Meet the Fellows
Writing Fellows are a select group of graduate students recommended by their departments for their demonstrated mastery of writing in their disciplines and their aptitude for peer review. Oral Communication Fellows are all advanced graduate students from the Communication Department. In ongoing training with the CWOC Director, fellows develop an understanding of writing and oral communication in the disciplines and theories of peer support, among other topics.
Linda Macri, Ph.D. (Director)
Dr. Linda Macri is the Director of Academic and Professional Development in The Graduate School and has directed the Center since 2014. From 2005-2013, she served as the director of the Academic Writing Program in the English Department. Her interests are in composition studies and rhetorical theory, graphic novels and comic studies, and women’s literature. She has taught a range of courses from "English 101" to "Writing for Non-Profits" to "The Rhetoric of Fiction." According to Dr. Macri, directing the Center is "the best job on campus because everyday I get to learn about the amazing research that our passionate, committed graduate students are engaged in."
Rasha Alkhateeb (Education)
Rasha is a Ph.D. student in Literacy Education at UMD's College of Education. She received her BA in English and MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Baltimore, where she taught college composition and remedial writing in the University Writing Program. Her research interests are in reflexive writing identities, or how secondary preservice and inservice teachers understand their identity as writers and teachers of writing. Rasha is a poet and loves recommending books in all genres!
Anuoluwapo Adesina (Communication)
Anuoluwapo is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication. Her research centers on crisis and risk communication, strategic communication, and health communication. She is particularly interested in how organizations craft effective communication strategies during natural disasters and public health emergencies. Anu holds a B.A. in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan. Outside academia, she is actively involved in her church community and passionate about mentoring others to become the best versions of themselves.
Shonini Banerjee (Bioengineering)
Shohini is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Bioengineering. Her research focuses on invasive cell behaviors in endometriosis, a prevalent gynecological condition. Her recent work on developing in vitro models for estrogen-mediated cell invasion in endometriosis has been the focus of NIH F31 proposal applications, conference presentations, and a pending first-author research publication. Prior to graduate school, she earned her BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University. Shohini spends all her free time as an avid dancer; her main forms are Indian classical dance, bollywood, standard ballroom dances, bachata, and zouk.
Chia-Shuan Chang (Behavioral & Community Health)
Chia-Shuan, a second-year Ph.D. student in Behavioral and Community Health at the University of Maryland, is currently a Teaching Assistant and actively engaged in multiple independent research studies. Her research primarily focuses on adolescents' and young adults' mental health and sleep behavior. Her research has been published in journals such as Sleep and European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Shuan holds a Master of Science in Health Behaviors and Community Sciences from National Taiwan University, where she received the School of Public Health Master’s Thesis Excellent Award, along with multiple scholarships and awards for her academic excellence and research presentations. Outside of her academic responsibilities, Shuan is passionate about dance. She loves to dance during her leisure time and teaches dance fit classes at the gym during the summer and winter, combining her love for physical activity with community engagement.
Declan Daly (Physics)
Declan is a doctoral student in Physics. They have expertise in both experimental and theoretical applications of quantum sensing and quantum photonics. Their current work focuses on the development of novel experimental protocols and data analysis. Declan has felt firsthand the positive impacts of welcoming professional mentorship and strongly believes in the similar mission of the Center. In their free time, Declan can be found working on musical composition, playing board games, and engaging in various artistic or nerdy endeavors.
Sam DiBella (Information Studies)
Sam is a Ph.D. student at the College of Information Studies, where he researches privacy and surveillance using anthropological, historical, and digital-humanities methods. He previously worked as an assistant editor for the Birkhäuser Mathematics imprint at SpringerNature; a copyeditor for Citywire, a financial newsroom; and as a freelance editor on art writing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Triple Canopy, and SNAP Editions. His writing has appeared in the International Journal of Communication, Public Books, Surveillance & Society, and the LSE Review of Books. He received his MSc in media studies from the London School of Economics and BA in philosophy of language from New York University. He translates articles from the Italian Wikipedia, often has to fix his bike, and wishes he had a platen press with all his heart.
Chelsea Fowler (MEES)
Chelsea is a Marine, Estuarine, and Environmental Science Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). Her research focuses on the effects of common environmental stressors on juvenile oysters in order to develop tactics to increase stress resliency in oyster aquaculture. Chelsea has pursued many opportunities to build community, help others, and perpetuate science-driven problem solving since her undergraduate days and has a passion for effective communication. She recieved her BS from the University of Tampa in 2016 and her MS from UMCES in 2023. You can learn more about Chelsea's past experiences from her website: chelseafowler.com She looks forward to working with graduate student writers, helping to build effective communicators in all disciplines.
