Undergraduate Research Assistant (URA) Program Cohorts

Our Asian American Communities Research Program pairs undergraduate students with a faculty mentor. Learn more about the URA student projects below. Visit this page to learn more about the program.

URA Summer 2022 Cohort

Sanjida Afrin

I am a second generation Bangladeshi American and a sophomore at Hunter majoring in Psychology. I am interested in researching Asian American communities and cultures. Outside of school, I enjoy being a mentor for high school students and watching different content from all over Asia.

Project Description: Over the summer I read a lot of research regarding South Asian American Female College Students because of a future project my team will conduct on South Asian American Commuter college students. My project synthesizes the major themes regarding the mental health stressors of South Asian American Female College Students and hopefully by shining a light on these issues, there will be culturally adequate resources available for this vulnerable community.

Faculty Mentor: Marcia Liu

Paige Beaucant

Paige Beaucant is a French-Mexican American and first-generation senior at Hunter majoring in Psychology. She decided to participate in HCAP’s Undergraduate Research Assistant Program to expand her research skills and learn more about Asian American communities. Her participation in this program allowed her to experience collaborative research focusing on underrepresented populations experiencing labor trafficking. Paige plans to pursue graduate school to become a clinical psychologist helping individuals struggling with mental illness. Aside from school, Paige loves taking long walks and spending time with family.

Project Description: I researched the migration patterns and possible labor trafficking of Filipino healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic with community partner Mission to End Modern Slavery (MEMS). New York State’s Governor Kathy Hochul’s suggestion to recruit and temporarily use healthcare workers from abroad to supplement gaps left by healthcare workers refusing to adhere to New York State’s vaccine mandate prompted this research into migration trends of healthcare workers into the United States. To investigate this we used published data from databases and online libraries to acquire knowledge on what information was available to the public and to potentially identify themes among the data.

Faculty Mentor: Jackelyn Mariano

Tahrima Chowdhury

Tahrima Chowdhury is a Bengali American from Bronx, NY. She is part of the Macaulay Honor College’s Class of 2023. She is majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Behavioral Neuroscience, and is minoring in Sociology. In the future, she is interested in obtaining a doctorate and becoming a clinical neuropsychologist. In her free time she enjoys baking and hanging out with friends.

Project description: I worked with Dr. Marcia Liu and Sanjida Afrin to begin the process of creating a study to explore the unique mental health factors that affect South Asian American commuter college students. I completed a literature review to explore these factors as a part of the process. There were no existing studies that focused on this population. Therefore, the literature review focuses on related populations: South Asian American college students, Asian American youth, and commuter college students.

Faculty Mentor: Marcia Liu

Samuel Dilawari

Samuel Dilawari is a senior majoring in Neuroscience. After completing his degree he decided to pursue nutrition and is currently striving to become a registered dietitian. Samuel believes that by focusing on nutrition individuals can prevent many diseases and ailments that arise throughout life. He created the Mission Nutrition Club at Hunter College because he wanted to use nutrition to create a sense of community among students and have important and fun discussions relating to food. After becoming a dietitian, Samuel plans to pursue research to better understand the relationship between food’s effects on our brains.

Project Description: My project focused on diabetes prevention in a Chinese American population. Participants documented their meals over 16 consecutive weeks and then received an intervention on methods to improve their eating habits. Following the intervention participants would continue to document for 6 months. We would analyze the participants’ ability to incorporate our suggestions into their eating habits.

Faculty Mentors: Ming-Chin Yeh and Wincy Lau

Nicole Hsu

Nicole Hsu is currently a senior at Hunter, majoring in Nursing and minoring in Psychology. She is a member of the Nursing Scholars cohort at Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing and a Scholar Peer Leader. Nicole is an SRA at the Brookdale campus dorms and is also part of the Nursing Student Press and the HBSNA. Beyond her undergraduate studies Nicole plans to attend graduate school and eventually become a nurse practitioner or a nurse anesthetist. In her free time Nicole likes to bake, cook, and post food pictures on her Instagram.

