subcategory for PhD students of the various Luskin programs

Pamela Stephens

/in , , , , , /by

Pamela Stephens is a doctoral student in Urban Planning and a Graduate Student Researcher with the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy. Her doctoral studies and research examine how urban planning practices produce Black space and the ways that Black communities build power within and across these spaces. She is particularly interested in how this plays out in Los Angeles, where the Black population is both declining and becoming more dispersed throughout the region and beyond.

Pamela continues to contribute research to forward the organizing and advocacy efforts, building off her work prior to pursuing her doctoral studies. While her research has spanned a myriad of topics, it generally focuses on the intersections of space and racial and economic inequality. Pamela holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA and a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

AnMarie Mendoza

/in , , , , , , , , /by

AnMarie Mendoza was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley and identifies with both the original people (Gabrieleno-Tongva) and the distinctive working-class communities of the area. AnMarie is a proud first-generation transfer student from Citrus Community college who has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Masters in American Indian Studies from UCLA. Generations of her family have witnessed, endured, and contributed to the molding of Los Angeles (Occupied Tongva territory) and it is for this reason she continues her academic study in Urban Planning at UCLA. Her scholarship focuses on the barriers and opportunities that local Native Nations and indigenous people face in participating in proposed water projects in Los Angeles.

She has a passion for political organizing and is Indigenous Waters Program Director for Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, an indigenous led grass roots organization based in Los Angeles. As program director, she works with Native Nations, universities, environmental organizations, institutions and agencies to protect fresh and saltwater and coastal areas significant to Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples to build the capacity of current and future tribal leaders to advocate effectively on behalf of their people for the protection of water.

AnMarie is cocreator and director of the “Aqueduct Between Us,”  a five-part social justice multimedia radical oral history documentary that aims to educate the people of Los Angeles about the Indigenous communities (Tongva –Gabrieleno and the Owens Valley Paiute/ Shoshone) who have been greatly impacted by their land and water use.  Topics covered in the documentary include: an introduction of each tribal community, their lifestyle precontract and post-contact, shared colonial struggles, contemporary environmental injustice issues, and conservation/wealth disparities in Los Angeles. Documentary can be accessed below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LldnSjDoMag  https://www.instagram.com/theaqueductbetweenus/

AnMarie is presently the Sawyer Seminar Fellow on Sanctuary Spaces for the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy

Kate Watson

/in , , , , /by

Kate Watson is a doctoral candidate in Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She researches childhood trauma and well-being from an ecological perspective and using qualitative and quantitative methods. Her interests include trauma-informed approaches in settings, including child welfare and schools.  

Kate earned a Master of Social Welfare (MSW) with a concentration in Social and Economic Justice from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from American University in Washington, D.C. A passionate advocate for children and youth, Kate has served on the boards of Child Advocates of Silicon Valley and the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, as chair of the LAJCC Foundation, and as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) for foster youth.

ResearchGate Link here.

Website: https://www.krwatson.com

Chaoyue Wu

/in , , , , /by

Chaoyue Wu is a doctoral candidate in Social Welfare. She graduated with her LL.B. in social work from Beijing Institute of Technology and her M.A. in social policy from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Chaoyue’s research focuses on addressing school violence and creating a safe educational environment for all school community members. Positioned at the intersection of social work, education, public health and psychology, her work investigates the social-ecological risk factors related to various forms of school violence including violence against students, educators, and school personnel as well as the consequences for victims’ well-being. By informing evidence-based policies and interventions, her research has supported legislative efforts related to educator training and school-based mental health programs.

Chaoyue’s dissertation represents groundbreaking research in school violence prevention, being among the first studies to use large-scale data and advanced statistical approach to examine violence against teaching assistants and pupil personnel workers. Although often marginalized in school hierarchies, these under-researched groups play essential roles in supporting student learning, mental health, and school operations. Based on social-ecological framework and using samples from national survey, her multi-manuscript dissertation employs machine learning and structural equation modeling to investigate how social-ecological factors affect violence against these staff members and how school climate factors mediate the impacts of external and organizational factors on violence. This dissertation was funded by the UCLA Dissertation Year Award.

Chaoyue has an outstanding publishing record as a highly motivated Ph.D. student. Since beginning her doctoral studies in 2020, she has published 11 peer-reviewed journal articles in prestigious journals including the Journal of School Violence, Child Abuse & Neglect, and Journal of Affective Disorders. She has presented her research at academic conferences such as the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the World Anti-Bullying Forum. She has also established research collaborations with scholars at institutions such as UC Berkeley, UNC Chapel Hill, The Ohio State University, Rutgers University, DePaul University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Chinese University of Hong Kong on research projects that span both national and international contexts.

In addition to research, Chaoyue demonstrates strong commitment to teaching. She has served as a Teaching Assistant (2021-2022), Teaching Associate (2023-2024), and Teaching Fellow (2025) at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses spanning research methods, statistics, child development theory, public policy, leadership (Online), and school safety practice.

Tam J. Guy

/in , , , , /by

Tam J. Guy is a doctoral student in Urban Planning at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. Previously, Tam explored how planners can and should create sustainable places for everyone by researching equity impacts at the intersection of transportation, housing, and green infrastructure. Currently, Tam researches the public transit experiences of people who are transgender as part of a larger effort to understand the interactions between gender, public space, and public transportation.

Tam earned a BSBA in management and leadership from Portland State University while working as an analyst at a securities litigation firm and then completed dual masters degrees, MBA and MCMP, at the University of Utah in Business Administration (with emphases in strategy and innovation) and City + Metropolitan Planning (focused on smart growth, transportation, and urban design).

Ana Maria Duran Calisto

/in , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Ana Maria Duran Calisto is an Ecuadorean architect, urbanist and environmental planner. She co-founded the design firm Estudio A0 in 2002 with her partner Jaskran (Jazz) Singh Kalirai in Quito, Ecuador, after receiving a Master of Architecture from PennDesign at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Liberal Arts Bachelor´s degree from Universidad San Francisco de Quito. The main pursuit of Estudio A0 is to develop environmentally responsible design and construction systems at all scales, by focusing on the possibilities of recycling, in situ clean energy production, water harvesting and reuse, high and low-tech hybrids, the investigation of local materials, and the reactivation of local ecologies. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Urban Planning at UCLA, under the advice of Professor Susanna Hecht. The focus of her research is the history of urbanization in the Amazon River basin.

Website: www.estudioa0.com
Contact: 424-361-8785