Degree Pursued: PhD

Anticipated Degree Year: -

Committee Chair/Advisor: Juno Parreñas

Discipline: Anthropology

Primary Countries: Thailand

Research Interests: How Karen communities in Northern Thailand understand their socioecological entanglements and how they translate those understandings in their encounters with the state, NGOs and tourists

Degree Pursued: PhD

Anticipated Degree Year: 2026

Committee Chair/Advisor: Chiara Formichi

Discipline: Asian Studies

Primary Countries: Indonesia, Japan

Research Interests: Urbanism, Architecture, Technology, Diplomacy, Japan–Southeast Asia Relations, Transpacific Studies

Yichen Wang studies how migrants’ social connections—both offline and online—shape well-being and health in new environments. Her work examines how digital use transfers into emotional fulfillment, the role of social networks, and the protective power of social support. By linking social relationships to mental and physical health, she provides insights into cultivating belonging and resilience in migrant communities.

Waleska Solorzano is a PhD candidate in Latin American studies. Her interdisciplinary research revolves around questions of aesthetics, domestic culture, migration, ontology, oral histories and testimonies, and the politics of representation. She examines how desires for familial belonging and the spatial dynamics of community-building proliferate within Venezuela and the diaspora through contemporary artistic practices and productions. 

Vicente Mata’s research examines how broader geopolitical trends in which humanitarianism is co-opted by state and political interests, has historically and contemporarily, shaped political discourse on immigration and restrictive anti-immigrant policies at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trifosa Iin Simamora studies the impact of renewable energy development on migratory grassland birds in New York State. Her work assesses how the expansion of solar farms displaces the habitat of vulnerable grassland bird species and develops conservation strategies in collaboration with agencies and NGOs. She connects local conservation to the broader migratory range across the Americas.

Kathryn Foster’s research explores climate-driven migration in the U.S., focusing on how flooding prompts relocation. Using mixed methods and case studies in the southern United States, they examine how socioeconomic status, recovery aid access, and demographics shape migration decisions. Their work highlights inequities in post-disaster recovery and seeks pathways to more equitable adaptation to climate change.

Hamidullah Nikzad is a researcher and advocate whose work focuses on the intersection of climate change and conflict, intensifying food insecurity, and migration in fragile contexts. Drawing on provincial-level data from 2017 to 2024, his thesis examines how climate variability and conflict incidents contribute to acute food insecurity and influence migration pressures in Afghanistan. 

Danielle investigates migration through the lenses of law, policy, and social advocacy. Her work spans xenophobia and migrants’ rights in South Africa, France, and the EU, as well as collaboration with the African Commission on Human Rights through the Migrants Rights Initiative. 

Beyond academia, she mentors migrant youth in public speaking and poetry, amplifying their voices as self-advocates.

Adolfho Romero is a PhD researcher in the ILR School who studies how worker centers and allied nonprofits build voice, dignity, and durable power for migrant and low-wage farmworkers.