Project Description: Due to the nature of their occupation and their environment, nail salon workers are at risk for a variety of health effects. This project was done to compile evidence of health effects that nail salon workers may face in their occupation. A list of cosmetic salons and manicurists in New Jersey, and cosmetic salons in New York were categorized under each county based on zip code. They were then screened based on inclusion and exclusion criterias to determine whether they included nail services. The list was then finalized and organized into a mailing list. A survey via Qualtrics in English, Korean, and Chinese will be sent to the email addresses/business addresses of the nail salons/manicurists to determine health effects from working in nail salons. The data will be compiled and organized from the responses. Afterwards, we will move forward to improve air quality in nail salons and improve safety and health of nail salon workers.

Faculty Mentor: Jin Young Seo

Ishrat Jahan

Ishrat Jahan is a Thomas Hunter Honors student pursuing a major in Human Biology and a certificate in Business. She is interested in bettering underserved communities through an understanding of public health and economic analysis. This past summer she interned with Accenture, an information technology services and consulting firm, on an energy related project. Ishrat is also a Grove Fellow, JFEW Fellow, and Cooperman Fellow at Hunter College. This semester she is a CUNY Climate Scholar and is working in a research lab to implement climate tracking devices in at-risk areas. She hopes to contribute to work at the intersection of public health, policy, and business.

Project Description: Research on health in Asian American populations often invokes culture as an explanation for variance in health outcomes or utilization of care. Some researchers have suggested that there may be an overreliance on cultural explanations; however they do not reference research that provides quantification of this possible overreliance in the context of research trends with other populations. Our research contributes to this discourse by quantifying the association between “Asian American” and “culture” indexing terms in the literature in MEDLINE indexed with either the “health status disparities” or “health care disparities” Medical Subject Terms.

Faculty Mentor: John Pell

Nusrat Jahan

Nusrat Jahan is a Psychology major student interested in pursuing a career in medicine. As a future physician she hopes to work with children and women in low socioeconomic communities as a pediatrician or OBGYN. She currently works as a Pharmacy Technician to gain experience in healthcare and hopes to continue building clinical and research experience as a Pre-Health student. Outside of school she spends her time reading and trying to teach her cat and dog tricks.

Project Description: This study evaluated the experiences of South Asian American children and their experience with remote learning during the pandemic to spotlight issues that may affect them as they navigate education and adolescence in a post-pandemic America. Five South Asian American children living and attending public school in a low-income neighborhood participated in an hour-long semi-structured focus group interview that began with a drawing exercise. Through thematic analysis of the drawings and interview some of the following themes were further investigated: change in perspectives about school, desire for social interactions, and increased technology use in daily life. An understanding of these issues provides parents, guardians, and educators guidance on the ways they can aid youth in managing the psychosocial consequences of the pandemic.

Faculty Mentor: Debbie Sonu

Agnes Li

I am a senior majoring in Nutrition and minoring in Asian American studies and Chinese. Outside of school I am an after-school teacher at Apex for Youth, which is a non-profit organization that works to empower underserved Asian and immigrant youth in NYC. In my free time I enjoy making art and hanging out with my cat.

Project Description: My project titled “Lunar New Year Through Generations,” is a website showcasing three poems I wrote, each accompanied with drawings. These poems are written from the perspective of my grandma, my mom, and me and they explore the cultural aspects of the Lunar New Year and how they evolve throughout the generations.

Faculty Mentor: Christopher Lin

Jordan See

Jordan See is a senior at Hunter, majoring in Clinical Psychology. His honors thesis deals with issues within the Asian American community and the idea of acculturation being linked with self-worth. He is a blogger for psychology news and has an interest in sharing ideas found in complex research articles and simplifying it for a general audience. In his free time you can find him listening to Taylor Swift or playing games.

Project Description: For my project I wrote a feature article that discusses the problem of the model minority myth and how it affects Asian Americans. I hope that by sharing my story it can help others going through the same issues. By sharing my own story I hope others can find solace in the fact that they are not dealing with this issue alone.

