Staff & Fellows

Stephane D. Andrade is a PhD student in Sociology and African American Studies, and a Junior Fellow of the Urban Ethnography Project at Yale.  His research interests lie at the intersection of race/ethnicity, urban and community sociology, inequality, and the criminal justice system.

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Gabriela was born and raised in Puerto Rico, completed her B.A. in Biological Sciences at Cornell University and is now a PhD student in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program at Yale University. She is completing her thesis in the Dietrich Lab, studying neural circuits involved in infant maternal interactions, specifically looking at modulation of infant vocalization in mice. Her extracurriculars include participating in the Yale SACNAS Chapter and going to Stop n Shop.

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Patrice Collins is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Sociology and a fellow of the Urban Ethnography Project and Comer School Development Program at Yale. Her research focuses on sociology of family, urban ethnography, mass incarceration, and racial inequality. Before coming to Yale, Patrice worked as a preschool teacher, early education lab instructor and child development lecturer for California State University. She holds an M.A. in Early Childhood Education and a B.A. in Child Development Studies. 

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Emma Tung Corcoran is a fourth year PhD student in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. Emma’s research investigates how epigenetic mechanisms regulate genome stability in the plant system Arabidopsis thaliana. Emma is also a leader for the Yale chapter of oSTEM, a national organization dedicated to the promotion and support of LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM-designated fields.

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Marius Kothor is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History with broad research interests in 20th century African history, gender, and Black Internationalism. Her dissertation focuses on women trader's political and economic contributions to Togo's independence movement and how Togo's anti-colonial struggle informed African American discourses on decolonization in Africa. Marius employs a variety of methods in her research including; archival research, oral histories, and visual analysis.

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Uzoji Nwanaji is a 2nd PhD student at Yale School of Nursing. Her research interests include investigating how psychosocial stressors (i.e., discrimination, stigmatization) affect health outcomes among vulnerable and marginalized populations. For her dissertation, she is focusing on opioid use disorder (OUD) related stigma and its impact on sleep health, treatment processes and outcomes. Before coming to Yale, Uzoji worked as a wound care registered nurse for PruittHealth. In addition to her B.S. in Nursing, she holds an M.S.N with a concentration in family practice. Furthermore, along with serving as an OGSDD fellow, Uzoji also serves as a Career Strategy Fellow for Yale’s West Campus and the PhD Student Representative on Yale School of Nursing’s Alumni Association Board.

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Jun Won Park is a fourth year PhD student in Organizations and Management with broad research interests in social inequality and collective action. Their dissertation focuses on the role of social class in shaping people's conceptions of a living wage, and their other work examines the psychology of solidarity in the context of allyship in social movements. Outside of research, they help organize events for undocumented students and queer people of color.

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Shanelle Shillingford is an immigrant from the Commonwealth of Dominica, and currently a third-year PhD candidate in the Chemistry Department.  Her research interest focuses on a protein phosphatase, known as MKP5 which has been shown to play a role in fibrosis and skeletal muscular degenerative diseases.  As such, Shanelle is interested in exploring the mechanism of action of MKP5 to discover means of inhibition, and possibly treatment of such diseases.  Her office hours are Mondays 11am-12:30pm and Wednesdays 5:00pm to 6:30pm.

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Cera Smith is a fifth-year PhD candidate in African American Studies and English.  Their work focuses on representations of the Black internal body in 20th- and 21st-century U.S.Black literature and visual art.  Outside of school, Cera supports local community organizations working towards racial justice, such as CTCORE Organize Now! (Connecticut Community Organizing for Racial Equity—Organize Now!)

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Shannon Whittaker is a 2nd year PhD student in Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. Her research interests include studying how social and political processes such as gentrification and redlining impact the health of marginalized communities of color. Before Yale, she worked in healthcare advertising at Omnicom and as a health policy coordinator for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She holds a B.A with honors from Brown University and an MPH from the Brown University School of Public Health.

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Teona Williams is a second year Phd student in History and African American Studies. She studies 20th century United States history with a focus on African American and environmental history. Before Yale, she completed a master’s degree in Environmental Justice at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. There she researched African Americans access to outdoor recreation. She hails from D.C. which to her will always be the greatest city in the world!

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Lily Zhao is a fifth year PhD student in the Astronomy Department.  Her research focuses on the instrumentation and statistical modeling needed to discover more Earth-like exoplanets–planets that orbit stars other than the Sun.  Before Yale, she received a B.S. in math and B.A.s in biology and physics from the University of Chicago.  Lily is originally from Philadelphia; she talks about it a lot.

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