Graduate Student

Mark Pommer

Mark Pommer is a doctoral candidate in the UC Berkeley School Psychology program. Mark received his EdS in school psychology from Columbia University. His current research is dedicated to translating psychological research findings into applied school and clinical psychology practice.

Mark is also involved in research that utilizes a risk and resiliency framework to study the psychology of hope, the neuropsychology of ADHD, the function of play in human development, international school psychology, and assistive technology research and design.

Mark’s return to...

Kevin Quintero

Kevin Quintero (He/Him/His) is a PhD candidate in Policy, Politics, and Leadership at UC Berkeley’s School of Education. Kevin’s research interests are using methodological and theoretical approaches to reveal the causes of political, social, and educational inequalities. His current research examines how the expansion of voting rights in California creates opportunities for minority groups to increase representation on school boards and influence educational policymaking. In particular, his dissertation shows how the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) has reshaped electoral systems for...

Ashley Zhou

Ashley Zhou is a student of the Joint Doctoral program in special education with UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University. Her research focuses on structures of race, class, gender, and disability in special education through the role of the paraprofessional. Analyzing historical archives, she examines the labor formation of paraprofessionals and special education teachers in the aftermath of Brown. Her work also incorporates ethnography to examine the consequences of this labor formation for contemporary challenges in special education. Through this investigation of...

Emily Reich

Emily Reich (she/her) is a third-year doctoral student in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster in UC Berkeley's 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.

Prior to Berkeley, Emily taught Special Education in California and Israel. She received her BS in Special Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Her current research projects include studying how schools across California made use of state and...

Emely Lugo

Emely N. Lugo (she/ella) is a second-year doctoral student in the School Psychology Program at UC Berkeley's School of Education (BSE).


Before joining BSE, Emely pursued her studies in Psychology and Child Development at California State University, San Bernardino. Her research investigated the efficacy of computerized cognitive training in supporting the development of critical cognitive functions such as working memory, cognitive flexibility, and processing speed, which are vital for academic success. She also explored the role of motivation in the...

Nicole Cedillo

Nicole Cedillo is an accomplished educator, researcher, and advocate for equitable education with a rich background in history, feminist studies, and English language development. With a Master of Arts in History from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in Feminist Studies and History from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Nicole has seamlessly woven academic knowledge with a passion for creating inclusive learning environments.

The journey into education began with Nicole earning a Single Subject English Language Arts certification from the Reach Institute for School...

Pa Vue

Pa N. Vue or Paj Hnub Vwj was born in Thailand and came to the United States in 1990. She has nearly a decade of experience working with high school and college students as an academic advisor and writing center coordinator. She is currently a PhD candidate in the School of Education at UC Berkeley and is also doing a Designated Emphasis in Indigenous Language Revitalization. Her research interests are in Hmong language reclamation, literacy, and indigenous knowledge production. She explores connections between literacy, language, and creativity, broadly conceived, and works toward...

Nathaly Santos

Nathaly Santos is a doctoral student within the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster at the Berkeley School of Education. Her research centers Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and the ways in which colleges and universities adopt and embody an HSI identity at the organizational level.


These days, Nathaly is interested in exploring how HSIs operate as racialized organizations. She studies the impact of both individual and institutional factors that shape systemic policies and practices aimed at improving Latine/x student success rates and addressing...

Abby Slovick

Abby is a doctoral student in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster. Her research focuses on decision making and implementation using concepts from organizational theory. Her current research project is a three-year study about how district leaders in California are using their federal and state stimulus funds. Finance scholars have found that money does matter in education, but there are still questions about how district leaders make decisions when new dollars flow and why district leaders opt to prioritize dollars toward certain programs over others. Using qualitative research...

Joy Esboldt

Joy Esboldt is a doctoral candidate in the Critical Studies of Race, Class, and Gender cluster at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Education. Her research focuses on teachers’ learning about race, equity, and power as it intersects with gender and cultural politics. Joy’s work engages a multilevel qualitative analysis, locating the work of teachers and conceptualizations of racial justice within interactional, organizational, and sociopolitical environments. Joy’s dissertation examines the co-construction and enactment of equity discourses across multiple sites of teacher...