Faculty Mentor: Yang Hu

Chestine Elizia Tomas

Chestine Elizia Tomas is a senior at Hunter majoring in Nursing, and minoring in Chinese and Asian American studies. She is a member of the Nursing Scholars and a Scholar Peer Leader. She has been an RA for Brookdale dorms for the past year and will be serving as a Senior RA this year, as well as the Director of Professional Development at HBSNA. Chestine is unsure of what branch of nursing she wants to do in the future, but she hopes to pursue a master’s degree as either a nurse anesthetist or nurse practitioner. Besides studying for nursing, Chestine likes to bake, do ceramics, draw, and play video games.

Faculty Mentor: Jin Young Seo

Ying Wang

I am a Chinese immigrant living in Brooklyn, NY. I am majoring in Social Studies Education with a minor in Theater. I am interested in any religious and historical documentary. Indulging myself in documentary watching is the best quality time I can ever ask for. My interest for theater comes from my childhood memory where I enjoyed watching theatrical performances with my grandparents.

Project Description: My project with Professor Dongshin Chang was to explore a way to positively represent the AAPI community to broader audiences. We have decided to choose theater as an example for cross-cultural communication. Kunqu
is one of the oldest theater forms from China; it consists of literacy, music, history, aesthetic, etc. We hope to take this opportunity to publicize AAPI community culture because it lacks the attention it deserves.

Faculty Mentor: Dongshin Chang

URA Summer 2021 Cohort

Noor Ali

Noor is a Pakistani American. She is double majoring in Chinese and Psychology with a minor in Asian American studies. She is currently a senior. Noor enjoys research and volunteering, being an active member of the National Asian American Pacific Islanders Women’s Forum. She is also active at Hunter College, as a peer mentor in the Hunter Transfer Pipeline Program.

Project Description: The LGBTQ AAPI community is often overlooked, and their needs marginalized. They suffer from invisibility, isolation and stereotyping. While there has been a fair share of news or scholarly articles, the literature is either too current or too academic for typical readers. Through the gathering of this research we hoped to assist Dr. Magpantay brings light to the issues, history, troubles, and success of the LGBTQ AAPI community.

Devashish Basnet

Devashish (Dave) Basnet ’22 is a Jeanette K. Watson Fellow, Eva Kastan Grove Fellow, Mellon Public Humanities Scholar, Roosevelt Scholar, Phyllis L. Kossoff & Thomas Hunter Scholar who grew up in Nepal. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with minors in public policy, human rights, and Asian-American Studies at Hunter College in New York City. Devashish has worked in the non-profit and policymaking sector, specifically working towards migrant and vulnerable refugee protection policy with the International Rescue Committee in New York and Arizona, and currently serves as a lead student organizer for the Student/Farmworker Alliance. After serving as a Human Rights Legal Fellow at Justice Centre Hong Kong, a policy and legal services-oriented organization serving asylum-seekers and broader migration policy implementation throughout Asia, Devashish has joined the renowned Fund for Peace, a cutting-edge think tank in Washington D.C. researching nation-state fragility, forced displacement and electoral crises, and is currently supporting unaccompanied minors and deportation defense in Texas with RAICES. At Hunter, Devashish serves on the Roosevelt House Student Advisory Board, sits on the University Student Senate (USS) and serves as the current President of the Hunter Undergraduate Student Government.

Project Description: My HCAP project titled “Beyond the Himalayas” is a multi-media narrative piece and personal oral history website that contains a series of interviews, images, art scans, and maps to capture what it means to be a Himalayan Sherpa beyond Nepal. Asian American communities in the United States are a mosaic of migration journeys that force many to transplant culture, heritage, identity, and belonging. This site explores how the Himalayan Sherpa community in Woodside, Queens engaged with transplanting their culture and preserving their cultural identity.

