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Announcing 2025 Winter/Spring CESTA Undergraduate Research Aides!

Introducing CESTA’s 2025 Winter/Spring Undergraduate Research Aides, a community of digital humanities researchers.

The Center for Textual and Spatial Analysis at Stanford runs undergraduate research programs in the winter, spring, and summer quarters. Undergraduate students contribute to faculty and academic staff-lead projects while acquiring new skills that are consolidated in workshops and activities designed for the research program. CESTA undergraduate research aids advance digital humanities research, while creating a unique community of research at Wallenberg Hall. 

Here below you can read about our current cohort of 27 undergraduate researchers, 19 working on faculty-lead digital humanities research projects and 8 assisting 13 Digital Humanities Research Scholars in their research projects. The program this year is supported by Director of the Undergraduate Research Program, Dr. Chloe Edmondson; the program graduate mentors, JJ Lugardo, PhD Candidate in Classics, and Linda Pucurimay, PhD Candidate in Materials Sciences and Engineering; and CESTA Center Manager, Eyüp Eren Yürek. Dr. Nichole Nomura, Director of the Digital Humanities Scholars Residency, is supporting the 8 undergraduate research aids specifically working on 13 scholars’ projects, as the research aids rotate projects every week, gaining experience from a wide range of projects.

We’re grateful to the many campus partners who support our research and programs, including colleagues at Stanford University Libraries and the Stanford Humanities Center.  Our Undergraduate Research Program receives generous support from a VPUE Departmental Grant. Some projects and interns at CESTA are also supported by Changing Human Experience Grants, Public Humanities Researcher Grant, departmental funds, and faculty research funds. We also thank VPUE's Academic-Residential Co-Curriculum Program and Dean's Office in the School of Humanities and Sciences for their generous support to our programming.

InternBioProject

Diya Bhattacharjee

Diya is a freshman from the Washington, D.C. area majoring in Symbolic Systems and International Relations. She is interested in exploring the legal profession and is excited to learn about legal histories at the Center for Law and History. She is a competitive squash player and debater and enjoys listening to music and trying new cuisines. Digital Legal Histories: The Case of Labor Practices in the American Theater

Serami Chang

Serami Chang is a freshman studying Mathematics and Data Science. She is particularly interested in exploring the intersection of mathematical modeling, computational analysis, and social sciences, as she aspires to address the needs of underserved communities. In her free time, Serami enjoys sports, photography, taking walks in nature, and trying new foods.Expanding English Language Arts

Jessie Dong

Jessie is a sophomore interested in computer science and public policy. She is excited to explore how technology can drive innovation in areas outside of the conventional tech space -- areas like humanities research, government, and education.

Visible Bodies

 

 

Zelig Dov

Zelig Dov is a senior majoring in History and German Studies. His academic interests include memory of the Second World War in Germany and museum studies. He worked with Professor Penn on the "Mapping the Medieval Book of Governors" project doing social network analysis of the people mentioned in the letters of Timothy I, the ninth-century patriarch of the Church of the East.Mapping the Medieval "Book of Governors"

Sonya Epifantseva

Sonya Epifantseva is passionate about exploring innovative solutions to global challenges, with experience in climate policy, sustainability advocacy, and research. She has worked on projects addressing renewable energy systems, circular economies, and climate justice, and is excited to bring her interdisciplinary approach to the SILICON project at CESTA.Advancing Digitally disadvantaged Languages with SILICON

Creagh Factor

Creagh is a sophomore who previously worked as a CESTA research intern on the Digital Ker project for Professor Elaine Treharne in Summer 2024. She is interested in computational approaches to the humanities, literature, and medieval studies and has received the Russell A. Berman Award for academic excellence in an introductory seminar and the departmental award for Comparative Literature, the Herbert Lindenberger Prize, as a freshman student. She is passionate about social impact and has worked as a Women in National Security Scholar at Stanford’s Gordian Knot Center, debated internationally as a member of Team England, and worked as a HIAS Fellow advocating for greater support for refugees and migrants. She currently serves on the student Advisory Board for Stanford's Introductory Seminars program and enjoys leading hiking and backpacking trips for the Stanford Outdoor Center.

Digital Ker

 

 

Yanny Gao

Yanny Gao (She/her) is a sophomore majoring in computer science and product design. She enjoys watching anime, writing fanfic, and talking with her stuffed animal.  Oral History Text Analysis Project

Jennifer Hao

Jennifer is an international student from Australia studying Computer Science and Comparative Literature. Her research interests include AI and digital humanities. In her free time, she enjoys learning new languages, creative writing, and traveling.Feminist Textual Materialities

Elanu Karakus

Elanu is a freshman interested in computer science. She is passionate about using computational techniques to explore cultural, social, and historical phenomena. Previously, she worked on using deep learning models to detect fake news circulation and astroturfing online to prevent misinformation, where she developed a further interest in using technology for social impact.Early Cape Travelers

Austin Kim

Austin Kim is a sophomore studying Civil/Environmental Engineering and Computer Science, interested in leveraging smart city technology and renewable energy to enhance the built environment. While at Stanford, Austin is exploring his interests through computer integrated architecture/engineering/construction, drawing from fields including computer vision, computer-aided design (CAD), and building information modeling (BIM). He's very excited to 3D model from a humanistic design perspective in the Reimagining Royal Spaces project! Austin also enjoys pen/ink illustration, archery, and catching up on the latest Korean TV dramas!  Reimagining Royal Space

