Enkhe-Tuyaa Montgomery
Enkhe-Tuyaa Montgomery is a third-year PhD candidate in anthropology at McGill University. Her doctoral research focuses on harm reduction, Indigeneity, and belonging in so-called Vancouver, and how non-clinical harm reduction work can resist and refuse biological and medical constructions of Indigeneity in the wake of Reconciliation. This project offers an alternative to the framing of harm reduction as a public health strategy by conceptualizing it as an emergent practice for living otherwise that offers new trajectories of living and healing, particularly for Indigenous people. Tuyaa’s work draws from her years of experience in harm reduction, and from her background as a woman of mixed-race Buryat descent (one of the Indigenous peoples of Siberia).
Itzel Gallardo
Itzel Gallardo is a senior studying Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Chicanx/Latinx Studies and will be graduating this Spring from Sacramento State University. She is a Chicana, born to Mexican parents, who is interested and involved in issues faced by her community and is dedicated in applying her degree in anthropology to help uplift her community in the future. Her current research is centered around a pedagogy that cultivates cultural consciousness and critical thinking that stems from incorporating Indigenous practices and cultural healing. She aspires to continue to graduate school with an interdisciplinary approach with Cultural Anthropology and Chicanx/Latinx Studies. Currently, she is the co-chair for the M.E.Ch.A. (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanos de Aztlán) chapter in Sacramento State and worked to reinstate the club on campus last year.
Isabela Pardo
Isabela Pardo is an undergraduate student at Pomona College studying linguistics and sociology. In the summer of 2024, Isabela interned at the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research & Development Center (LRDC). She worked with Dr. Julie Fiez on a project which examined the effects of tongue twisters on the speech of cerebellar stroke patients. Isabela intends to get her PhD in sociolinguistics and possibly further her thesis work, which focuses on the linguistic interactions between transgender people in online forums.
Monika Giri
Monika Giri is a Ph.D. student in the Integrative Conservation and Anthropology program at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on the challenges and opportunities of migration and relocation as strategies for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. She is particularly interested in understanding migration decision-making and the long-term social impacts of planned relocations, focusing on communities affected by floods and sea level rise. Monika holds an M.S. in Environment Management and a B.S. in Forestry Science. She has worked on several interdisciplinary projects on climate resilience, natural infrastructure, environmental justice, and resource governance. Her academic and professional journey reflects a commitment to tackling complex environmental challenges through a unique blend of scientific research, community engagement, and policy advocacy.
Sophie Neems
Sophie Neems is a second year Sociocultural Anthropology PhD student at Arizona State University. She is interested in contributing to the complex challenge of creating a more sustainable food and agriculture system in her home state of Iowa. Her current work explores the motivations of Iowa landowners to adopt conservation easements and donate land to non-profit land trusts for the purposes of protecting land for agriculture and/or natural resource conservation. She is curious about how these decisions may be an indicator of landowners’ willingness to challenge dominant systems of private property, a major underpinning of the industrial agriculture system. She is passionate about conducting research that is both meaningful to Iowa agriculture industry stakeholders and that contributes to positive, socially just systems change.
