The 2025-2026 Humanities EXPLORE Cohort
Sixty undergraduate fellows from across the division joined the Humanities EXPLORE Program cohort this year, with fourteen more students set to join in the spring.
Announcing this year’s Humanities EXPLORE undergraduate researchers working on faculty-led projects in the division!
Sixty undergraduate fellows from across the division joined the Humanities EXPLORE Program cohort to serve as paid research assistants working on more than 21 faculty projects. An additional 14 students are expected to join EXPLORE as part of the Linguistics department’s URFLLS program in the Spring. Fellows regularly meet with their faculty mentors and research teams throughout the academic year, and all fellows are invited to meet with each other and divisional staff twice each quarter for reflection and professional development.
Students from every department within the division participate in this experiential learning program on various projects. This serves as a powerful reminder that research in the humanities doesn’t rely on a single method or formula. It is as varied as the questions scholars pursue. It may include archival research, close reading, digital analysis, creative work, community engagement, or theoretical exploration. Instead of sticking to one standard approach, humanities research is fueled by curiosity, interpretation, and critical engagement with culture, language, and history. This flexibility allows researchers to explore complex human experiences from multiple perspectives and with different kinds of evidence.
The Humanities EXPLORE Program is led by the UCSC Humanities Division with strategic support from The Humanities Institute.
60
Paid Research Positions
21
Faculty-Led Projects
81%
Students are Humanities Majors
16%
Students are Humanities Minors
*to date
16%
Students are Transfer Students
*to date
Browse the projects & faculty mentors:
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies
Archiving Movement: UC Campus Activism in a Time of Genocide with Professor Jennifer Mongannam
Elle Benson
Feminist Studies and Cognitive Science Double Major
Laaila Irshad
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies Major
Lila Kindall
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies and Global and Community Health Double Major
Counter-Colonial Ecologies with Professor M. Ty
Hala Elamine
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies Major
Niya Mustafa
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies Major, Education Minor
Max Ari’i
Literature and Anthropology Double Major
Catherine Achkar
Technology and Information Management Major, Middle East North African Studies minor
Santa Cruz in Color with Professor Christine Hong and the Center for Racial Justice
Rafael Revolorio
Global and Community Health and Latin American & Latino Studies Double Major
Amara Collins
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies Major
Fellow
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies Major, Psychology Major
Languages & Applied Linguistics
Acoustics of Bilingual Speech with Professor Mark Amengual
Abigale Roth
Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism Major
Eva Fox
Applied Linguistics & Multilingualism and Literature Double Major, Spanish Studies Minor
Eleanor Garrison
Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism Major, Spanish Studies Minor
Bilingual Minds in Motion: Code-Switching, Culture, and Cognition with Professor Ariel Chan
Matilda Wesche
Linguistics Major
Shivani Mudhol
Cognitive Science and Linguistics Major
Multilingual Corpus of Paraguay with Professor Josefina Bittar Prieto
Gigi Lea
Applied Linguistics Major
Linguistics
“Writing With ChatGPT: The Learning Promises and Perils of Co-Writing with Generative Models in College Linguistics Classes” with Professor Matt Wagers
Sania Jain
Cognitive Science Major and Linguistics Minor
Literature
Alien Intelligence & Human Imagination with Professor Zac Zimmer
Pilar Zapien
Literature Major, Spanish Studies Minor
Sophia Coffing
Literature & Psychology Double Major
Shalini Satish
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies and Cognitive Science Double Major
History
BORDER FUTURES: Undergraduates Reimagining the US-Mexico Boundary through Film, Research, and Community-Humanitarian Engagement with Professor Grace Peña Delgado
Andrei Lynch
History Major
Phoebe Rettberg
Feminist Studies and Film & Digital Media Double Major
Sofia Dicesare-Bystrowicz
History and Sociology Double Major
Islamic Material Culture in West Africa: Exhibition and Academic Engagement at UCSC with Dr. Thiago Mota
Aissata Wagne
Philosophy and History of Art & Visual Culture Double Major
Mia Collins
Jewish Studies and Psychology Double Major
Claire Lindsay
History and Mathematics Double Major, and History of Consciousness minor
Nithya Raghunath
Anthropology and Sociology Double Major, and History of Consciousness minor
History and the Politics of Place, with Professor Aims McGuinness
Clementine Leonard
History Major
Jonathan Carino
History and Linguistics Double Major
Japanese American Redress Projects with Professors Alice Yang and Jasmine Alinder
Julieta Castro
History of Art & Visual Culture Major, History Minor
Jade Glentzer
History and Anthropology Double Major
Monnika Mattson
Psychology Major and History Minor
Skyla Tomine
Feminist Studies and Politics Double Major
Selling Saqqara with Dr. Elaine Sullivan
Jackson Young
History Major, History of Art & Visual Culture Minor
History of Consciousness
The Visual Making of the Pajaro and Salinas Valleys with Professor Dimitris Papadopoulos
Caroline Wilson
Art Major, East Asian Studies Minor
Sean Connett
Philosophy Major
The Humanities Institute
Oaxacan Languages of the Transnational Central Coast with Professor Pranav Anand (Linguistics)
Grace Hernandez
Linguistics Major, Spanish Studies Minor
Valeria Hernandez-Melchor
Computer Science Major
Lena Szerwo
Linguistics and Art Double Major
Okinawa Memories Initiative with Professor Alan Christy (History)
Aivan Bach
Anthropology and Environmental Science Double Major, History Minor
Jackson Gross
Philosophy Major
Seiya Mendiola
Literature Major
Tikva Sheket
History and Environmental Science Double Major
Court Sugano
Global and Community Health Major, History Minor
Peyton White
History Major
Porter Wyche
History Major
Saritaan: Filipino and Filipino American Stories – a Watsonville is in the Heart project, with Professor Kathleen Gutierrez and Dr. Meleia Simon-Reynolds (Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences)
Jamie Dy
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies and Sociology Double Major
Aldrine Gatpo
History Major and East Asian Studies Minor
Kai Sotto
History Major
Nancy Ortiz
History Major
Shakespeare Workshop; Shakespeare in Santa Cruz: A Performance History, with Professor Sean Keilen (Literature)
Maddie Haddad
Literature Major
Saoirse Pflaker
Literature Major
Gianna Sandoval
History Major
Makayla Buckholz
Literature Major
Linguistics
Linguistics Oral History with Professor Maziar Toosarvandani
Serena Barriga Ashurst
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies major
Teguima Research and Revitalization with Professor Christian Ruvalcaba
Fatima Sanchez
Linguistics Major
Priscilla Ramos
Psychology and Cognitive Studies Double Major, Spanish Studies Minor
Undergraduate Research Fellows in Linguistics and Language Science
Future Fellow – Spring
Humanities Major/Minor
Future Fellow – Spring
Humanities Major/Minor
Writing Programs
Discourse Analysis: The Happiness Project with Dr. Kim Adilia Helmer
Tyler Kay
Linguistics Major, History of Consciousness Minor
Carolyn Mish
Linguistics Major
Hybridization of African American and Korean Cultures in K-pop and Call-and-Response Practices, with Professor Jamila Kareem
Michael Lieu
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies Major
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The Humanities EXPLORE Program is funded by The Mellon Foundation, The Helen and Will Webster Foundation, The Humanities Division, The Humanities Institute, and private donors.