Adan Marquez

My name is Adan Marquez (he/él), I’m a senior studying Iberian and Latin American Cultures and Science, Technology, and Society. I’m writing a thesis on the representation and cultural preservation of ethnomedicine in Indigenous poetry, focusing on the role of older women as articulators and preservers of this knowledge. Beyond that, I’m very interested in the relationship between humans and spaces in rural communities, specifically the meaning of spaces as archives and spaces of resistance. How do people define what to use a space for? One of my dream projects is to create a heat map of gossip in my community, Tepatlaxco, Puebla Mexico. In my free time, I write and read poetry, jot down every silly thought I have, and theorize about them.The Spatial Narratives Project

Rohan Parekh

Rohan Parekh (he/him) is a junior majoring in Computer Science and specializing in systems programming. He's interested in applying computational analysis to both traditional and non-traditional literature, finding the ways they differ, and telling stories with data. In his free time, he enjoys Dungeons and Dragons, reading sci-fi/fantasy novels, and baking.

Literary Lab Projects

 

Daniel Patrick

Daniel Patrick is a sophomore studying international relations with a special interest in French language and culture. During the summer of 2023 Daniel will be helping Prof. Richard Roberts with the Senegalese Slave Liberations Project. Senegal Liberations Project

Crystal Peng

Crystal Peng is a second-year majoring in Data Science and Social Systems and English. She is passionate about the intersection between literature, data, and education, and has contributed to research projects under the Department of Art and Art History as well as the Centre for African Studies. Digital Accessibility for Blind Scholars of Antiquity

Erick Ramirez

Erick Angelo Ramirez is a senior majoring in Computer Science, minoring in Biology, and pursuing an interdisciplinary honors thesis in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Erick is building on previous efforts to enhance the Syriac Vocabulary Tutorial Project in collaboration with Professor Michael Penn. By incorporating innovative gamification techniques, Erick is developing an improved prototype to provide a more interactive and engaging way of learning the Syriac language.Syriac Vocabulary Tutorial Project

Germaine Soliman

Germaine is a sophomore majoring in History. She is excited to continue contributing to Professor Barakat's OpenGulf project, where she works with an extensive British gazetteer containing over 20,000 unique named locations to publish open historical datasets. She is passionate about historical preservation, cultural ownership, and coffee!OpenGulf

Claudia Sung

Claudia Sung is a junior studying history, Asian-American studies, education, and psychology. She is excited to be involved with the Mapping Nova York project led by Professor Pedro Regalado this year. Outside of CESTA, she is involved in the Stanford Decarceration Collective and the Stanford International Affairs Society.Mapping Nueva York

Undergraduate Research Aids Working with DH Research Scholars

InternBio

Avelyn Batts

Avelyn Batts (she/they) is a 2nd-year undergraduate majoring in International Relations and Slavic Studies. She is passionate about Russian culture & politics, climate & the clean energy transition, and environmental justice. Outside CESTA, you will find them bouldering, social dancing, hiking, and crafting!

Ritu Belani

As a freshman in Chicana/o-Latina/o and Islamic Studies, Ritu is excited to leverage digital humanities to build bridges of cultural understanding. Her past research ranges from an exploration of the history of humor in Islam to NLP analysis of Spanish-English code-switching. By day, Ritu is a student, and by night, she is an internationally performing stand-up comedian.

Ami Dongchau

Ami Dongchau is majoring in Art History and Art Practice with a minor in Translation Studies. Her focus is on how Asian art and its visual vocabulary has evolved over time through interactions with international trade and its representation in cultural institutions.

Manasi Garg

Manasi is an undergraduate studying Symbolic Systems with a concentration in Neuroscience. She is interested in utilising research, and policy to improve mental healthcare for marginalised communities. She is also passionate about creative writing and the arts, and excited to explore the digital humanities. In 2020, she was appointed a National Student Poet by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. 

Cayleigh Haag

Cayleigh Haag is an undergraduate student at Stanford University studying computer science and mathematics. She is passionate about creating technology to help underserved communities. In her free time Cayleigh enjoys running, traveling, and reading. 

Ian Partman

Ian Partman is an interdisciplinary student, researcher, and artist pursuing a bachelor's degree in English (with honors), and a coterminal master's degree in Modern Thought and Literature, through which they study the entanglements between contemporary literary production, global histories of slavery and colonialism, and their attendant legal infrastructures. Ian is passionate about leveraging humanistic research — and the public humanities broadly — to challenge and inform ongoing legal struggles for global racial justice. In their free time, they enjoy writing, listening to music, cooking for friends, and amateur boxing. 

Carter Sun

Carter is a senior studying Science, Technology, and Society (concentrating in the Social Dynamics of Data and Information) and Economics, with an interest in the intersections of STEM and the humanities. Outside of CESTA, Carter can be found playing volleyball on the Men’s Club Volleyball Team, or as a BOSP ambassador for the Istanbul program.  

Ellen Yang

Ellen Yang is a senior at Stanford University majoring in English and Linguistics with a focus on language, culture, and social behaviors across digital and print mediums. Her research explores topics ranging from the creative evolution of punctuation in internet forums to the stylistic and narrative dynamics of dialogue in contemporary fiction. Ellen leverages her academic work to produce public critical essays, published weekly on her blog, New Material Girl (https://www.newmaterialgirl.com). She has previously led marketing at various AI companies. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring new places.