Meet Our PhD Students
Josias Abriel
Arifa Akter
Krystal Bray
Oscar Bueno Carbajal
Oscar Bueno holds a degree in Social Work from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and completed his master’s in public Action and Social Development at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte. In 2015, participated in the Seventh National Thesis Competition on Youth, gated as the 1st place in the master’s category, an honor bestowed by the Ministry of Social Development and the Mexican Youth Institute.
He has participated in the International Visitors Leadership Program from the United States Department of State and the Leaders for Citizen Security and Justice group at the Inter-American Development Bank.
His research interests are citizen security, violence prevention with a special emphasis on youth at-risk, evidence-based strategies and social participation.
Johnathan Cereceres
Johnathan is a practitioner of policy analysis with demonstrated experience working in multiple public offices, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, and research initiatives. He graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso as a Top Ten Senior with his Bachelor of Arts, double majoring Political Science and Chicano Studies. He later graduated as a Dean's Fellow from the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, a top ten ranked public policy/graduate school, with his Masters of Public Affairs and a Nonprofit Portfolio Certificate from the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service.
Professionally, Johnathan has served for various state public offices focusing his efforts on underserved and marginalized communities. These public offices include the Texas State Senate and the Texas State Board of Education. Throughout these roles, he developed a unique familiarity on a wide range of policy issues in commonly underrepresented communities while understanding the intersectional impacts that have on these underserved populations.
Johnathan has conducted statewide research for the Texas Education Agency's division of College, Career and Military Preparation (CCMP) to support the College and Career Readiness School Models Network (CCRSM). In tandem, he also conducted independent research for the City of Dallas and City of San Antonio city manager offices highlighting various educational outcomes, migration patterns, and personal narratives of immigrant communities.
Johnathan has also served as a Board Member for the UTEP Alumni Association and UTEP Heritage Commission. Aside from being a part of the inaugural cohort for the American Planning Association Texas Chapter Leadership Academy, he also served as the West Texas Section Director-Elect and on various statewide policy committees.
His research interests include civic engagement trends along the frontera and communities of color, postsecondary preparations for historically marginalized student groups, equitable sustainability, urban planning, and public policy.
Luis Diaz Cepeda
Dr. Luis Rubén Díaz Cepeda is a philosopher and a sociologist. His research focuses on ethics, borders, migration, and social movements. He conducts his studies from a decolonial perspective with an emphasis on philosophy of liberation. Having been published in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and the United States, his recent works include Latin American Philosophy and Social Movements: From Ciudad Juárez to Ayotzinapa (Lexington Books, 2020), the edited volumes Latin American Immigration Ethics (Eds. Reed Sandoval and Díaz Cepeda, AUP, 2021), and Ética, política y migración ( Eds. Díaz Cepeda, L.R; Reed-Sandoval, A. and Sánchez Benítez; R., UACJ, 2021).
Cecili Chadwick
Cecili Chadwick earned a B.A. in Communication and Women’s Studies from California State University San Marcos, an M.A. in Women’s Studies from Claremont Graduate University, and a second M.A. in Political Science from The New School in NYC. As an interdisciplinary thinker, she studies a variety of issues related to power, reproductive justice, diversity, and belonging. Cecili is currently a lecturer in both Women’s Studies and Political Science.
Denise Delgado
Andrew Harber
Josue Lopez
Noah Menchaca
Born and raised in El Paso, Noah Menchaca earned his B.A. in Sociology here at UTEP in the Fall of 2022. He was formerly a Multimedia Journalism major and would go on to minor in Communication Studies. Since January 2023, he has been a graduate student in the Sociology and Anthropology department. He has also been working as a graduate research assistant in the department of Research & Innovation for the Research Evaluation and Assessment Services (REAS) unit. His current research interests deal with environmental justice, ecological gentrification, and other forms of environmental inequality.
Alma Nava
Amanda Palacios
Amanda Palacios received a master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from NMSU and a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures from UT Austin. Her research focuses on traditional food practices, health disparities, and place-based knowledge in the Chihuahuan Desert borderland region.
Throughout her graduate studies, she contributed to cancer research as part of the Partnership for the Advancement of Cancer Research (PACR) between NMSU and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, assisting in the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. As an intern, she participated in the Greenlee Lab, which is dedicated to researching diet and nutrition as cancer prevention and control. At NMSU, she assisted Dr. Humairat Rahman in locating and testing water wells for contamination in Doña Ana County. She also served on the TEAL (Tobacco Exposure and Activity in LGBTQIA+) team under co-principal investigators Dr. Tamara Stimatze and Dr. Jaime Heffner.
Amanda is the recipient of NMSU’s Dean’s Graduate Award for Excellence for the College of Arts and Sciences and served as a Chihuahuan Desert Cultural Fellow at La Semilla Food Center. Her favorite pastimes include bird watching, hiking, cooking, and gardening.
