Doctoral Student Directory

Overview
Student Profile

Emily Alonso

Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy

Student Profile

Audrey Boochever

Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy

Portrait of Audrey Boochever

My transdisciplinary research draws on the economics and sociology of education to study and inform the ways that legislation, school boards, and school leaders address educational inequities. 

Student Profile

Analisa Brown

Ph.D. Student - Science and Agricultural Education

Student Profile

Horacio Corona Lira

Ed.D. Student-CANDEL Cohort 17

Background

Horacio Corona Lira was born in Las Tortugas, Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Lindsay, California. He is the first in his family to attend and graduate from college, receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology with minors in education and Chicano studies from the University of California at Berkeley. He attributes much of his success to the work ethic instilled in him by his parents and his campesino upbringing. Horacio has over 10 years of professional experience in student affairs, student equity, and leadership in higher education.

Student Profile

Chloe Crull

Ph.D. Student - Language, Literacy and Culture

Student Profile

Roxanne Elliott

Ph.D. Student - Language, Literacy and Culture

MA in Translation & MA in TESOL
Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey, CA

BA in Foreign Languages & Art History
Scripps College, Claremont, CA

Student Profile

Mariana Carrola Flores

Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy

Portrait of Mariana Carrola

Mariana (she/her) is a third-year doctoral student in the School Organization and Educational Policy track with a designated emphasis in Feminist Theory and Research. Before coming to UC Davis, Mariana studied Education Studies and Public Health at UC San Diego and conducted education research under the mentorship of Dr. Frances Contreras. Currently, Mariana is a member of Dr. Natalia Caporale’s Equity in STEM Education lab.

mcarrolaflores@ucdavis.edu
Student Profile

Leroy Roches Gaines

Ed.D Student CANDEL Cohort 17

Background

Leroy Gaines brings over 19 years of combined professional experience working in both urban public-school districts and non-profits paving the way for education reform. He believes all children deserve equal access to high-quality education and school leadership as a key lever in the transformation process required to put students on a path to college and career readiness. Leroy currently serves as the Network Superintendent for the Oakland Unified School District.

Student Profile

Jose Gutierrez

Ed.D. Student-CANDEL Cohort 17

Positions

Assistant Principal

Social Science Teacher

Research Interests

Trauma Informed Care

Restorative Justice

Multi Tiered Systems of Support

Student Profile

Çağrı Güzel

Ph.D. Candidate in Education: Language, Literacy, & Culture with Emphasis in Second Language Acquisition

Çağrı Güzel is a PhD Candidate in the Graduate Group in Education at the University of California, Davis (UCD), specializing in second language acquisition (SLA), improvisational drama, and teacher education. His research focuses on the integration of immersive virtual reality and improvisational drama to enhance SLA.

mcguzel@ucdavis.edu
Student Profile

Taylor Holden

Ph.D. Student - Language, Literacy and Culture

Contact: tayholden@ucdavis.edu

Research Interests: Media adaptations of literary works, digital literacy practices, neurodiversity and digital literacy in the secondary classroom, writing pedagogies, computers and writing

Education:

Student Profile

Chris Jadallah

Ph.D., Science and Agricultural Education

Research 

Chris’s research examines how community-based environmental projects (e.g. community science efforts) support forms of learning and literacy that catalyze social and ecological transformation. Specifically, he studies how scientists, conservation professionals, and broader publics collectively learn and co-create knowledge through shared participation in these projects.

Student Profile

Peter Lê

Ed.D. Student-CANDEL Cohort 17

Portrait of Peter Le

Background

Peter Lê (he/him) was born and raised in East Oakland. He possesses over 12 years of experience in K-12 and higher education. He has taught biology at the high school, community college, and university levels. In addition to his teaching experience, Peter has held roles in college and career counseling and school-based health.

Student Profile

Julian Ledesma

Ed.D. Student-CANDEL Cohort 17

Background

Julian comes from a family of undocumented immigrants and a bracero father. The youngest and only US born member of his family, he is a product of blue collar and racially diverse East Oakland. Since 2016, Julian has served as Executive Director of Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence (CE3), helping to lead a cluster of over ten programs that specialize in serving the more than 13,000 non-traditional and historically marginalized students at Berkeley.

