Introducing New FRI Team Members
The Feminist Research Institute is proud to welcome eight new members to our team.
Rania is a second year undergraduate student majoring in psychology and minoring in human rights. She is very passionate about social justice issues, specifically advancing access to health care and education for historically marginalized communities. She’s currently a volunteer at a UC Davis student run clinic, Clinica Tepati, and a student advisor for UC Davis Upward Bound. Rania is excited to be assisting with FRI’s Mobility Justice project.
Ellie is a third-year undergraduate student double majoring in Psychology and Communication. She is excited to work with FRI assisting with data clean-up and analysis. Currently, she is also a research assistant in the Social Cognitive (SOCO) Lab on campus investigating gender stereotypes and implicit bias. In her free time, Ellie loves to enjoy the outdoors, bake a sweet treat, or throw some pottery in the Craft Center!
Caro Novella cultivates health justice within lineages of experimental dance, transfeminist activism/mutual aid, and research-creation. Improviser, community artist, cancer doula, writer and educator, Caro’s work centers somatic and movement practices as tools to collectively examine structures of inequality and to co-create being well. In 2011 created oncogrrrls (making performance pieces with folks who care about cancer) and in 2019 started co-sense lab (ritual actions for collective synching with silkworm colonies). Caro’s work has been featured at Exhibitions and Festivals on Biomedia/Art and medicine and Transfeminist health justice Gatherings in Hangar (Barcelona), La Alhondiga Museum (Bilbao), Amoqa Queer Art Museum (Athens), Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Querétaro (Mexico), SomArts (San Francisco), Emmetrop Festival (France), SummerWorks Festival (Canada). Caro’s work has been supported by grants and fellowships from Mellon Foundation, Kettering Institute, and others. Caro’s writing is featured in journals on Embodiment, Health Communication and Cultural and Performance Studies, such as TDR and Performance Research, and is co-editor of the forthcoming compilation Being Well: Transfeminist practices for Care and Justice in Spain. Caro holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies with an emphasis on Feminist Science, and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Feminist Research Institute, at University of California, Davis.
Tara is a first-year PhD student in the Center for Environmental Policy and Behavior at UC Davis. Her research broadly focuses on behavior and decision-making processes that influence a community’s adaptive capacity to climate change. For FRI, she is currently working on customizing the Asking Different Questions program for Climate Change Science graduate students. Tara is excited to work on this project and develop skills in creating a change-oriented and interdisciplinary approach to climate science. Tara earned her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Santa Clara University and her master's in Human-Environment Systems from Boise State University.
J.C. is an Environmental Justice Policy Analyst at the Policy Institute for Energy, the Economy, and the Environment. His work focuses on investigating policy strategies to mitigate adverse environmental conditions, improving access to mobility options for communities of color, and immersing community knowledge into academic research. J.C. came to UC Davis after working as an Adjunct Faculty for several community colleges in southern California, and as a Lecturer at Cal Poly Pomona. J.C. attended Santa Ana College before completing a B.A. and M.A in Geography and the Environment at Cal State University, Fullerton. J.C. is partnering with FRI on managing the Environmental Justice Fellows Program.
Colleen Sargent is a third-year graduate student in the Sociology PhD program who studies gender, sexuality, reproduction, and family. Colleen is excited to continue her role at the Feminist Research Institute as a Graduate Student Researcher, honing her focus group research skills for a collaborative project with the DIRECT program and assisting with the evaluation of the Asking Different Questions program. She is a member of the Feminist Theory graduate designated emphasis, and is passionate about qualitative research. When she is not working at the FRI or coding data for her sociological study of midwifery and home birth, Colleen is probably baking a new dessert, reading (for fun!), or enjoying an outdoor run in the UCD arboretum.
Toby Smith is a PhD Candidate in Cultural Studies at UC Davis, earning a designated emphasis in Science & Technology Studies. His interdisciplinary research examines how histories of built environment, urban infrastructural systems, and ongoing practices of militarization and financialization have been used in coordination to dispossess and disempower specific communities across Northern California. Toby’s work also considers the modes of resistance that have emerged in response, through projects of art, performance, and community care. As a Graduate Researcher at the Feminist Research Institute, Toby will be working on a project with Associate Director Sarah McCullough on Mobility Justice, tracing its genealogies and practices.
Priya is a third year undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning and minoring in Computer Science. She is very passionate about advocating for sustainable transportation policy and leading grassroots organizing campaigns. She currently serves on the Community Advisory Committee for East Bay Community Energy. Outside of her coursework, Priya is on the Women's Rowing team and works as a Machine Shop Technician at the Engineering Student Design Center.