Valerie M. J. Hall (Anthropology)
Valerie is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology. Her research interests include exploring human-animal relationships, engendered tasks, and landscape change in the Chesapeake region through analysis of archaeofaunal remains and other proxy data. She is specifically interested in the use of stable isotope analysis and geometric morphometrics as tools to elucidate cultural and environmental shifts. She is a 1997 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University with a BS in Education and taught at the elementary level before becoming interested in archaeology. She received her MA in Anthropology and Archaeology from the Illinois State University in 2012. Valerie serves as an Editorial Assistant for the Journal of Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites. She is a voracious reader and dabbles in writing poetry and fiction.
Amber Chevaughn Johnson (Education)
Amber is a critical scholar pursuing the mundane and everyday invitations for personal and collective liberation and living. As a former middle school language arts educator for almost a decade and current Ph.D. student, she pursues a range of interests that center the ways Black communities render expressions of full, complex lives. Her aim is, thus, to produce work for Black folks who hold truths about their lives and their worlds in the bellies of their being, but whose souls forage for language in the dark places. Currently, her research explores the multidimensionality of Black folks' lives and ways they manipulate space, speculate the unmaterialized, and engage their spirits to increase their capacities to produce and share knowledge in Black liberatory learning spaces outside of state-sponsored schools. Her most recent work examines the roles Black women, particularly, play in this radical work. Outside of her academic interests, Amber enjoys museum hopping, reading under trees in a park, and a chilled bubbly water.
Umisha Kc (Communication)
Umisha is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Communication. Her research interests lie in Intergroup communication, media effects, and social identities in the classroom.
Elizabeth A. Pineo (Information Studies)
Elizabeth is passionate about music and disability advocacy, and she has followed these passions to their intersection in the field of information studies. As a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, College Park, Elizabeth's research focuses on representation of Disabled people in music archives. Outside of academics, Elizabeth works as a script writer for Together with Classical's YouTube series, Classical Bean, which focuses on making classical music accessible to all, and volunteers as a cataloger at the Vocal Music Instrumentation Index, a digital archive of Baroque vocal music. Elizabeth is a classically trained pianist, and, in her free time, she enjoys learning languages and caring for her ever-growing plant collection. She received her M.L.I.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park in May 2023 and her B.A. in Music from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in February, 2021.
Niko Reed (Physics)
Niko is a fourth year Physics Ph.D. candidate studying quantum technology in an interdisciplinary group that spans the intersection of physics and engineering. Their research focuses on characterizing defects in semiconductors for use as quantum sensors and single photon sources. They are a Joint Quantum Institute Graduate Fellow and a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Before enrolling at UMD, Niko completed a bachelor’s degree in Physics and Mathematics with a Spanish minor at the University of Delaware. Outside of work, Niko enjoys reading books of all kinds and tending to their houseplant collection.
Elizabeth Reynolds (Education)
Elizabeth is a Ph.D. student in TLPL with a specialization in Teacher Education and Professional Development. She studies digital literacy and civic education. Her research explores how young people reason about information they see online and how this reasoning informs their ideas about social and political issues. A former middle school social studies teacher, Elizabeth earned her B.A. in Politics from Ursinus College and her M.Ed. in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
Patrick Mark Saunders (Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies)
Patrick is a doctoral student in theatre and performance studies. His research interests and artistry center around adaptations of literature for performance. He is particularly invested in representations of queerness within such adapted works, and the role nostalgia plays in revisiting (and reimagining) these familiar stories for the stage. Patrick holds a B.A. in theatre arts and English from Providence College and an M.F.A. in acting from the University of Essex (East 15 Acting School). While in London, he also completed an educational residency at Shakespeare’s Globe. Patrick has served as an acting instructor and guest director at Providence College and the University of Rhode Island, in addition to his work as an actor, director, and dramaturg. For more information, visit pmsaunders.com.
Nina Versenyi (American Studies)
Nina is a Ph.D. student in American Studies. Her research focuses on spatial/temporal justice, the built environment, memory studies, and material and visual culture. Specifically, she examines how memory, time, and material objects are mobilized as a strategy of possession in ongoing processes of U.S. settler colonialism and empire. Prior to coming to UMD, Nina earned her M.A. in Museum and Exhibition Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her B.A. in Spanish and Art History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Nina has an insatiable sweet tooth and enjoys testing cookie recipes in her spare time.
