Fellows | 16 October 2026

Meet the 2026-27 Humanities EXPLORE Fellows

Thirty-two undergraduate students from the Humanities Division begin paid undergraduate research experiences this fall working on 12 faculty-led projects. An additional 13 students are expected to join EXPLORE in the winter, with 8 more faculty projects. In Spring, the Linguistics department’s URFLLS program completes the cohort. 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.

Announcing this year’s Humanities EXPLORE undergraduate researchers working on faculty-led projects in the division!

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.

Critical Race & Ethnic Studies

Archiving Movement: UC Campus Activism in a Time of Genocide with Professor Jennifer Mongannam

Santa Cruz in Color: An Ethnic Studies Archive with Professor Christine Hong and the Center for Racial Justice

**Mila Bekele**
History & Global and Community Health Double Major

**Advika Rajaraman**
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies and Psychology Double Major

History

BORDER FUTURES: Undergraduates Reimagining the US-Mexico Boundary through Film, Research, and Community-Humanitarian Engagement with Professor Grace Peña Delgado

Exhibiting History with Professor Greg O’Malley and the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery

**Theo Felice**
History Major and Politics Minor

Japanese American Redress Projects with Professor Alice Yang

**Julieta Castro**
History of Art & Visual Culture Major, History Minor

Selling Saqqara: Tracing provenance for Egyptian artifacts in the 19th & 20th-century antiquities trade with Dr. Elaine Sullivan

History of Consciousness

Visualizing Toxicity: Humanities for Good Dimitris Papadopoulos

**Haylie Ferrill**
History and Art Double Major

Languages and Applied Linguistics

Bilingual Minds in Motion: Code-Switching, Culture, and Cognition with Professor Ariel Chan

**Lillian Hamilton**
Linguistics and Computer Science Double Major

Canonical subjects and discourse function in native and second-language French with Professor Bryan Donaldson

Collaborative writing and text editing in mixed Spanish classes with Professor Eve Zyzik

**Fatima Angulo Barba**
Spanish Studies and Computer Science Double Major

The ¡Vale! Corpus: Stories of Language & Migration from Paraguay to Spain with Professor Josefina Bittar Prieto

**Evelyn Michel**
Spanish Studies and Cognitive Science Double Major

Linguistics

The sound and structure of Turkish ‘soft-g’: An acoustic study with Professor Rachel Walker

Undergraduate Research Fellows in Linguistics and Language Science

Literature

Shakespeare in Santa Cruz: A History of Local Productions with Professor Sean Keilen

Philosophy

What Is Creativity and What Do We Want It to Be?: Art, AI, and the Changing Concept of Creativity with Professor E. Hande Tuna

The Humanities Institute

Oaxacan Languages of the Transnational Central Coast with Professor Pranav Anand (Linguistics)

**Grace Hernandez**
Linguistics Major, Spanish Studies Minor

Okinawa Memories Initiative with Professor Alan Christy (History)

**Zen Martinez**
Language Studies and Film double major

Saritaan: Filipino and Filipino American Stories – a Watsonville is in the Heart project, with Professor Kathleen Gutierrez and Dr. Meleia Simon-Reynolds

**Alan Abelaye-Mateo**
Critical Race & Ethnic Studies and Psychology Double Major

**Jonathan Carino**
History and Linguistics Double Major

Shakespeare Workshop with Professor Sean Keilen (Literature)

Writing Programs

The Happiness Project 2.0 with Dr. Kim Adilia Helmer

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.

Original Link: https://humanities.ucsc.edu/employing-humanities/meet-the-humanities-explore-fellows/