Graduate Student Profiles

Ph.D. Candidate | School of Nursing

Being raised by a single mother in rural Texas, Kayla Longoria saw firsthand the consequences of scarce and often inaccessible health and mental healthcare resources on families. Those experiences encouraged her to become a first-generation college graduate, inspired her to pursue a career in healthcare and have shaped the way she approaches her research.

A third-year Ph.D. candidate in the School of Nursing, Kayla’s research focuses on utilizing precision health methodologies to investigate perinatal mental health disparities.

Pharmaceutical Sciences | College of Pharmacy

As a Fulbright scholar from Chile, Miguel has learned many things during his time in Austin but one of the most important has been the “Texan approach” – a phrase he describes as a strong-willed and tenacious spirit of solving problems and getting things done, even in the most challenging circumstances.

Miguel is in his final year as a Ph.D. student in the Pharmaceutical Sciences program. The goal of his research is to generate viable pharmaceutical therapeutics for a drug, niclosamide, that cannot otherwise be usefully absorbed by the body.

Design | College of Fine Arts

Rosana Duran Garibi is taking her work with the School of Design and Creative Technologies to tackle an unexpected but very important issue: eating disorders. Specifically, her research on Anorexia Nervosa aims to generate better understanding of what people suffering from the disorder experience and to help their family, friends and health professionals create open and empathetic dialog to provide better support during recovery.

As an international graduate student, Rosana has worked in the US, Mexico and Scotland as a student, a teacher and a book illustrator.

Health Behavior & Health Education | College of Education

As a senior in college, Jaylen Wright attended the UT Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE) Black Student Athlete Summit. Connecting with this impressive group of Black professionals and student athletes inspired Jaylen to pursue his Ph. D. in Health Behavior & Health Education in the College of Education's Department of Kinesiology and Health Education.

Jaylen’s studies are focused on reproductive justice. With his work, he aims to address institutional racism and discrimination that new and expecting mothers face in the healthcare system. In addition to receiving multiple fellowship awards and being published in multiple academic journals, Jaylen has written a dissertation on the effects of prenatal stress on Black mothers and their children and defining safe care and culturally reflective healthcare practices.

Special Education | College of Education

As an individual with a learning disability and severe mathematics anxiety, Sarah never could have predicted that she would spend her academic career researching – and loving – mathematics. She is now a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Education where she centers her research around supports for culturally and linguistically diverse students with learning disabilities in math.

For her dissertation research, she created an online professional development module called Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Mathematics Instruction (CLR-MI). She is exploring whether this module, when paired with a university-level mathematics methods course, increases pre-service teachers’ knowledge, understanding and ability to apply culturally and linguistically responsive practices into their instruction.

Economics | College of Liberal Arts

Bokyung Kim’s research focuses on how economies respond to sectoral shocks when reflecting firm-level heterogeneity and what that means relative to economic recovery and policy effectiveness. Bokyung is pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics in the College of Liberal Arts and chose UT for its renowned faculty and excellent reputation.

One of her favorite aspects of the program is how her department fosters a close academic community while providing abundant opportunities for engagement with other students, faculty and scholars in the field. This has been important to her, especially as an international student from Seoul, South Korea.

Middle Eastern Studies | College of Liberal Arts

As a freshman in college, Erin Kelleher remembers watching the Arab Spring unfold across much of the Middle East and North Africa. Curious to learn more about the region, she signed up for her first Arabic course. Erin is now pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies in the College of Liberal Arts. Her research focuses on the cultural and social history of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Egypt.

“I chose to study at UT because of my department’s emphasis on a regional understanding of the Middle East. Because I am interested in intersections of Ottoman and Arab histories, and the places where these histories are intertwined, this aspect of the department’s approach to the region really resonated with me.”

Psychology | College of Liberal Arts

As a Ph.D. candidate in UT’s Psychology doctorate program, Kaila Parker studies how growing up in a stressful early-life environment affects how children recover from traumatic brain injury.

Kaila chose to bring her talent to UT because of the genuine interest that faculty members expressed in her research ideas. This faculty support and approachability has fostered a strong sense of security for Kaila and inspired her to step outside of her comfort zone during her time as a researcher at UT.