Student Profile

Mayu Lindblad

Ph.D. Student

Education

Ph.D. in progress, Emphasis on Language, Literacy, and Culture, University of California, Davis
Faculty Advisors:
Dr. Yuuko Uchikoshi Tonkovich, primary advisor 

M.A. in Linguistics, TESOL, California State University, Fresno

B.A. in Social Education, Tohoku Fukushi University, Sendai, Japan

Teaching Experience

Associate Instructor, University of California, Davis, East Asian Languages and Cultures
First Quarter Japanese
Second Quarter Japanese
Third Quarter Japanese

Student Profile

Diana Lizarraga

Ed.D. student-CANDEL Cohort 12

Headshot of Diana Lizarraga

Education

  • MA, University of San Francisco | Human Resources and Organizational Development. Emphasis in Higher Education structures, STEM diversity, and leadership development.
  • BS, UC Davis | Agricultural Systems and Environment.  Emphasis in Communications and Information Systems. McNair Research Scholar, NSF LSAMP/CAMP- MURALS Research Scholar, and Hugh Edmondson Pathology Research Fellow, CALESS Member.
  • AA, Math, Engineering, and Science | Sacramento City College.
Student Profile

Teresita Martinez

Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy

Teresita Martinez is a first-year Ph.D. student in the School Organization and Education Policy program and a graduate student researcher in the California Education Lab and the Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research at the University of California, Davis.

Student Profile

Bryelle McRay

Ph.D. Student - School Organization & Education Policy

Student Profile

Jadda Miller

Ph.D. Student - Science and Agricultural Education

Research Interests

Environmental Science Education; Place-based Education; Citizen Science; Participatory Action Research; Formal and Informal Learning Environments; Traditional Ecological Knowledge; Rural Community Development; Environmental Justice

Student Profile

Chamee Moua

Ph.D. Student - Learning and Mind Sciences

Student Profile

Kaitlyn Murray

Ph.D. Student - Science & Agriculture Education

Kait Murray is an educator and researcher of community leadership whose work focuses on transforming agricultural and environmental education, both in and outside of schools. She is broadly interested in how people with marginalized sexualities and genders – particularly members of the LGBTQ community – navigate and change educational systems. She researches the complex relationships between individuals and these educational spaces: how they create them, experience them, resist them, disrupt them, uphold them, transform them.

Student Profile

Manisha Neti

Ph.D. Student - School Organization & Education Policy

Student Profile

Alyssa Nguyen

Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy

Student Profile

Izamar Ortiz-González

Ph.D. Student-School Organization and Policy

Background

Izamar Ortiz-González is a daughter of immigrant parents. This experience thought her to navigate multiple narratives at school and at home. Bridging the gap between these narratives has been her goal throughout her life as a teacher, organizer and student.

Student Profile

Tracy Ostrom

Ph.D. Student - Science and Agricultural Education

Student Profile

Cynthia (Cindy) Parks

Ph.D. Student - Learning and Mind Sciences

Cindy Parks is an second year doctoral student in the School of Education, and instructor in the Redwood SEED Scholars program. As a neurodiverse person, Cindy is passionate in her belief that educating parents, teachers, mentors and community members about their children’s and students’ neurodevelopmental needs can result in the implementation of parenting and learning strategies that will help children and families to live more harmonious, productive and loving lives.

Student Profile

Abigail Garcia Patton

Ed.D. Student CANDEL Cohort 17

Background

Abby Garcia Patton grew up in East Los Angeles and was the first in her family to pursue higher education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Spanish and a Masters in Secondary Education. She has over 17 years of experience in the field of education, starting her career as a high school English teacher and union president. 

Student Profile

Isela Pena-Rager

Ed.D. Student-CANDEL Cohort 12

Education:

  • Ed.D. – Educational Leadership – UC Davis (in progress)
  • M.A. – Spanish, Applied Linguistics & Graduate Certificate in Second Language Studies – Purdue University
  • B.A. – Art, specialization in Photography – University of La Verne

Research Interests:

Student Profile

Anna Peñaloza

Ph.D. Student - Language, Literacy and Culture

Anna holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from the University of Arizona. In 2019, she completed her Master’s in Language Teaching from the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia in Tunja, Colombia. Her work in Colombia has focused on educational equity for women and girls in rural areas, as well as gender and academic writing in the public university space. As the former editorial assistant of Enletawa Journal, Anna sought to make academic journals more inclusive of voices historically silenced in academia. Currently, she is in the Ph.D.