Michelle Chen

Michelle is a senior graduating in Fall 2021. She is part of the Muse Honors Scholar Program and Thomas Hunter Honors Program. Michelle is a Psychology major with double minors in Asian American Studies and Media Studies. Alongside the HCAP URA project, she is working on her honors research thesis, which investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the academic self-efficacy, college adjustment, and perceived social support of first-generation and non-first-generation college students. Post-graduation, she plans to attend graduate school and hopes to work as a mental health practitioner in the future.

Project Description: This project is a systematic review of literature on substance use prevention programs for Asian American adolescents. We utilized the systematic review management system Covidence to filter and determine determining relevant articles for our study. A PRISMA flowchart illustrates the different phases of the literature review process. A total of 12 articles representing nine unique prevention programs were identified, which suggests the need for more research on the topic of Asian American adolescent substance use prevention.

Qianbing Chen

Qianbing is a Statistics major with a double minor in Mathematics and Classica Studies. She grew up in Brooklyn and lives in Dyker Heights. Her favorite color is green. She is a foodie. She wants to travel around the world in the future.

Project Description: Our research group made a podcast for the project. The podcast is composed of interviews that we have conducted with 8 Hunter College students who have taken at least one Asian American course at the institution. The podcast talks about how having taken Asian American course has impacted one’s view about Asian Americans.

Rochelle Chin

Rochelle Chin is currently a rising junior in the Class of 2023’s Nursing Honors Scholars Program. Rochelle grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Bishop Kearney High School with an Advanced Regents Diploma with Honors as salutatorian and an AP Scholar with Distinction. Now at Hunter, she has been a member of the Hunter Upstanders Program, HBSON Nursing Students’ Press, Scholar Peer Leaders, Project Sunshine, and Pilipinos of Hunter. She has recently begun working at Thursday’s Child, an early intervention program for preschool age children diagnosed with Autism. Rochelle is thrilled to earn her nursing degree and hopes to pursue a career in pediatrics, midwifery, neonatal nursing, or home care.

Project Description: Our goal is to collect the history/ herstory/ theirstory of the Asian American LGBTQ community over the past twenty five years. Our research consists of reading and writing literature reviews, creating timelines and lists of notable leaders, and conducting interviews with key LGBTQ AAPI leaders, activists, and elders. This work will critically contribute to Glenn Magpantay’s book project, which aims to provide a comprehensive, easy to understand history of the struggles by LGBTQ AAPIs to build community and movement for social change.

Sharlene Daba-ay

Sharlene Daba-ay is a Bronx native and Filipino American student who is majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Asian American Studies. She is interested in the intersections of public health, research, and advocacy. In her free time, she loves to play video games or binge watch shows.

Project Description: There have been several studies on the concept of colonial mentality. Among these studies, the definition of this concept is not consistent. Through my student led project, I examined previous works and conducted interviews with Filipinx Americans on what it means to have a colonial mentality and how it affects the Filipinx American experience.

Daniel Iskhakov

Daniel Iskhakov is a junior majoring in political science and biology and minoring in public policy and Jewish Studies. He is a student athlete on the Men’s Cross Country and Track and Field teams at Hunter and works as a PCA at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

Project Description: The project was a literature review of how Asian Americans are affected by biases in healthcare diagnosis. It is part of a broader scoping review by Beatrice Krauss on cognitive biases in diagnosis. The articles in this project underwent title/abstract and full text screening prior to analysis.

Bomi Kim

Bomi Kim is a senior at Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing and part of the Class of 2022. She is also a member of the Nursing Honors Scholar Program. Bomi comes from a Korean immigrant family and grew up in Queens. Beyond graduation, she plans to work as an RN and possibly go back to school to become a nurse practitioner. In her spare time, Bomi enjoys walking her dog, listening to music, and watching K-dramas.

Project Description: The project is about breast cancer education for Asian women in the U.S., and specifically focuses on the effectiveness of breast cancer education on increasing mammography uptake. Through a literature review, relevant research articles were extracted and summarized. The findings were then compared to an ongoing breast cancer educational program for Korean American women.

