State in 2022, Krina began her PhD studies in the SESAME program...

Emily Reich

Emily Reich (she/her) is a first-year doctoral student in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster in the School of Education. She comes to graduate school with questions about the ways in which bureaucracy and the school staff who wield it shape the educational lives of marginalized and minitoritized students.

Emily received a BS in Special Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010. She holds credentials to teach Special Education to students in kindergarten through age twenty-one in California and Wisconsin. Before coming to Berkeley, Emily spent many...

Mark Pommer

Mark Pommer is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program at UC Berkeley. Mark received his EdS in school psychology from Columbia University. His current research interests include bilingual evaluations, second language acquisition, and addressing disproportionality of English language learners in special education. Mark is also involved in hope theory and application research, international school psychology, and assistive technology research and design.

Mark’s return to academia was inspired and informed by his 16-year career as a Nationally Certified School...

Eric Assan

Eric Assan (He/Him) is a 1st year Master's degree student in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster in the School of Education. He is also pursuing a graduate certificate in Applied Data Science. He is an awardee of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, a fully funded scholarship program for African students and the first Education student to be awarded this scholarship. Prior to joining the BSE, Eric received an MEd in Educational Management from Huzhou University, China in 2022 and graduated with a Bachelor's of Social Sciences Education at the University of Cape Coast...