Student Profile

Téa Skye Pusey

Ph.D. Student - Science and Agricultural Education

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY

Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Merced, 2022

GPA: 3.97, Major: Sociology, Minors: Natural Sciences Education and Psychology

RESEARCH INTERESTS/AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Science Education, Educational Equity, Gender, Race, & Ethnicity, Formative Assessment Tools

EXPERIENCE

PROFESSIONAL EXPIERENCE

Middle School Math Tutor, CalTeach - Fall 2021

Student Profile

Katrina Rice

Ed.D. Student-CANDEL Cohort 17

Portrait of Katrina Rice

Katrina is a National Board Certified Teacher with over 15 years of teaching experience in urban secondary classrooms. She began her career at June Jordan School for Equity, in San Francisco, where she also worked as an administrator. Katrina then worked at her former high school, Jesse M. Bethel High School, in Vallejo, where she spent six years as the Lead Teacher of the Law Academy. Under her leadership, the Law Academy earned the Diversity Champion Award from California LAW.

Student Profile

Oscar Rios

Ph.D. Student - Learning and Mind Sciences

Student Profile

Daniel Rivas

Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy

Student Profile

Susan Rowe

Ph.D. Candidate - Learning & Mind Sciences

Research Interests

  • Testing fairness for emergent bilinguals
  • Assessments and measurements
  • Psychometrics
  • Dissertation topic: “Examining the Effects of Linguistic Complexity on Emergent Bilinguals’ Item Responses,” Advisers: Jamal Abedi & Megan Welsh

Education

Ph.D. Education (expected June 2023)
Learning and Mind Sciences emphasis
University of California, Davis, CA

Student Profile

Marisa Ruiz

Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy

Student Profile

Sabina Simon

Ph.D. Student - Language, Literacy and Culture

Student Profile

Mikenna Sims

Ph.D. Student - Language, Literacy and Culture

Student Profile

Cicely Smith

Ph.D. Student - Science and Agricultural Education

Student Profile

Ciara Thomas Murphy

Ph.D. Candidate, Learning and Mind Sciences

Ciara smiles while holding an espresso cup

Education

Ph.D. in Learning and Mind Sciences, in progress

University of California, Davis – School of Education

Dissertation Topic: Pedagogical Sense-Making and Responsive Teaching

M.A. in Educational Leadership, 2015

Mills College – School of Education

Masters Thesis: “Understanding Students’ Epistemic Ideas as Cognitive, Metacognitive, and Affective Resources for Learning”

Student Profile

Silvia Tovar

Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy

 

Student Profile

Quinten R. Voyce

Ed.D. Student-CANDEL Cohort 16

Background

Raised and currently residing in Fairfield, CA. Is excited to be an Aggie for the third time having completed a B.S. in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Cellular & Molecular Biology as a first-gen college student and then continued to receive teaching credentials and M.A. in Education.

With a small teacher cohort, created a dual-enrollment high school program founded in 2014 where he continues to teach high school Biology, Chemistry, and a Senior Project capstone course.

Student Profile Megan Welsh

Erin Winters, MEd.

Ph.D. Student - Learning & Mind Sciences

Erin Winters is a doctoral student and GAANN Fellow in education with an emphasis in learning and mind sciences, specializing in educational measurement and statistics. 

Her research considers different approaches for validating the scores from high stakes and large scale for different uses.  She’s particularly interested in examining the effectiveness of different statistical approaches for establishing the instructional sensitivity of tests and assessments, especially as they relate to research design. 

Student Profile

Xiaochen Xu

Ph.D. Student - Learning and Mind Sciences

Student Profile

Lydia Iyeczohua Zendejas

Ed.D. Student-CANDEL Cohort 17

Lydia Iyeczohua Zendejas

Background

My path to my higher education profession started in 1990 as a student in the UC San Diego Summer Bridge program. It was there that I met a network of caring and dedicated student staff, administrators, and faculty. This network was central to my retention as a Xicana where, at the time, Latinx only represented 9% of the undergraduates. As of fall 2020, Latinx students represent 21% of the undergraduate population. After graduating, I made the conscious choice to apply to a Masters program in higher education in the east coast for two reasons.

Student Profile

Annie Zhou

Ph.D. Student - Language, Literacy & Culture

Yiran (Annie) Zhou poses for a photo in a white shirt.
Student Profile

Valeria C. Zunino Edelsberg

Ph.D. Candidate, Learning and Mind Sciences

Valeria Zunino Edelsberg smiles in a light blue shirt.

Graduate student at the School of Education at the University of California, Davis. Extensive academic background in education and psychology. Broad professional experience in Chilean public institutions related to education and assessment. Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to interact with children. Motivated, positive and flexible.

Education

Ph.D. in Education, Emphasis in Learning and Mind Sciences
University of California, Davis, School of Education. Expected graduation date: September 2023.

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