Karen Lai

I am a Vietnamese-American student from Brooklyn, NY. I am also a junior at Hunter College majoring in Human Biology. Outside of school, I work with neurodiverse individuals and support them in achieving greater levels of independence at CAY Community Services. I decided to participate in the HCAP Summer Research Program to learn more about the Asian-American community by exploring difficult topics such as migration and its effects on the psyche. Since I aspire to be a Physician Assistant, this program has helped me to expand my humanity as I hope to help close the cultural gap between physicians and Asian patients in the future. And when I am not studying organic chemistry, I like to run and create art!

Project Description: “Xin Đừng Quên Nước (Please Don’t Forget Water/Country/Nation)” displays the psychological legacies of Vietnamese-American refugees post-Vietnam War while highlighting their resilience. Following the Fall of Saigon in 1975, about 800,000 Vietnamese people attempted to flee political oppression, poverty, and war by sea in small boats. Unfortunately, many drowned or were captured, raped, or killed by pirates. Through animation and poetry, Karen Lai celebrates the strength of the Vietnamese-American community through the metaphor of bones of birds and wings of butterflies. She also honors the countless refugees who lost their lives during the migration with the animation in the center, which depicts a Vietnamese woman who is in water forever.

Jingqi Liang

I am a clinical psychology major with a minor in sociology. I plan to go to graduate school when I finish college, so I was so happy when I was able to participate in this HCAP program. This program provided me with the basics and fundamentals that would prepare me for future research. Even better, HCAP has allowed me to do research within my own community. Aside from my school life and this program, I am working as a behavior technician, teaching ABA to children with autism. When I am not working or studying, I spend most of my time sleeping or playing video games.

Project Description: This research project explored the topic of Asian American substance use prevention programs. After an initial search, researchers found that there were very little articles that address this topic. To gather more information on the subject, a systematic review was proposed. Within the two months that researchers worked on this project, a search string was developed with the help of a librarian, over 600 articles were reviewed on covidence by researchers, a PRISMA flowchart and data spreadsheet was created and an abstract and methodology were written. The abstract is the main finishing product that was submitted to an abstract conference.

Brittany Moreno

Brittany Moreno is a Chinese-Mexican American and first-generation college student. She is a senior majoring in psychology with minors in sociology and Asian-American studies. During her time at Hunter, she has developed a greater interest in the issues that affect Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and plans to continue working with these communities after graduation. In addition to being a research assistant, Brittany is a peer mentor who supports transfer students in navigating their Hunter experience. Outside of school, she likes spending time with her loved ones, writing, and exploring the city.

Project Description: The Seen, Heard, and Found podcast is a collection of interviews detailing the experiences of Hunter students who have taken Asian American Studies. We conducted eight interviews to learn more about how these courses have impacted them. From the interviews, we have seen students’ growth, heard their stories, and they found power in their identities.

Rudra Pandya

I am and immigrant from India and proud to be a member of the HCAP Team. I am a Senior at Hunter College majoring in Psychology. I work as a Pharmacy Technician and have been for the past 3 years. What interests me most about psychology is the complexity of the human mind and how everyone’s cognition, although consists of similarities, is ultimately different. I aspire to be a psychiatrist some day in the near future. When I’m not in school, at work or conducting research, my fun time consists of sports, television and admiring the beauty of nature.

Project Description: My project with Professor Pell, Dr. Krauss and Daniel was to research cognitive bias in modern North American healthcare diagnosis. We conducted literature reviews to find corresponding research that met our criteria. We are currently still working on finishing our final project where we explore different cases of cognitive bias and how it impacted diagnosis and treatment plans.

Rachel Tieu

Rachel Tieu is a senior majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Mathematics and Asian American studies. She is passionate about using technology for social good and hopes to make an impact in her local community. Rachel wants to use technology to amplify the voices of those that are underrepresented. She is currently volunteering to bring computer science programs to underserved schools. In her free time, she enjoys photography, journaling, and listening to music.