Higher Education Leadership | College of Education

Already an undergraduate Alumna of UT, Vallery Valle has returned to the Forty Acres to get her Master’s degree in Higher Education Leadership from the College of Education.

Vallery chose her graduate program because of her passion for diversity in higher education. “I felt it would equip me to make the changes needed in higher education,” said Valle, who was also impressed by the program’s diverse faculty. “Seeing faculty that look like me do fantastic work in this field solidified my decision.”

Public Affairs | LBJ School of Public Affairs

Nicholas G. Becerra is a first year graduate student pursuing a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School with a focus on social and urban policy. He is originally from Dallas - a 9th generation Tejano - but had been living in NYC for over 16 years before moving back to Texas just last year. While in NYC, Nicholas worked as the director of government relations for a mental health nonprofit, served as director of a grassroots mental health coalition and was the Mental Health Chair of the Bronx Borough President's LGBT+ Policy Task Force.

Curriculum and Instruction | School of Education

Jackson Fisher is earning his Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education’s Urban Teachers program.

Having just started his first semester as a Longhorn, Jackson moved to Austin this summer from New York City, where he spent the past four years teaching middle school. The transition to teaching high school has been a great reminder that everything, including students, is bigger in Texas.

Healthcare Transformation | Dell Medical School & McCombs School of Business

Brenda Garza’s personal experience as a cancer survivor opened her eyes to the gap in patient-provider communication for compassionate medical care. Following her own diagnosis, Brenda chose to pursue a Master of Health Care Transformation at UT to further patient advocacy and education. Brenda’s work with the Latinx community during the COVID-19 pandemic opened her eyes to the shortcomings in translation services for Spanish speakers for compassionate communication.

Philosophy | School of Nursing

Jonathan Hecht’s first-hand experience as a healthcare professional informs his research on the functionality of Rapid Response Teams in hospitals as a Nursing Ph.D. student at UT. His work explores the development of expertly trained nurses to support Rapid Response Teams as they combat patients’ clinical deterioration.

A two-time UT Austin alumnus, Jonathan appreciates the approachability of his accomplished professors. Professors’ willingness to break down complex concepts into easily understandable terms has been a throughline during Jonathan’s Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D. pursuits at UT.

African and African Diaspora Studies | College of Liberal Arts

A doctoral candidate in UT’s Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, Nathan Moore researches how Black artists push against the construct that time operates in a linear, forward-moving fashion. Nathan’s work supports the idea that the different imagination of time by Black artists empowers society to bring forth new ways of being that attend to ongoing violence while also crafting more livable futures.

English | College of Liberal Arts

Christos Kalli uses poetry to map U.S. counterhistory of the epic form from the 1960s to the present. Christos focuses on how ethnic American writers creatively revised the social, political and cultural revolutions of the newly multicultural nation at the time. His research offers a comparative and theoretically innovative analysis of the epics by contemporary American poets.

Government | College of Liberal Arts

Katie Madel was initially drawn to apply for a Ph.D. in Government by the department’s impressive Policy Agendas Project. The Project’s big picture examination of policy and broad public accessibility offered exactly what Katie was looking for in the continuation of her academic journey. Today, Katie’s research as a doctoral candidate focuses on the interconnectedness between public policy and the goals it hopes to achieve.

Performance as Public Practice | College of Fine Arts

siri gurudev is a doctoral candidate and international student in Performance as Public Practice under the College of Fine Arts: Theater and Dance at UT. They look at contemporary performance in the Americas to understand how spiritual practice infuses artistic pieces covering personal and political liberation. Their work boldly tethers physical performance to the spiritual realm to challenge scholars, artists, and spectators to consider the spiritual resonance of performance as it is experienced in different contexts.

African and African Diaspora Studies | College of Liberal Arts

As both an artist and doctoral candidate, Zalika Ibaorimi engages Black material and digital publics as the landscape to trace the geographies between the relation of the Black femme and spectator. Zalika utilizes her experience as a performance-based photographer to engage Black study through experimental research approaches. She has chosen to specialize in the subjects of shame, desire and pleasure during her time as a Ph.D. student in the African and African Diaspora Studies department at UT.