Melicha Rahaman
Melicha Rahaman, a PhD student and Graduate Teaching Assistant, examines the sociological dimensions of migration, displacement, human rights, and social justice. With a legal background and experience as a legal practitioner and a research assistant on issues of social inequality, she brings an interdisciplinary approach to her doctoral work. Her academic journey reflects a commitment to advancing human rights and addressing complex global challenges through sociological inquiry
Research Interests: Migration, crime, violence, displacement, human rights, social justice, border regimes, statelessness, indigenous and refugee studies, and socio-legal studies.
Awards: Tapan Bihari Nag Trust Scholarship (Faculty of Law, Jagannath University, 2025); Best Performer Award (HWPL, South Korea, 2023); Best Debater Award (Jagannath University, 2020); Government Scholarship (2018).
Cesar Rivera
Before joining our Ph.D. program, Cesar obtained juris doctor and interdisciplinary master's degrees at UCLA and UTEP, respectively. He has dedicated over two decades to teaching both non-credit courses for adults and college credit courses in philosophy, religious studies, and the philosophy of law at UTEP, EPCC, and NMSU. Cesar plans to focus his doctoral studies on borders and mobility from the perspectives of the sociologies of law and religion.
Laura Schwanke
Pranta Sikder
I was born in Bagerhat, Bangladesh on July 7, 1999. Much of my teenage years were spent in Bagerhat. I started going to school from a very young at the age of 5. I had a very keen and curious mind from that age. It was soon after that I found out my passion for social works and various forms of charity works because of my father's inspirations. In 2008 I passed my primary school and got the government scholarship for great performance. Soon after that I joined Mobidul Islam High School. I have a lot of great memories and achievements associated with my high school. I obtained another government scholarship in 2011 for meritorious performance and another one in 2014 for obtaining GPA 5.00. After that I got myself admitted in Kachua Degree College,where my engagement extended beyond the classroom. I
excelled in debates and various co-curricular activities, earning recognition and immersing myself in student politics. I got another government scholarship for great performance in my HSC examination where I obtained Golden GPA 5.00, the highest attainable GPA. After that I had to compete to get into a university. I got admitted to the University of Dhaka, which had an acceptance rate of only 3%.Here, I chose to study Sanskrit literature, driven by my deep fascination with Indo-Indian culture and religious perspectives. Throughout my undergraduate years, I focused my attention on Indo-Indian society and culture. Simultaneously, my commitment to student politics and social work flourished. I became the Joint Secretary of Jagannath Hall Student's League. The COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for me to engage in numerous charity initiatives. Have to mention that,In 2018, my life changed dramatically when my elder brother and his wife lost their newborn due to a lack of proper healthcare. This heartbreaking experience deeply affected my family and me. The loss of our first family baby ignited a passion in me to address healthcare disparities. It made me realize the importance of accessible healthcare for all. This event shifted my academic focus towards studying how society and healthcare intersect. During my time in student politics, I took part in seminars and discussions on healthcare access, early marriage, and the importance of nutrition during pregnancy and for newborns. These experiences helped me understand these important issues better and made me more determined to work on them. I also learned a lot from experts in the field, which deepened my understanding of why healthcare disparities exist, especially in Bangladesh. After completing my undergraduate degree, I took on the role of a part-time gym instructor while continuing my research. My ultimate goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology, enabling me to dedicate my career to addressing the pressing issue of medical sociology and working tirelessly for the betterment of society. I firmly believe that 'health is wealth,' and I am committed to improving access to healthcare and reducing disparities for all.
Raoul Tayou Tayou
Angelica Villagrana-Casillas
Angélica Guadalupe Villagrana Casillas received a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Arkansas in 2021, an specialization degree on International Migration at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in 2017, and a Law degree from Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla in 2014.
She has conducted research on international migration and human rights since 2017. Angélica collaborated as a Research Assistant in the project “Unintended Consequences to Migrant Family Life and New Diasporas in Mexico” funded by ConTex Collaborative Research Grant through Ibero Puebla, led by Dr. Guillermo Yrizar and Dr. Jeremy Slack. Thanks to the project, they carried out fieldwork in various shelters for migrants in Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz, as well as visits to monitor the detention centers in that Mexican region. Summed up in the report “Vidas en Contención” published in January 2022, it documented the conditions under which these centers operate.
Having collected a vast amount of data from these experiences, the research team compiled the information and published the chapter "Containment and contagion: Human rights and unhealthy conditions for detained migrants from Asia and Africa in transit through Mexico" in the book Migrations in the hegemonic order contemporary of the modern world-system (pp 167-198, ISBN 978-607-525-900-0) which was thereafter presented at the virtual LASA ASIA 2022 Congress.
Angélica also did some fieldwork with the Seattle-Puebla-Huayacocotla platform regarding the temporary agricultural workers with H2a visas, conducted surveys and interviews focused on understanding the effects of temporary migration with H2a visas. Angélica worked with Dr. Elena Ayala to grasp on the effects on the families of temporary workers, their findings were thereafter presented at LASA 2023 Congress.
Angélica has also been a professor at the Law faculty in Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla. She is a member of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), and her research interests are the externalization of the southern border of Mexico and its militarization, migration in transit through Mexico, detention centers for migrants, human rights violations in migratory contexts, agricultural and temporary migrants and legal sociology.
