Graduate student at UCLA in the Spanish and Portuguese Department, concentrating in the Ph.D. program of Hispanic Literatures and Languages. I hold a B.A. in Language Studies from UCSD and an M.A. in Spanish from SDSU. Born in Cholula, raised in Tijuana, and later moving to San Diego for my college education, my life has been shaped by migration and borders. These experiences have taught me that borders can also take the shape of languages, mentalities, and opportunities.

I am a first year Masters in Urban and Regional Planning student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. I am a non-traditional student, graduating from CSU Sacramento in 2024 with a B.A. in Geography. While there, I researched water affordability issues within LADWP during COVID-19 as well as the immigration history of Filipino-Americans into the Sacramento area. This work continued through my internship with the State Water Board Division of Sustainable Groundwater Management (SGMA), developing a method to study potential impacts of SGMA on at-risk rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley. My current research interests include Asian American ethnic suburbs and their impact on Los Angeles politics.

Anna Whittell (they/them) is a third year Masters of Architecture student at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design. They previously graduated with a B.S. in Engineering-Product Design from Stanford University in 2019. Born and raised in LA with three generations of family scattered across the city, Anna has been interested in transportation accessibility and the experiences of moving through fragmented LA, especially for those with marginalized identities. Their personal interests settle around queer/trans visions for space and the future and post-capitalist structures of design and community. They also love baking and woodworking and have two very dear cats, June and Sophie.

Red Willow Coleman is a first-year PhD student in Geography at UCLA. She graduated with a B.S. in mathematical and computational biology with an emphasis in environmental analysis from Harvey Mudd College, where her senior thesis investigated new methods for measuring the urban heat island effect from space. She spent much of her undergrad degree examining how land use and land cover change in the Los Angeles megacity impacts carbon emissions from urban greenspaces. Before attending UCLA, she worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory using airborne and spaceborne instruments to identify greenhouse gas emissions.

Xujun is a third-year M.Arch student at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design. Born in Shanghai, he earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture and graduated as one of Shanghai’s Excellent Graduates. The stark contrast between life in Shanghai and Los Angeles, two megacities, has led him to reconsider various urban challenges. Driven by a curiosity to understand how things are made and how systems operate, Xujun’s focus extends from individual buildings to infrastructure and entire cities. While he may not consider himself the smartest, his dedication and passion drive him to succeed when fully immersed in his interests.

Travis Raser is a first year Master’s of Urban Planning student at UCLA. They received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, where they studied city planning and media studies. Their research interests include the continual interplay between cultural production and built environment, especially their hometown of Los Angeles, as well as the historiography of California and it’s cities. At Berkeley, they worked with professors in the College of Environmental Design and New Orleans community groups to help map the history of New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood prior to the construction of the Claiborne Expressway A re-entry student, they worked in the film and television industry prior to resuming their education, and outside of California have also called Albuquerque, San Antonio, and New Orleans home.

My name is Cristy Portlock. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. and have been with UCLA for the last nine years of my working career. I have a BA in Linguistics from Hofstra University, TOEFL certification from UCLA Extension, and am a first-year Master of Urban Planning student. I believe in creating more blue cities, city greenification initiatives, urban agriculture and economic opportunity based on principles of sustainability and environmental preservation. I love dogs and most animals, experimenting with cooking and baking, and gardening. I am a history buff, a huge fan of cartoons, anime and books (classic paper style).

Jordan Wynne is a community organizer working at the intersection of housing justice and homelessness. Their work has centered around combatting displacement and carceral systems of spatial injustice driven by landlordism, state violence, and economic inequality through community centered resistance. They fight for alternative policies that defend our unhoused communities, stop exploitative housing practices, and expand decommodified housing access. They continue their studies on community resistance to spatial injustice as a student in the Masters Program for Urban and Regional Planning at the Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Ames Cassell Loji is a second year PhD student in English at UCLA. She is originally from Melbourne, Australia but later moved to Detroit, Michigan, receiving her BA from Wayne State University and her MA from Michigan State University. Aside from the urban humanities, her research interests include 19th–21st century Pacific literature, Indigenous and critical settler studies, and affect theory, and representations of the settler-imperial city. Ames is particularly interested in employing an interdisciplinary approach to examine affective regimes of empire, settler colonialism, and globalization in Oceania.

Ángela Godoy-Fernández is a first year PhD student in Geography researching pleasure and joy in ethnic studies classrooms of the Central Valley. Currently, she is working with audio bites from previous interviews to layer them on top of music from Latin America to depict the ways historically extracted and alienated communities have always affirmed their ontological and epistemological knowledges. Being born and raised in the East side of Salinas is crucial to her research; she goes home often and bakes during her free time.