Global Policy Studies | LBJ School of Public Affairs

Phil Gurley has taken the lessons he’s learned at UT far beyond classroom walls with his design of a city-wide recycling program for community centers in Monterrey, Mexico. This past summer, Phil worked with the state of Nuevo to measure and improve recycling rates in the area. Phil conducted extensive research to inform his program proposal; he interviewed local residents, community center directors and business leaders to develop a range of recycling options that meet the varying needs of the five million residents of Monterrey.

Artificial Intelligence and Information Studies | School of Information

A doctoral candidate in the School of Information, Anubrata Das’s research interest stems from his previous experience in computer science. The interdisciplinary nature of the program has shifted Anubrata’s perspective on technology; he now seeks out knowledge from different fields to help develop better human-centered technology.

Risk and Operations Management | McCombs School of Business

Paola Martin’s research blends the worlds of business and medicine with risk assessment for kidney transplant recipient selection. Paola partnered with a transplant surgeon and utilized national-level data to predict kidney transplant outcomes more accurately. Her work has provided clinicians with crucial information to better predict kidney donor and recipient compatibility. Paola’s development of a machine learning and optimization-based approach demonstrated that nearly 4,198 discarded kidneys may have been used if her approach was used to measure the risk and benefit of transplants.

Higher Education Leadership | College of Education

Sarah Simi Cohen connects how the individualistic ideals of neoliberalism have changed higher education institutions to inflict experiences of trauma on students. In particular, they focus on the experiences of first-generation, low-income, queer and trans college students as a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education Leadership program at UT.

Government | College of Liberal Arts

As a doctoral candidate in UT’s Department of Government, Siyun Jiang studies the political consequences of judicial reform on China’s authoritarian regimes. She analyzes how disciplinary measures for local bureaucracy have been effective to reduce bias and corruption. Siyun’s work has tremendous potential to enlighten academia’s broader understanding of authoritarian rule as it provides valuable insights into the efficacy of the court system in China.

Comparative literature | College of Liberal Arts

A history buff through and through, Marlena Cravens exemplifies the best balance of a scholar and a teacher as a Ph.D. candidate in the Comparative Literature Program. The amazing resources offered through the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, one of the premier libraries in the world for Latin America and Latina/o Studies, and the Harry Ransom Center on campus initially drew Marlena to UT.

Global Policy Studies | LBJ School Public Affairs
Eastern European and Eurasian Studies | College of Liberal Arts

Michael Kiel knew he wanted to attend the LBJ School of Public Affairs after he visited on accepted students day in 2019. Over two days of programming, Michael met faculty who remembered his name, provided thoughtful advice and welcomed him to the LBJ family. The school’s legacy in social justice and connection to LBJ’s Great Society inspired Michael to commit to LBJ to pursue a Master’s in Global Policy Studies.

Performance as Public Practice | College of Fine Arts

Alexis Riley is an accomplished artist and scholar in UT’s Performance as Public Practice Program (PPP); her work as a doctoral candidate assesses how psychiatric distress is perceived under the rubric of “mental illness” in U.S. public culture. Alexis’s dissertation, "Patient Acts: Performance, Site, and the Making of Mad Memory,” is an outstanding interdisciplinary work that draws from the fields of Theatre, Performance, Disability and Mad Studies. Her dissertation examination of how patients, artists and clinicians represent historical trauma brings the history of institutionalization into the present moment to create a foundation for a more sustainable future.

Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences | Moody College of Communication

Kristin Schaffer’s experience as a researcher at UT started long before she enrolled in her PhD program. She first began studying speech-language pathology at UT when she worked in the Aphasia Research and Treatment lab under Dr. Maya Henry. Her experience in the lab provided her with valuable firsthand experience at a Research 1 university and inspired her to transition into academia as a doctoral candidate to further her examination of translational research topics. Today, her work examines the emotional factors associated with living or supporting a person with primary progressive aphasia, a language-prominent dementia.