Graduate Residency Program

Gerson Lanza
MFA Student
School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Originally from La Ceiba, Honduras, Gerson first encountered the art form of tap dance after moving to New York City in 2001. He immediately fell in love with the art form after his first exposure. He began his tap dance training under Omar Edwards at Wadleigh Secondary School for the Visual and Performing Arts, located in the heart of New York’s Harlem neighborhood. 

After nearly two decades of a fruitful career as an educator, performer, and choreographer, Gerson continues to find new ground. He recently has been chosen as one of six Strathmore Artists in Residence, featured in Jacob's Pillow 2022 Summer Festival and the Guggenheim Work and Progress Series where he performed with Leo Sandoval’s & Gregory Richardson’s Music from the Sole company and headline the Millenium Stage at Kennedy Center with his jazz quartet in Washington D.C..

As a dance educator, Gerson has served as a consultant and presenter for the 92 Street Y newest curriculum “Tracing Footsteps” currently being taught by performing arts educators in New York City. In addition to his commitment to his professional career as a dancer, Gerson's scholarly research is based on the African diaspora and its connection to Latin America, using tap dance as the throughline to build community and awareness.

Lastly, Gerson is now in his second year at the University of Maryland pursuing a Master’s in Fine Arts in Dance and Performance Studies. 

Lauren Farnell
MFA Student
School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Lauren Farnell is a second-year Master's student in the Theatre, Dance, and Performance studies program. Lauren grew up in New Jersey, but moved to the DC area to earn their undergraduate degrees at American University in musical theatre performance and Spanish language/translation. Since undergrad, Lauren has worked as an actor/singer/musician in the DC area at theaters including Imagination Stage, Monumental Theatre Company, Adventure Theatre, and The Prince George's County Shakespeare in the Parks. In academia, Lauren focuses their research on Caribbean performance, specifically reggaetón, and the performances of gender and sexuality. For more, please visit laurenfarnell.com

Catalina Ximena Moraga Prieto
M.A International Education Policy
Catalina Moraga is a Chilean master student in International Education Policy at the College of Education. Catalina holds two bachelor's degrees in sociology and design from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Before coming to the University of Maryland, she worked as a research assistant at Millenium Nucleus: Student Experience in Higher Education in Chile. Her research interests include education in Latin America, education policy and its role in inequality, Post-Colonialism and education, and how design thinking can improve social policies.

Marco Polo Juarez Cruz
PhD Student
Art History and Archaeology
Marco Polo Juarez Cruz is a Ph.D. student in the Art History program at the University of Maryland College Park. He is studying the emergence and consolidation of abstraction in the distinct artistic groups across the Americas, and its relationship with cultural policies, museums, literature, and religion. Marco Polo received his BA in Architecture and his master’s degree in Art History, both from UNAM. He has collaborated in research projects of the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas. Before enrolling at UMD, he was the Head of the Exhibitions Department in the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares and participated in curatorial projects for the Fonart, in Mexico City.

Maria Cecilia Azar (Cecilia)
PhD Student
Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Maria Cecilia Azar (Cecilia) is a Ph.D. student in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studies and writes about queer and diaspora in the Americas. Her work thinks about how queer and trans displaced individuals and communities engage with space, negotiate hostile cultural environments, and develop knowledge through them. Through her work, she aims to create a dialogue and challenge how we think about theories of decolonization, global/transnational studies, and diaspora studies. Her interest in queer diaspora survival practices is animated by her experience as a queer immigrant in the U.S. After moving to Southern California from Buenos Aires, Argentina at sixteen, Maria Cecilia studied at Riverside Community College and received her B.A. in English and Literature from the University of California Riverside. In 2019, she received a master’s degree in English from California State University, Los Angeles. Since arriving at UMD, Cecilia has been studying the intimacies of Imperial legacies of race and gender on queer and trans diasporas across the Americas through performances, political performances, and literary texts. By exploring the transnational entanglements of their oppression alongside their survival practices, Cecilia hopes to engage with and further a conversation about queer and trans coalition and world building. Cecilia is also looking forward to expanding and strengthening her community across different spaces at UMD. You might cross paths with her in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, The Latin American Studies Center, or at a McNair event

Juan Angulo Santacruz
PhD Student
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
DJuan is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at University of Maryland, College Park. His research interest is in Economic Development and its focus is Latin America. His work aims to answer causal questions using applied econometric methods. He has engaged in an array of research topics related to migration, educational choices, gender inequality, illegal markets, crime and civil conflict..

Nohely Alvarez
PhD Student
Urban Planning, School of Architecture and Planning Department
Nohely Alvarez is a Ph.D. Student in Urban Planning at the School of Architecture and Planning. Her focus and interests include the intersection of immigrant communities, transnational planning, participatory community building, social justice, gentrification, and equity development. She is particularly interested in advocacy and radical planning pedagogy in her field and thinking of ways the gap between practice and academia in planning can be improved. In her spare time, she likes learning about other cities, creating maps for side gigs, cooking, and playing with Son Cosita Seria (a DC-based Jarocho collective group).