Brandt Rentel has B.A. in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and an M.A. in Sociology from Hitotsubashi University. His M.A. research examined the architecture of a 100-year old missionary community in Nagano, Japan. He also worked for six years as a producer in the film industry. Brandt has lived in New York, Ohio, Tokyo and this is his second stint in Los Angeles. He is interested in exploring architecture as a socio-ecological node within a broader network of influences. He seeks to understand the built environment’s impact on space as a dynamic entity where everyday life—images, ideologies, politics, economy, and urbanization—intersects.

Cora Johnson-Grau is a first year graduate student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program at UCLA. Prior to graduate school, she worked as the communications manager at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley. She holds a BA in English Literature from Haverford College. She grew up in the public schools and libraries of Los Angeles.

Dusty is a third year M.Arch student and Leaders in Sustainability Certificate candidate (UCLA). He has a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and a minor in Sustainability from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (UIUC). While at UIUC, he participated in the 2020 Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, where he worked to design and obtain special permitting for Illinois’s first residential greywater irrigation system. He is interested in environmental and social sustainability, communal places, and leveraging research to design and realize radical spatial interventions that engage and empower communities.

Emma Spies is a PhD candidate in English. She received her BA in English (with a concentration in Women's and Gender Studies) at Millsaps College and her MA in English at UCLA. She specializes in Modernism, Surrealism, urban cultural studies, and queer theory. Her dissertation, "'The novel and the transient': Queer Turns in Surrealism," argues that queer women are represented in interwar Surrealist textual and visual art largely through acts of denial, erasure, and obfuscation, and are thus made visible by their invisibility. She lives in Echo Park with her partner and German Shepherd.

Hollis Potts is a first year MURP student. He previously attended UC Berkeley where he recevied degrees in Rhetoric and Environmental Economics and Policy, was a member of the Townsend Center for the Humanities, and was an assistant researcher in the Center for Right Wing Studies. Prior to coming to UCLA, he worked for the LA County Public Defender's Office and as an educator. His current research interests include policing practices and their effects on urban development, the city and its representation in literature, and post-NAFTA development patterns of the US/Mexico border region.

I am a 3rd year student in UCLA's M.Arch program. I was raised in a small ranching town in Mexico and grew up in Chicago's Pilsen Neighborhood. I did my BS in Architecture in the University of Illinois at Chicago and also pursued a minor in Italian. That cross cultural upbringing has shaped my interest in equitable design through architecture and urban planning while incorporating different cultural components to truly make beautiful architecture. I have 7 year of experience working in the architectural field where I have worked on projects for public housing, public schools, higher education and medical programs.

Luis Fernando Anguiano Quiroz was born in Colima, Mexico in 1998 and immigrated to San Diego, CA with his family at the age of 7. Due to housing insecurity, domestic violence, and homelessness Fernando moved around San Diego several times; instability opened his eyes to the beauties and injustices of San Diego. He graduated from San Diego High in ’16 and studied Community and Regional Development at UC Davis, graduating in June ’20. Luis Fernando, who identifies as a radical gay Chicano, seeks to integrate racial justice, environmental equity, and housing as a human right into our cities.

Remi is a first-year Master of Architecture student at UCLA AUD. He previously received a B.S. in Architecture with minors in Urban Landscape Studies and Design in Engineering from Northeastern University. His current research interests center around community-engaged design and planning to address gentrification displacement pressures in urban environments. During the UHI program, he hopes to expand his understanding and refine his approach to architecture through a spatial justice lens, particularly within the complex and diverse landscape of Los Angeles and surrounding areas.

Shaylyn is a first-year Master of Urban and Regional Planning student at UCLA Luskin, focusing on Design and Development. She developed her commitment to spatial equity while growing up in St. Louis, MO. She looks forward to exploring urban and rural contexts through visual storytelling methods, cartographic design, sustainable urban design, and cultural/historic preservation with the Urban Humanities Initiative for underrepresented communities. Shaylyn’s passion for spatial equity has taken her to São Paulo, Brazil, and Tokyo, Japan. In quieter moments, she enjoys exploring global music discographies and photographing architectural beauty during outdoor walks.

Sydney Patterson dedicated her career to creating impactful architectural projects, driven by a commitment to societal improvement. With a decade of experience in architectural graphic design, she collaborated with diverse consultants to craft spatial solutions that enhance daily life and reinforce the importance of people. As an Orange County native, Sydney combines her understanding of Southern California culture with her design expertise to create authentic, engaging experiences. During her studies with UHI, she aspires to advance community-based architecture and contribute to the field with a focus on social equity and community resonance.