Felix Ackon 4th Year, Operations Research and Financial Engineering Felix is a fourth year PhD Candidate in the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering. His areas of interest include game theory (oligopolistic competition in energy markets), and empirical finance (applied to crypto-assets markets). Felix earned his B.S. in Statistics from the University of Delaware. Afterwards, he worked as a Research Assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. In his free time, Felix enjoys exercising, long walks, listening to music/podcasts, and comedy shows. He is excited to become a peer mentor because of the impact his past mentors have made on his life. Lauren Bunce 2nd Year, English Lauren Bunce is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of English. She earned her B.A. from Duke University in English and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies (2018). She was also a high school English teacher in San Antonio, Texas, where she founded a GSA and campus newspaper focused on empowering women in the community. Lauren’s intellectual life at Princeton is centered around questions of gender and labor in the long 20th century. Having a GSP pod and peer mentor was pivotal to my experience as a first-year at Princeton. I loved having a supportive space where I could connect with students in other departments and share common struggles and celebrations. I look forward to providing that support to my mentees! Bri Carvajal 3rd Year, Neuroscience 2nd Year GSP Peer Mentor Bri Carvajal (pronouns: she/hers) is a third-year graduate student at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, where she studies neuro-immune interactions in the brain. She is from Queens, NY, and received a B.A. in Psychology from CUNY-Hunter College. Bri is a passionate advocate for equity and inclusion and works toward curating spaces that support underrepresented groups in Princeton as a facilitator for EPSP. She enjoys being a dog mom, traveling, and photography in her free time. Bri is committed to fostering a more inclusive academic community and is honored to serve as a GSP mentor. Lawrence Chamunorwa 3rd Year, Comparative Literature 2nd Year GSP Peer Mentor Lawrence Chamunorwa is a third-year PhD student in the Comparative Literature Department pursuing graduate certificates in the Department of African American Studies and the High Meadows Environmental Institute. His research focus is on concepts of nature and environmental crisis. Prior to attending Princeton, Lawrence attained his BA and BA (Hons.) degrees in Philosophy and Classics respectively from University of Zimbabwe as well as an MA in Languages and Cultures- Classics from Texas Tech University. As a peer mentor for the 2022-23 academic year, he is excited to serve through mentorship and supporting the incoming graduate students at Princeton to the best of his ability. Vanessa Gonzalez 4th Year, Molecular Biology 3rd Year GSP Peer Mentor Vanessa is a 4th year graduate student in the Department of Molecular Biology. She received her undergraduate degree in Molecular & Cellular Biology from Johns Hopkins University and returned to her native New Jersey for graduate school. Vanessa's thesis is focused on learning how the heart gains its left-right asymmetry in vertebrate embryos. She was a GSPer during her first year at Princeton and has been a GSP mentor since. She's looking forward to getting to know each of her mentees as they navigate their own first year experiences! “Having been a mentee in GSP myself, I found GSP and the ADI team to be an indispensable source of support as I began my graduate school journey. Mentoring is very important to me, as it helps me navigate challenges and encourages me to strive for my best. I hope as a GSP mentor I will be able to give support and help ease the transition to graduate student life. I’m looking forward to getting to know each of my mentees as they navigate their own first year experiences.” Néhémie Guillomaitre 3rd Year, Chemical and Biological Engineering 2nd Year GSP Peer Mentor Néhémie Guillomaitre is a Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University and she received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University. Her research involves studying the swelling properties of polymers and ways to enhance the properties of hydrogels for various applications, including, but not limited to, water purification and production, atmospheric moisture harvesting, controlled drug delivery, and wearable flexible devices. Beyond research, Néhémie enjoys reading, dancing, drawing, photography, watching international films, and learning languages. She has a strong passion for outreach because she is very grateful for the opportunities she's gotten, so she is always looking for ways to help others and pay it forward. Camila LLerena-Olivera 3rd Year, Civil and Environmental Engineering Camila is a third-year PhD candidate in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Princeton University. Her research focuses on microbial electrochemical technology for wastewater treatment. Before