Avanti Abhyankar
Undergraduate Researcher
Avanti Abhyankar is an undergraduate at the University of California Riverside studying Political Science with a concentration in Law and Society and an MSIRA fellow. Through her role as a student researcher, she has been able to support the Civic Engagement Research Group by collecting quantitative survey data.
Samia Alkam
Graduate Student Researcher
Samia Alkam is a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Policy Analysis and Leadership as a Chancellor's Distinguished Fellow.
Allena Berry
Researcher
Allena Berry works as a Staff Researcher on the CERG team. Her research interests center on how learning unfolds when historical events are used to engage the present. She completed a PhD in Learning Sciences at Northwestern University and focused on bringing humanistic research tools to the study of learning.
Ben Bowyer
Senior Researcher
Benjamin Bowyer is a Senior Researcher with the Civic Engagement Research Group at the University of California, Riverside. His research interests center around the effects of social context on political attitudes and behavior.
Leah Bueso
Affiliated Researcher
Leah Bueso is an Assistant Professor of Urban Education at the University of Illinois Springfield and a former postdoctoral scholar with CERG. Her research focuses on issues of racial and economic inequality in special education law and pedagogy, as well as issues of access to civic education for students with disabilities.
Yvette Conde
Graduate Student Researcher
Yvette Conde is a Ph.D. student in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on the inequality of educational opportunity within the K-12 education system.
Daniela Kruel DiGiacomo
Affiliated Researcher
Daniela Kruel DiGiacomo is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky, and was formerly a postdoctoral scholar with CERG. Her program of research focuses on how to design formal and informal learning settings in ways that support and extend young people’s lived experiences, interests, and expertise.
Abigail Dym
Postdoctoral Scholar
Abigail Dym is a postdoctoral scholar with the CERG at the University of California, Riverside. She earned a joint-PhD in political science and education policy from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the politics of civic education, its curricular implementation in policy and practice, and its implications for lifelong political knowledge, efficacy, and trust in government.
Erica Hodgin
Affiliated Researcher
Erica Hodgin is the Director of Civic Education at Facing History and Ourselves and an affiliated researcher with the Civic Engagement Research Group at the University of California, Riverside. Her current research focuses on the distribution, quality, and influence of youth civic learning and digital civic learning opportunities.
Joseph Kahne
Director
Joseph Kahne is the Ted and Jo Dutton Presidential Professor for Education Policy and Politics and Director of the Civic Engagement Research Group at the University of California, Riverside. Professor Kahne's research focuses on the influence of school practices and digital media on youth civic and political development.
Agata Soroko
Postdoctoral Scholar
Agata Soroko is a postdoctoral scholar with the Civic Engagement Research Group at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on the politics of financial literacy education and the ways in which teachers make sense of it in the current political moment.
Sofia Marques Viana Ulisses
Graduate Student Researcher
Sofia Ulisses is a Fulbright doctoral fellow from Brazil pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Policy Analysis and Leadership at the University of California, Riverside. Her research interests merge Psychology, Education Policy, and Youth Civic Engagement, aiming to support the well-being of students by providing research-informed recommendations and responding to pressing social issues.