Kayla Allen-Brown received a B.A. in Political Science and International Affairs with certificates in Human Rights and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cincinnati; she also holds an M.A. from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy-IU Indianapolis. Kayla is currently a PhD student in American Studies. She is interested in examining how Black women create agency, shape their lived experiences, and build social capital regardless of the political and economic challenges. More broadly, her research interests include critical race theory, black feminism, minority social movements, and grassroots resistance.
Harry (Harshit) Chaubey, born in New Delhi, India, is a Ph.D. candidate in Music Technology at Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI) with a minor in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). At IU Indianapolis's Graduate Office, his responsibilities include managing social media,transcribing presentations into digital storytelling, planning events, creating podcasts, and optimizing the graduate onboarding process.
Harry has extensive experience as a Research Assistant at the Donald Louis Tavel Arts & Technology Center and as Director of Live Programming at Deck10 Media. He is active in the IU Indianapolis Food Auxiliary Committee, the Diversity, Equity & Inclusive School taskforce, and serves as a Graduate Representative in the Graduate Professional Student Government(GPSG). He received the Plater Civic Engagement Medallion for his community service. His research interests include reengineering musical devices, product design, and developing frameworks for live multimedia broadcasting
Originally born and raised in India, Soumilee Chaudhuri obtained her undergraduate degrees in Neuroscience and Biochemistry from Montana State University, Bozeman. She joined the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2021 and matriculated into the Medical Neuroscience Program. Her PhD research focuses on employing multi-omics and artificial intelligence approaches to study Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and she was recently awarded the 2022 Paul & Carole Stark Fellowship. Soumilee serves on the executive boards of Underrepresented Professional and Graduate Student Organization (UPnGO) and Recreational Hiking at IU Indianapolis. She is committed towards building an inclusive environment for minoritized academics and aspires to serve as a research & teaching professor to continue that goal. Outside of school, Soumilee is an avid outdoor enthusiast trying to promote diversity for BIPOC non-straight sized women in the wilderness. As an Indian Bengali, she is also an active participant in cultural events and reserves a special love for dancing.
Maribel Hernandez received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. After graduation, she joined AmeriCorps and worked as a college access coach helping first generation and/or low-income high school students get into a university. Maribel joined Indiana University Indianapolis in 2017 as a Post Bachelorette Fellow (IPREP) working in the Addictions Neuroscience department under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Boehm and Dr. Nicholas Grahame. Currently she is a PhD candidate in the IUI Addictions Neuroscience department where she is interested in investigating the behavioral genetics of alcoholism as well as how early-life chronic low-level lead exposure produces altered responses to drugs of abuse in adulthood. Maribel was also awarded the Presidential Diversity Fellowship to help with her research training.
Priyadharshini Manikandan completed her undergraduate degree at Indiana State University in Terre Haute with a B.S. in Biology with a Chemistry Minor. She is currently a PhD student in the Department of Biology focusing her studies on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder research using zebrafish embryos as a model organism, to explore the effect of alcohol on the developing genome.
Outside of the lab, Dharshini enjoys travelling, trying new recipes, and spending time with her friends and dog. Alongside being a graduate student emissary, she is a laboratory Teaching Assistant for undergraduate biology labs, the President of the Biology Graduate Organization (BGO), a school of science representative on the Graduate Professional Student Government (GPSG), and likes giving back to her community as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion advisor for her collegiate Alpha Phi chapter, and as a volunteer at the local Hindu Temple.
Shaquitta Dent is a second-year PhD student in the IU School of Health and Human Sciences (SHHS) working under Dr. NiCole Keith and Dr. Jefferson Streepey. Shaquitta’s primary interest is in understanding postural balance control through tracking center of pressure movement during static and dynamic tasks in clinical populations. Shaquitta is a scholar in the 2020-2021 ACSM Leadership Diversity and Training Program (LDTP) and is sponsored by SHHS to participate in the Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Scholars Program. Outside of her work, Shaquitta enjoys spending time with her loved ones and friends, binge watching Netflix series, and reading cheesy romance novels.
After completing high school in Jamaica, Isheka Orr moved to Orangeburg, SC to pursue her BSc. in Environmental Science at Claflin University. Currently, she is a PhD student in Applied Earth Science at IU Indianapolis. Her research focuses on identifying the health risks associated with Combined Sewer Overflow events in urban waterways.
Isheka strongly believes in giving back to the community in whatever way possible and as a result volunteers as a mentor and/educator with various community programs such as School on Wheels(SOW)-Indy, Sea Scope Incorporated and Passport to College (PTC). Isheka also serves on the Executive Board of the Underrepresented Professional and Graduate Student Organization (UPnGO) at IUI.
Isheka enjoys cooking, trying new foods, socializing, and going on adventures. You can check out her food page (Robins Fusion).
Jennifer is a PhD candidate in the Department of Biology at IU Indianapolis. She works with Dr. Guoli Dai whose lab investigates the mechanisms governing liver regeneration. Her research focuses on the role prolactin receptor plays in transducing mitogenic signaling during liver regeneration and lipid metabolism in mice. The long-term goal of her research work is to yield insights into the role of prolactin receptor in the liver as well as the development of new therapeutic targets for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). She also serves as a teaching assistant for the Biology department and an instructor for first-year seminar. Jennifer is passionate about helping immigrant and underrepresented students, which inspired her to serve on the Underrepresented Professional and Graduate Student Organization (UPnGO) Executive Board here at IUI.