coming to Princeton, she obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. During her free time, Camila enjoys gardening, drawing, and thrifting. She is also involved in various graduate student organizations related to diversity and gender. As a GSP Peer Mentor, Camila hopes to foster a welcoming community where first-year graduate students can develop long-lasting connections, learn more about student life/campus resources, and explore the Princeton community. Camila is also happy to connect with GSP students not in her pod. Yeraldi Loera 2nd Year, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Yeraldi Loera is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. Her thesis studies the evolutionary genomic responses to pesticide contaminants in American Alligators. Yeraldi's college education began at Occidental College for her Bachelor’s degree in Biology, followed by a Master’s degree in Biology at California State University, Pomona. She started her Ph.D. program in the Fall of 2019 at UCLA before moving to Princeton University under the advisement of Dr. Shane Campbell-Staton. Yeraldi is from Los Angeles and is deeply passionate about mentorship, science communication, and teaching. She has participated in several bridge and mentorship programs as a mentor and mentee, inspiring her to pursue further learning in guidance and pedagogy. She seeks to learn from her experiences and strives to consistently foster safe environments to share real experiences and have conversations about diversity and inclusion, particularly in science. Katherine Morillo, 3rd Year, Molecular Biology Katherine Morillo is a 3rd year graduate student in the Department of Molecular Biology. She graduated with a B.A. in Biochemistry and Mandarin Chinese minor from Middlebury College. She’s interested in aging biology, specifically in understanding sex-based mechanisms that may promote cognitive or reproductive longevity. Katherine is passionate about fostering a community where students from all walks of life can thrive in the sciences. In the coming year she hopes to grow as mentor and help provide at least an ounce of the support and guidance given to her as an incoming graduate student amid a global pandemic. She’s super excited to get to know her mentees as they embark on this one-of-a-kind journey. Mishella Romo Rivas 3rd Year, Politics Rivas is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Politics. She obtained a BA in Political Science and Jurisprudence and an MA in Law and Governance from Montclair State University. She has an MA in Politics from New York University. She is interested in presidentialism, populism and judicial politics. She has presented her research at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association and the Northeastern Political Science Association. She has written and co-authored papers that have been published by the American Political Science Association, the National Political Science Honor Society, Latin American Perspectives, and the Oxford Handbook of Latin American Social Movements. While at Princeton, Mishella has conducted research on the politics of horizontal accountability in Latin America. She looks forward to providing mentorship to the next generation of underrepresented scholars and hopes to also learn from her mentees in her journey as an ADI mentor. Jonathan St. Ange 3rd Year, Molecular Biology Jonathan St. Ange is a 3rd year in the department of Molecular Biology, and he grew up in North Brunswick, New Jersey. Jonathan went to Rutgers University, New Brunswick for his undergraduate studies where he majored in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and minored in chemistry. As someone from Puerto Rican and West Indian descent, Jonathan enjoyed teaching for a diversity program at Rutgers to give minority, low income, and first generation students support in difficult classes. Currently, he is studying transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in the lab of Coleen Murphy, and he is interested in pursuing a career in academia. Jonathan enjoys being active around campus, baking, and dancing Richard Thornton 4th Year, Molecular Biology Richard is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Molecular Biology and received his B.S. in Biological Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. He studies collective cell behaviors such as directed migration and communication across tissues. After learning the importance of finding community in his post-baccalaureate research at Harvard, he strived to enhance and create Black spaces after arriving at Princeton. Following this goal, Richard joined the Black Graduate Caucus, which he now leads alongside Amari Tankard, the Graduate Student Government, and now the Graduate Scholars Program. He is looking forward to meeting the incoming scholars and hopes to help make their time at Princeton more welcoming. Coming from an HBCU, I was surrounded by a vibrant community of talented Black students and I knew this was an exception and not the norm. Now that I am here at Princeton I’m striving to change that.
