Our L&E Graduate Mentors serve as mentors for our undergraduate research fellows. Graduate students are matched with three mentees and meet with them regularly to talk about their research, graduate school, and how to navigate higher education.
Adan Martinez (he/him/his)
PhD Political Science, 6th year
Adan Martinez is a doctoral candidate in the Charles and Louise Travers Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his BA in Political Science and Latin American Studies from Macalester College. As a comparative scholar, Adan’s specialties include mixed-methods research, comparative political behavior, health and crisis politics, and the subnational implementation of social and economic policies.
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Jimena Perez Arevalo (she/her)
PhD Geography, 2nd Year
Jimena is a proud first-generation Chicana from Southeast LA (SELA). Framing SELA as a place where Black, Indigenous, and Latinx geographies intersect and entangle, her work situates the L.A. River— what Tongva people call paayme paxaayt—as a site of theory, history, and speculation. Through participant observation, ethnography, and multimedia analysis, Jimena explores the multiplicity of worlds that the river produces, with and through LA County residents who labor against violence in pursuit of livable futures that sustain local lifeways and protect communities.
Benji Reade Malagueño (they/them)
PhD Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; 3rd year
My current research integrates geospatial, econometric, and hydrological analyses to examine drivers of inequities in access to water rights, focusing on the impacts of water markets, land ownership, and agricultural exports in central Chile and California’s Central Valley. Being part of L&E since I came to Berkeley 2022, first as a Graduate Research Fellow and later a Graduate Mentor, has been a highlight of my time here! I love learning new instruments, baking, trail running, reading, and nerding out about fútbol tactics.
Luis E. Dominguez Xala (he/him/él)
MPH, Environmental Health Science, 2nd Year
Community care, knowledge-sharing and advocacy drive my passion to combat health disparities and injustice stemming from social inequalities. My current research centers on environmental justice and reform, specifically how our built environment affects our daily lives. I seek to bring the public health tools I am learning about to my community circles, in hopes that it will uplift our experiences and improve our health as a whole.
Virginia Puc (she/ella/they)
Public Health, Global Health and Environment, 2nd Year
I am a Maya Xicana, queer scholar. I am a first generation student and a double Golden Bear. I am passionate about supporting indigenous populations with water preservation, land sovereignty, language revitalization, and spiritual practices.