Danielle LaPlace
PhD Student
Women’s Studies Department
Danielle is a second -year student in the Women’s Studies, Ph.D program. Born and raised in St. Kitts and Nevis, Danielle moved to North Carolina to continue her studies, receiving a BA in French and a BA in International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2010. She was then granted an Endeavor Award by the Australian government and pursued a Master of Development Practice at the University of Queensland. She then returned to St. Kitts and Nevis, serving briefly as the Executive Officer in the Department of Gender Affairs where she had the opportunity to represent the country at the 2016 European Union-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-CELAC) Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment Seminar in Brussels, Belgium. She recently completed an MA in Women's and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) and her current work investigates public health and notions of racialized contagion.

Mariana Reyes
PhD Student
Spanish Department
Nidia Mariana Reyes is an international graduate student born in Chihuahua, Mexico. She holds a B.A. in Hispanic Literature from the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua and a M.A. in Latin American Literature from the University of Texas at El Paso. Currently she is a Ph.D. Candidate in Spanish Literature at the department of Spanish and Portuguese. Her dissertation focuses on contemporary cultural representations of undocumented migration from Mexico and Central America to the U.S. Her work is collaborative and interdisciplinary, she studies literature, documentaries, and digital projects. In her studies and teaching she is particularly interested in the intersection between social justice and resistance practices, language, community work and digital humanities. In her language classes she is focused on Spanish for heritage speakers. She is an active member of the Latin American Studies Center (LASC) at the University of Maryland.

Sergio García Mejía
MS Student
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Sergio Garcia is a Fulbright Scholar from Guatemala. He graduated from Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala with a BA in Civil Engineering. Currently he is pursuing a Water Resources MSc degree at the University of Maryland, College Park, and is part of the Center for Disaster Resilience at the A. James Clark School of Engineering. His research focuses on the intersection of probabilistic models for disaster assessment in the Northern Triangle of Central America and human migration patterns in the wake of disasters. Sergio has significant experience working in municipal planning in both rural and semi-rural environments in Guatemala. Sergio has also assisted in developing educational projects near Guatemala City's garbage dump and is currently working to design and build a new community development and educational program in the same area. With over a decade of experience as a musician, Sergio has played in several musical groups and participated in various non-profit music projects.

Sabrina González
PhD Student
Department of History
Sabrina González is a PhD candidate in the Department of History. She graduated from Universidad Nacional de La Matanza, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a BA in social communication. Her dissertation entitled: “Schools as Laboratories: Science, Children’s Bodies, and School Reformers in the Making of Modern Argentina (1880-1930)” studies the historical processes by which schoolteachers in South America used education as a tool for emancipation and built a transnational school reform movement that both challenged and contributed to children’s disciplining. In Argentina, she has taught multiple classes at public universities, high schools, and alternative schools for adults. Since 2006, she has been working with social movements as a communicator, educator, and student and labor organizer. At UMD, she tried to bring her previous activism to engage with the Latin American and Latinx community on campus. As an advocate for community building and collective action she co-founded the Latin American Studies Center Writing Group and the LASC Graduate Student Collective, and she served as the co-president of the History Graduate Student Association (2018-2019). After working as a GA for LASC in 2015-2019, Sabrina is excited to come back to LASC offices as a Graduate Resident and keep contributing to the center’s interdisciplinary mission and community building.

Ofelia Montelongo
MA Student
Ofelia Montelongo is a bilingual writer originally from Mexico. She received a BA in accounting and finance, an MBA, and a BA in English and Creative Writing. Ofelia is a freelance writer and photographer and has collaborated with magazines such as Phoenix New Times, So Scottsdale, and Phoenix Magazine. She led creative writing workshops in Spanish at Palabras Bilingual Bookstore and was the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Superstition Review in the fall of 2016. She taught Spanish at Arizona State University and she is pursuing her MA in Latin American literature at the University of Maryland. Her research interests include Chicano and Latin American literature, theory of translation, borderlands, creative writing, and more. Her work has been published in Latino Book Review, Los Acentos Review, Rio Grande Review, Ponder Review and elsewhere. She is currently reading for Potomac Review and she is the 2019 Writer’s Center Undiscovered Voices Fellow and the PEN America New Voices Fellow.

Bulansky, Daniela
PhD Student
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Daniela Bulansky, originally from Argentina, is a PhD student at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. She studied political science at the University of Buenos Aires. Before coming to UMD, she worked at FLACSO-Argentina (The Latin American School of Social Sciences) in the gender, society, and policies area, and in CIECTI (Interdisciplinary Centre of Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation). Her academic field of interest is Latin American literature, with special focus on Southern Cone dictatorship and post-dictatorship literature.

