Yakob Lemma is a Ph.D. student in the Counseling Psychology program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research focuses on Black male mental health, racial disparities in school discipline, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Yakob is especially interested in the intersection between mental health and punitive discipline, and how educational leaders, school counselors, and community-based organizations …
Nashya Linares is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program within the Department of Educational Psychology, under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Kilgus. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from Florida International University. Following graduation, she held several positions—including serving as a middle school teacher and as a research coordinator at Northwestern University. These …
Estela Lopez is a Ph.D. candidate in the Educational Policy Studies program, concentrating in Comparative International Education and Global Studies. Her research interests focus on the intersection of race, gender, and class inequalities in STEM education and the workforce in the United States and Brazil. Her research examines educational policies and the experiences of women …
Zoua Lor is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Counseling Psychology. She is the proud daughter of two refugees, the third of nine children to obtain a bachelor’s degree, and the first in her family to pursue a PhD. Prior to her doctoral studies, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with …
Kayli Lucas is a first-year Ph.D. student with a concentration in Physical Activity Epidemiology in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While she is originally from Tennessee, Kayli earned two degrees from The University of Alabama: a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology (Exercise Science) and a Master of Arts in Kinesiology. CURRENT …
Rosanne Luu is a PhD Candidate in the Curriculum & Instruction department, advised by Dr. Nicole Louie. Her dissertation research focuses on studying the relationships between authority, agency, and mathematics learning opportunities during open-ended collaborative activities. Rosanne completed her M.S. in Educational Psychology with Dr. Martina Rau. Her master’s thesis studied students’ multiple representation use …
Sam Macksey is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Educational Psychology, within the area of Human Development. Her research interests involve the examination of how children’s understanding of science and math can predict how likely they are to go into STEM careers. Also, to navigate mechanisms driving acquisition of math and science understanding …
Maya Malik (they/them), MSSW, is an incoming doctoral student in the Curriculum and Instruction program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Maya is interested in utilizing arts-based research to co-create informal education programs with queer Black American youth from areas impacted by community violence. They earned their Masters of Science in Social Work from …
Carly McClennahan is pursuing her PhD in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at UW-Madison. Previously, she taught middle and high school English Language Arts and English as a Second Language. Currently, she is interested in teacher and student perspectives on language arts curriculum—particularly curriculum that is culturally sustaining and affirming—as well as how the …
Alex Mikev is an interdisciplinary artist whose conceptual interests include themes related to work as an activity in daily modern life, such as acts of repetitive labor, the meaning of words and images associated with capital production, and broader cultural phenomena such as notions of temporal autonomy and the commodification of time. Mikev uses drawing, …