Current Fellows

Nicole is a senior majoring in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies.  Nicole’s research focuses on the Vietnamese American diaspora, questions of gender, racialization, sexuality, and the aftereffects of the Vietnam War. At Penn, Nicole is a current Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and the Social Chair (and a competing member) of Penn Shotokan Karate. Outside of Penn, Nicole has conducted research within various government mechanisms, such as Senator Feinstein’s office and the United States Agency for International Development.

Charissa is a senior studying English and minoring in Africana Studies. Her research explores the formation of multiracial identity within Black America, and how (or whether) it has evolved as the population of multiracial people in America soars. She is interested in placing the current experiences of mixed-race students with Black ancestry in conversation with an analysis of the tragic mulatta trope as employed in US literature and film from the 19th century to the present. Through her research, Charissa hopes to illuminate the use of fetishization and exotification as vehicles of division, exploring their origins as well as their historical and contemporary impacts on the sentiment of belonging.  At Penn, Charissa is also a Civic Scholar, and enjoys singing with her a cappella group and giving tours with the Kite and Key society.

Jaimee Martin is a junior studying Africana Studies and History with a concentration in African American Studies. For their thesis, Jaimee is researching the historical-geographic applications of Black spiritual traditions in Philadelphia during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Following the intellectual traditions of abolitionist geographers Celeste Winston and J.T. Roane, as well as ethnographer Savannah Shange, Jaimee is interested in how contemporary radical organizations can draw upon these historically Black spiritual practices in their community work. Through their research, Jaimee wants to understand how Black Philadelphia’s communities have historically exercised existential aliveness and embodied spiritual liberation for the most marginalized groups. They see their thesis project as a bridge connecting historical Black freedom struggles to Philadelphia’s current grassroots organizing projects. Outside of Mellon, Jaimee is a research assistant for the Africana Studies Department and a Robeson Cooper Scholar. At Penn, they are the Music Co-Director of The Inspiration A Cappella and Student Recruitment Chair of Ase Academy. Jaimee is also on the Africana Undergraduate Advisory Board and a W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction alum.

Jaden is a senior majoring in History and Political Science with a minor in Africana Studies. For his thesis, he is researching the welfare queen stereotype and its impact in welfare rights organizing. Jaden is interested in understanding how culturally hegemony disrupts grassroots movements. At Penn, Jaden is a Research Peer Advisor for the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships. Former Academic Chair of Descendants of Afro-Americans at Penn, and Advocacy Committee member for W.E.B. Dubois College House. Currently, Jaden is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, Phi Alpha Theta – National History Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha – National Political Science Honor Society, and is a Heavyweight Rower for the Crew Team.

Amanda is a senior majoring in the History of Art and minoring in Latin American and Latinx Studies. Her research revolves around the visual cultures of Mexican American communities in the American southwest where she poses questions about the political context of art movements after the modern era, with interests in Mexican Muralism, Agit-Prop, and contemporary Latinx artmaking to be specific. Outside of research, Amanda also involves herself with activities and organizations that facilitate closer connections between the education of Art/Art history and marginalized groups. In her spare time, she works at the front desk of the History of Art department at Penn, is an Outreach council member for the Barnes Foundation, and enjoys creating illustrations.

Sierra is a junior double majoring in Cultural & Linguistic Anthropology and Linguistics, with minors in East Asian Languages and Civilizations (Japanese concentration) and Cognitive Science. Her research explores hybrid identities, diaspora, race, ethnicity, and creolization, with particular interest in the Japanese and Caribbean diasporas (especially Guyana), as well as Indigenous representation and museum ethics through the Penn Museum’s Ainu collection. At Penn, she is a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, a Penn Museum Exhibition Intern, a Research Assistant at the Trueswell Language Learning Lab, and the Assistant to the Curator of Civic Engagement: Cultural Heritage Projects Assistant at the Kislak Center. She previously served as a SHIP Summer Intern at the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. Sierra plans to pursue graduate study in anthropology and museum curation while working to expand ethical and community-centered practices in heritage institutions.