Rodrigo Dominguez-Martinez
PhD Sociology

Rodrigo Dominguez-Martinez (Rod Martinez) is an instructor and doctoral student in the Department of Sociology. Previously, Rod was a master's student, as well as instructor in the Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies at Northern Illinois University. At the University of Maryland, he is an affiliate of the Critical Race Initiative, Maryland Population Research Center, and the Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR). He is also a member of the graduate student editorial team for Contexts Magazine. Rod is currently a Perez Fellow and works with several organizations focused on Boys and Men of Color, Juvenile Justice, and Violence Prevention; among others. His broader research interests include social inequality, the carceral state, race, gender, and social movements. As a Fall 2019 LASC resident, he will present some of his work and develop workshops on these issues. Rod's self-care regimen includes listening to rap at very high decibels, finding good vegetarian food spots, working out, and community building.

Natasha N. Piñeiros
MA Student
Student Affairs
Natasha N. Piñeiros was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador until 2009 when her family relocated to the United States. As a first-generation immigrant and first-generation college student, Natasha began her undergraduate career at Bergen Community College in New Jersey where she found her love for the field of student affairs and higher education. She later transferred to The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Communication Studies and Spanish Language. Natasha is currently pursuing her master's degree in Student Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she worked as an academic advisor and now works as a graduate assistant in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union, supporting the operation of over 900 student organizations. Natasha is passionate about using her career and position in higher education to serve low-income, first-generation, students of color as they navigate their journey in college. Her current research interests include learning about the retention and persistence of Latinx students in Hispanic-serving community colleges. Natasha is bilingual in Spanish and English, and could use some practice on her American Sign Language proficiency. When she is not in a classroom, you can find Natasha dancing, eating sushi, and traveling.

Kristofer Jon Reed
PhD Student
English Department
Kristofer Jon Reed is a third year PhD student in the Department of English. He studies hemispheric literature of the nineteenth century with the aim of challenging the ethnocentric thinking that places the United States and the English language at the center of "American" literature. Kristofer is also interested in posthumanism and the non-human in literature, especially animals.

Lisa Warren Carney
PhD Candidate
Spanish Department
Lisa W. Carney is a PhD candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Her soon-to-be completed dissertation is 'In Dreams Awake': Truth and Knowledge in Quichua Dream Narratives. Lisa's research focuses on Indigenous cultural production, Andean and Amazonian literature, and concerns of translatability with indigenous and oral texts.

Hernandez-Sang, Victor
PhD Student
Enthnomusicology
Victor is a Ph.D. student of ethnomusicology originally from the Dominican Republic. His doctoral project examines the performance of gaga (Haitian-Dominican music and dance) and explores race, immigration, and racial discrimination in the Dominican Republic. At the University of Maryland, he also worked toward his masters degree and his thesis focuses on the performance of palos music in fiestas de misterios in the Dominican Republic. In summer 2018, he started working on his doctoral project conducting field research with the support of the Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship. Before coming to UMD, he received his B.A. from Luther College, Decorah, IA in music (flute performance) and taught flute, ear training, and English in his hometown, Santiago. Victor has contributed to the LASC annual student conference since 2016 as a presenter and member of the organizing committee.

Gomez-Vidal, Analia
PhD Candidate
Department of Government
Analia Gomez-Vidal is the Coordinator for CIDCM and the Program Coordinator for MIDCM since Fall 2014. She is currently a PhD student in the Department of Government and Politics at University of Maryland, College Park. Before moving to Maryland, she has worked for the Fulbright Commission in Buenos Aires, Argentina and for the Ibero-American Federation of Stock Exchanges (FIAB). As a journalist, her articles on politics and economic development have been published in online and printed media. She has also had experience as research consultant for Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She has previously pursued her M.A. in International Studies and her B.A. in Economics with minor in Journalism at Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her research agenda focuses on political economy and gender, with special interest in individual behavior, social network analysis, and experimental design.

Snyder, Cara
PhD Candidate
Department of Women's Studies
Cara Knaub Snyder is a PhD Candidate in Women's Studies and a College of Arts and Humanities Fellow. Prior to joining UMD, Cara was a fulbright scholar in Brazil, an admissions counselor at Agnes Scott College, and a program assistant in the Americas Program at the Carter Center. Her research, which examines gender (non)conformity and queerness, transnational feminisms, and race through the lens of Brazilian futebol (soccer), has been published in Women's Studies Quarterly, Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media and Technology, and Space and Society.

Dowman, Sarah
PhD Candidate
Spanish Department
Sarah Dowman is a PhD candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese where she focuses on Latin American and U.S. Latina/o cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, and transnationalism. Her dissertation project is titled “Change Is Sound: Resistance and Activism in Queer Latinx Punk.” Sarah’s conceptualization of punk includes all aspects of the subculture including performance, style and aesthetic, ideologies and activism, and the many cultural products that punx produce such as music, visual art and photography, zines, and other written texts. Sarah hopes to continue to spotlight the important cultural work of queer Latinx punx, still overwhelmingly unnoticed and marginalized within mainstream academia. She also enjoys going to shows, traveling, painting, and spending time with her cat.