Five sophomores have been selected for the 34th cohort of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) program. 

The MMUF program is sponsored by the Mellon Foundation and seeks to advance humanistic inquiry that broadens the understanding of society. The fellowship aims to attract scholars who can build meaningful relationships with faculty and expand their projects in the second year. Fellows who enter a PhD program in a Mellon-designated field are eligible for loan forgiveness. 

Participants work with a faculty mentor on a research project in the humanities or social sciences for two years and also collaborate with Jonathan Fenderson, the faculty director of Mellon Mays and an associate professor of African and African American Studies, and Wilmetta Toliver-Diallo, the administrative director of Mellon Mays and senior assistant dean of advising in the College of Arts & Sciences.

“As higher education undergoes a moment of transformation and instability, Mellon Mays and other programs like it become that much more important,” Fenderson said.  “MMUF is an investment in the future of the academy; it is a way to ensure that colleges and universities remain spaces that are welcoming to us all.”

The new fellows join five juniors who entered the program last year: Ariel Chavez, Ethan Crandall, Maddie Gonzalez, Jordan Kim, and Nikki Nguyen.

Meet the 2026 Mellon Mays fellows: 

Carmel Andeberhan 

Majors: Sociology, Comparative Literature & Thought
Faculty Mentor: Samuel Shearer
Project: “African Marxism: A Rethinking of Universal Modernity and Postcolonial Futures”

Andeberhan’s project examines African Marxism as both an intellectual framework and a lived political practice. Focusing on Ethiopia’s Derg regime, the research explores how postcolonial and Marxist thought shaped political and social life in newly independent African states. It also considers how Africa has been excluded from dominant narratives of modernity and what a more global understanding of modernity might look like.

Valentina Leon Vasquez

Majors: Sociology, Global Studies: International Affairs
Minor: English
Faculty Mentor: Stephanie Shady
Project: “Venezuelan Immigrants Diasporas with Peruvian Culture”

Leon Vasquez’s research explores how Venezuelan immigrants and refugees in Peru become culinary entrepreneurs. Through observations of restaurants and food stalls in Lima, the project analyzes menus, dish names, ingredients, and preparation practices. It also examines how language and presentation shape the ways Venezuelan identity is expressed, adapted, and received within Peruvian culture.

Camila Rivera

Majors: African and African American Studies, Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies
Faculty Mentor: Bronwyn Nichols-Lodato
Project: “Black Adolescent Meaning-Making: Gender and Sexual Identity Construction for Black Adolescents (12-18) Under Carceral Surveillance in Los Angeles, California”

Rivera’s project explores how Black queer adolescents understand and construct their identities under carceral surveillance. Using qualitative interviews with formerly incarcerated young adults in Los Angeles, the research takes a phenomenological approach to center lived experience. It examines how race, gender, sexuality, and incarceration intersect to shape identity formation.

Rahel Samantrai

Majors: African & African American Studies and Sociology
Faculty Mentor: Kiara Wyndham
Project: “Race, Space, and Suburban Politics: The Black Experience in Liberal Versus Conservative Communities”

Samantrai’s research examines how Black residents experience racism in predominantly white suburban communities with differing political climates. Through interviews and analysis of municipal budgets, policy documents, and public records, the project considers both overt discrimination and more subtle forms of bias. It explores how local governance and resource allocation shape everyday experiences.

Taylor Thomas

Majors: Anthropology: Global Health and the Environment, and Global Studies: Development
Faculty Mentor: Bret​ Gustafson
Project: “Blackness and the U.S. Military: Disposability and Necessity in the Nation-State”

Thomas’s project investigates the paradox of Black Americans’ military service as both necessary and disposable. Drawing on the Black Radical Tradition, the research uses ethnographic interviews and archival sources to examine how military service has been framed as a path to social mobility. It also considers how these narratives intersect with racial inequality, citizenship, and the exercise of state power.