#  2024-2025 College Fellows 

 



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**Nur Bavbek, Social Studies**

   ![Radha Blinderman Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/Blinderman%20sm%20copy.png?itok=mocfilaU) 

 

**Radha Blinderman, South Asian Studies**

I am a scholar of early modern religious and intellectual history of South Asia, seeking to bring attention to some untold stories of religious rivalry, efforts in conflict resolution, and language politics, especially when they hide in unlikely places, such as language textbooks. I focus on two such works of Bengali authors that paint a rich picture of intellectual and social and religious life on the eve of colonialism. My current research examines the influences of transformative religious frameworks from the thirteenth century onwards on language analysis and pedagogy of Sanskrit in Mughal India.

   ![Ursula Friedman headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/Friedman%20sm.png?itok=qd8if_mq) 

 

**Ursula Friedman, Comparative Literature**

My research examines (self-)translation, transwriting, and transmediation as reparative tools for advancing social justice. I ask: How do Sinophone and Hispanophone self-translators democratize language and culture by re-mediating their own narratives? How do weird, queer, and subversive linguistic interpolations diversify the global literary landscape from the periphery?

   ![Shalini Gautam Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/Gautam%20sm.jpg?itok=NB6vp2EW) 

 

**Shalini Gautaum, Psychology**

My research explores the cognitive foundations of children’s social understanding. How do children learn about the social implications of their behavior and make sense of the way other people act? I am particularly interested in how children acquire an understanding of free choice and responsibility. I combine a developmental, cross cultural and evolutionary approach to generate novel perspectives on child development.

   ![Miriam GleckmanKrut Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/gleckman%20sm.png?itok=xoO2YefN) 

 

**Miriam Gleckman-Krut, Social Studies**

I work at the intersection of the sociologies of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, statecraft, and law, with substantive interests in migration, postcoloniality, epistemology, and health. The dissertation and book project, The Rainbow Nation and the Gays it Excludes: South Africa’s Management of Sexuality and Migration (1913-2020), analyzes South Africa’s policies related to sexual minority refugees. I also study the sociological construction of knowledge about sexual violence, campus sexual assault, and Germany’s genocides in Namibia (1904-1909) and Europe (1933-1945).

   ![Xinran Guo Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/Guo%20sm.jpg?itok=WWALi5uV) 

 

**Xinran Guo, Psychology**

I am a developmental psychologist interested in how children develop a sense of morality. At Harvard, I am working with Prof. Elizabeth Spelke to explore the impact of cultural environment on young children’s moral decision making and social expectations. I received my B.A. from UCLA and Ph.D. from Emory University. Prior to Harvard, I was a visiting assistant professor at Williams College.

   ![Sarah Halford Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/Halford%20sm.png?itok=zQ--X7Ax) 

 

**Sarah Halford, Sociology**

I am a sociologist and ethnographer who studies institutional distrust, social movements, culture, and conspiracy theories. My current research focuses on the role of institutional distrust in recruitment to, and sustained participation in, fringe movements and online communities that espouse radical beliefs, such as conspiracy theories. I received my PhD in sociology from Brandeis University in 2024, and my work has been published in The Sociological Quarterly, Global Public Health, and through the Center for Artistic Activism. At Harvard, I teach classes on conspiracy culture, digital ethnography, and propaganda and persuasion.

**Aaron Jacobs, History**

   ![Therese Lautua Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/Lautua%20sm.jpg?itok=E5fxMuAD) 

 

**Therese Lautua, Religion**

I am a proud daughter of Samoa and Aotearoa New Zealand with heritage from Lalomanu, Amaile, Samusu ma Poutasi, and Ireland / Switzerland. Being a māmā and wife also impact my research area of indigenous Pacific Christianity and mental wellbeing for our communities. I received my PhD in Theology from Waipapa Taumata Rau – The University of Auckland which examined how diasporic indigenous Pacific women imaged or perceived God and how this impacted their mental wellbeing. My current research aims to reflect on what an indigenous Pacific and Catholic theology of mental wellbeing might look like given the negative legacy of colonialism and the incorporation of pre-European contact spiritualities into the everyday lives of families.

   ![Kristie LeBeau Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/LeBeau%20sm.jpg?itok=NS1_bFk8) 

 

**Kristi LeBeau, Sociology**

I am an educational sociologist who studies the role of public schools as social and economic institutions within communities. The central goal of my work is to contribute to equitable education policy with an awareness of its impact on local communities. I ask questions like, "How can education policy support, not only individuals, but also improve the communities in which students, families, and school staff live?" In my dissertation, I explored the varied impacts of a one-size-fits-all teacher salary policy on school districts and communities across Indiana. As a College Fellow, I teach courses on the sociology of education, GIS/spatial relationships, and mixed methodologies.

   ![Ashley Leung Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/Leung%20sm.jpg?itok=ABY9Zc5s) 

 

**Ashley Leung, Psychology**

I am interested in how infants and young children learn about the social function of language. That is, how do children learn to use language to communicate with others? At Harvard, I am working with Prof. Ashley Thomas to investigate how social engagement influences infants' language-based social preferences. Before Harvard, I received my PhD in Psychology from the University of Chicago and my BA from Middlebury College.

   ![Kristin Sabbi Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/Sabbi%20sm.jpg?itok=Uf-91HD4) 

 

**Kristin Sabbi, Human Evolutionary Biology**

I am a primatologist and evolutionary anthropologist interested in behavioral ecology and endocrinology. My research is focused on unraveling the developmental and evolutionary roots of social strategies, especially in primates. I ask questions like: what causes individuals to behave differently from one another or across contexts? How do early life experiences interact with internal biological factors to create differing social strategies later on? How do they adjust across the lifespan? And how does sociality, in turn, shape biological processes of aging? I take an interdisciplinary approach to answering these questions by combining observational and experimental studies of behavior with non-invasive biomarker sampling to investigate how living conditions and experiences are translated into behavioral patterns.

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**Ipek Sener, Government**

I study international relations, conflict and security, great power politics, and quantitative political methodology. My projects explore the relationship between illegal militant organizations and legal activist organizations within dissident movements, investigating how activist actions influence support for militancy, and how militant propaganda can radicalize activists. Another set of my projects analyzes how international actors, institutions, and great power competition can influence the likelihood and microdynamics of civil war. I use experimental, quasi-experimental, and observational designs, as well as text-as-data methods in my projects. I earned my Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis.

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**Hanh Annie Vu, Psychology**

My overarching research focuses on psychological processes in response to social justice issues. I'm currently working with Dr. Mina Cikara to investigate collective emotion regulation processes in the context of racial and gender injustices. At Harvard, I teach classes on political psychology, personal and societal well-being, and the psychology of defensiveness.

   ![Joseph Wallerstein Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1751/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-10/wallerstein%20sm.png?itok=A9DfQxlk) 

 

**Joseph Wallerstein, Sociology**

My work focuses on poverty, inequality, and organizations. I am currently working on adapting my dissertation into a book manuscript, which will examine the ideological—and, by extension, practical—influences that frontline nonprofit organizations exert on the everyday management of American homelessness. The project draws on interviews with nonprofit leaders from dozens of cities and on an original corpus of nonprofit documents. I received my PhD in Sociology from Harvard.



 



 

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