Students Across Campus Awarded Funding to Support Learning and Research Related to Latin America

May 11, 2017

Students Across Campus Awarded Funding to Support Learning and Research Related to Latin America

Each spring, the LAII awards a variety of funding to students across campus to support learning and research related to Latin America. This funding typically comes in the form of field research grants for graduate students; Foreign Language and A rea Studies (FLAS) Fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students; and PhD Fellowships for doctoral students. Each source of financial support recognizes meritorious students whose scholarship, research, and learning relates to Latin America or, in some cases, Iberia. Below are the students who have received awards for the coming year. Profiles of their research will be shared in the coming weeks.

Field Research Grants

The LAII, with a grant from the Tinker Foundation, provides support for graduate students in any UNM department to conduct field work in Latin America. Field Research Grants (FRGs) are meant to assist students in obtaining their first or second field research experience in Latin America.

  • Diego Bustos, Department of Spanish and Portuguese: "Variations and Empowerment of the Brazilian New Middle Class: The case of Agância de redes para a juventude in Rio de Janeiro"
  • Monica Asienco, Department of Special Education: "Level of Access to Autism Spectrum Disorder Resources and Types of Interventions in Peru"
  • Diana Chavez Vargas, Department of Architecture and Planning - Indigenous Planning: "Exploratory Study: Creating a Trans-Indigenous Zone at Pastaza, Ecuador"
  • Valerio Di Fonzo, Department of Anthropology - Ethnology: "The Role of Catholic Church in Peru: Searching for Religious Discourses in The Neoliberal Era of Lima and Cusco"
  • Emma Elliott Smith, Department of Biology: "Characterizing Energy Flow in a Marine Ecosystem in Northern Chile"
  • Kalyn Finnell, Latin American Studies and Community and Regional Planning programs: "Interpreting Gentrification: Local Understandings of Tourism-Induced Gentrification in Cuzco"
  • Pablo Lituma, Department of Architecture and Planning and Community and Regional Planning program: "An Inquiry of Modern Architectural Design Influences on Ecuador's Indigenous Communities and its Effects on Cultural Preservation"
  • Laura Steele, Department of Anthropology - Archaeology: "Spanish Colonialism and the Indigenous Argentinean Diet"
  • Zsofia Szoke, Department of Anthropology - Ethnology: "The Lithium Economy: Bolivia's 'New' Resource and Socialist Transformation in the Context of Resource Extraction History"

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships

Through support received from the US Department of Education, the LAII is able to offer academic year and summer Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships. FLAS Fellowships promote the study of less-commonly-taught languages. At The University of New Mexico, courses are available to uspport the study of K'iche' Maya, Portuguese, or Quechua.

  • José Almeida, Department of Anthropology - Quechua (Summer and AY)
  • Josue Aciego, Department of Anthropology - K'iche' Maya (AY)
  • Jennifer Arnason, Department of Spanish and Portuguese - Portuguese (Summer and AY)
  • Dunia Barahona, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences and Department of Spanish and Portuguese - Portuguese (AY)
  • Diego Bustos, Department of Spanish & Portuguese - Portuguese (Summer)
  • Chloe Courtney, Department of Art & Art History - Portuguese (Summer)
  • Kalyn Finnell, Latin American Studies and Community and Regional Planning - Quechua (Summer and AY)
  • Jessica Garcia, Department of Biology and Department of Spanish and Portuguese - Portuguese (Summer)
  • Lauri Gonzalez, Latin American Studies - Quechua (AY)
  • Sabrina Hernandez, Latin American Studies and JD - Portuguese (Summer)
  • Sarah Leiter, Department of Anthropology - Portuguese (Summer and AY)
  • Pablo Litma, Department of Architecture and Community and Regional Planning - Quechua (Summer and AY)
  • Hayley Pedrick, Latin American Studies - Portuguese (AY)

PhD Fellowships

LAII partner departments at UNM may nominate Ph.D. students whose research focuses on Latin America or Iberia. The LAII awards ten fellowships annually.

  • Carlos Carrion, Department of Biology
  • Maria del Pilar File-Muriel, Department of Anthropology
  • Maria Lopez Calleros, Department of American Studies
  • Anastasia Theodoropoulos, Department of Anthropology
  • Fiorella Vera-Adrianzen, Department of Political Science
  • Laura Powell, Department of History
  • Diego Bustos, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
  • Geneva Smith, Department of Anthropology
  • Yuliana Kenfield, Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies