Team

Current Members

Melissa Perez

Doctoral Student. Melissa Perez is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan School of Information. Her research focuses on computer science education, specifically on creating CS learning environments that honor the cultural backgrounds of diverse learners. Her work has looked at making/maker practices of families working together on design projects, how to support them working together, and the combination of computational thinking and identity to teach computing-related topics.

Anubha Singh

Doctoral Student. Anubha is a doctoral student at the School of Information, University of Michigan. Her research interests lie at the intersection of postcolonial cultural studies, Feminist STS, and Critical Information studies through which she tries to understand and unpack the values and ethics in sociocultural systems. Her current work focuses on platformization of food delivery work in India where she studies the rapidly changing landscape of foodways in smaller Indian towns to understand how certain sociotechnical practices get stabilized in the process. 

Past Members

Cecilia H. Fernández

Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Cecilia Henríquez Fernández is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on broadening participation in STEM, and is grounded in sociocultural theories of learning and culturally sustaining pedagogies. She examines the daily STEM practices of girls of color to develop inclusive and transformative experiences for girls of color. Her current research examines the relationship between girls’ lived experiences and STEM practices. 

Gladys Garcia 

Graduate Student. Gladys Garcia is a graduate student in the Digital Archives, Library Science, and Preservation track of the Master’s of Science in Information at the University of Michigan, School of Information (UMSI). As a research assistant, she collaborates on developing a culturally responsive model for teaching STEM in public libraries and training librarians in culturally sustaining pedagogy. Her other research interests include leveraging archival work to address human rights abuses in Latin America & the Caribbean. She has over four years of experience working in community-based archives in Southern California.

Crisol Beliz

Graduate Student. Crisol is a graduate student at UMSI on the Data Science, Data Analytics, and Computation Social Science track. Her research interests include digital humanitarianism and leveraging data for social change. Before attending the University of Michigan she attended Grand Valley State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies, and a certificate in Latinx Studies. As a Ronald E. McNair Scholar she plans on pursuing a PhD  and has conducted research exploring the activism and mobilization of Latinx communities.

Sumra Alvi

Graduate Student. Sumra Alvi is studying Health Informatics at the University of Michigan’s School of Information and School of Public Health. She is passionate about bridging the equity gaps in healthcare by designing compassionate, people-centric technology interventions. As a research assistant, she leverages design theory, principles in intersectional feminism, and computational thinking to empower young women to explore STEM education.

Alison Wang

Graduate Student. Before coming to the University of Michigan, Alison has been working as an HR for five years in an international education company in Shanghai. Wishing to generate a more direct impact on the end-user (i.e. students and educations) and promote educational equity through EdTech solutions,  she decided to pursue a further degree at the University of Michigan School of Education studying Design and Technologies for Learning.

Kaily Metz

Undergraduate Student. Kaily Metz is an undergraduate student studying computer science in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. She is interested in research that aims to include people from underrepresented communities in STEM education. Kaily also plans to study biology, and she hopes to pursue a career in biotechnology with a focus in medicine.