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Graduate Students
Cem Ismail Addemir
he/him/his
M.S., Illinois State University; B.A., North Central College; A.A., College of Dupage
Marxism; Media Infrastructure; Media Criticism; Photography; Middle East Studies; History of the 20th Century; Science and Technology Studies
Faculty Advisor: Peter Krapp
Anna Atkeson
they/them/she/her
M.A. Cultural Studies, Claremont Graduate University; B.A. Visual Arts, University of Chicago
Digital media, queer media and culture, internet studies, virtual spaces
Rhituparna Basu
she/her
M.F.A. Film Production, University of Texas at Austin; M.A.S. Film and Media Studies, Arizona State University
Film production as critical practice and method for connecting struggles, postcolonial studies, Africana critical theory, Black and Global South feminisms, Third Cinema, science fiction and horror, political violence on film
Brandon Blackburn
he/him/his
M.A. Visual Studies, University of California, Irvine
Depictions of monstrosity and affects of horror through the lenses of race and queerness in games and related media
Faculty Advisors: Aaron Trammell and Bo Ruberg
Changie Chang
they/them
B.A. History and Literature, Harvard University
queer theory, video games, archives, data storage, hardware, affect theory, software studies, history of computing, glitches
Faculty Advisor: Bo Ruberg
Suchen Ding
she/her/hers
M.A. Critical Asian Humanities, Duke University; B.A. Chinese Language and Literature, Wuhan University
Digital Labor, environmental media and media infrastructure, particularly within the Global South, with a specific emphasis on China. The themes of precarity and affect relating to new media technologies, and the representation of Chinese migrant workers in the smaller-screen visual practices
Faculty Advisor: Meryem Kamil
Sedef Hizlan
she/her
M.A. in Film Studies, King’s College London; B.A. in Film and Television, Kadir Has University
Transnational cinema, Yeşilçam film history and archives, female stardom and performance studies, critical film historiography, psychoanalysis and feminist film theory
Kiên Lê
he/him/his
M.A., Ohio University; B.A., Juniata College
Cinema, Infrastructure, History of Science and Technology
Faculty Advisor: Lucas Hilderbrand
Jeferson Martins
he/him/his
M.A. Film and Theater, Hanyang University; B.A. Journalism, Federal University of Juiz de Fora
Korean Cinema, Brazilian Cinema, LGBTQ+ Film Studies, Histories of Censorship, Postcolonial Studies, Queer Culture and Media
Faculty Advisor: Lucas Hilderbrand
Kate McCullion
she/her/hers
M.A. Film Studies, King’s College London; B.A. American Studies, University of Manchester
Classical Hollywood, Critical Theory, Political Economy, Film as Popular History, Visuality and Modernity, Silent Cinema and Deafness, Horror Studies
Faculty Advisor: Kristen Hatch
Edward Mendez
he/him/his
M.A. Public Engagement, University of Nevada, Reno; B.A. English, University of Nevada, Reno
Black film, critical race theory, film criticism, black radical politics, political economy
Faculty Advisor: Allison Perlman
Rodolpho Hockmuller Menezes
he/him/his
B.A. & M.Sc. in History, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Media history; history and historiography; transnational/global media and Christianity; television and film studies; political economy of media
Geo Moon
she/they
M.A. English Literature, Seoul National University; B.A. English Literature (Minor: Aesthetics), Seoul National University
Decolonial media and knowledge; Scientific diaspora; Queer temporalities, anachronism, and world-building; Genres and interfaces; Exophonic, indie, and vernacular media practices; Data/electronic colonialism; Music, sound, and synchronization technologies
Julia Nava
she/her/hers
B.A. Theory and Practice of Cinema, California State University-Long Beach
Feminist Media, Feminist Theories, Horror, Third Cinema, Latin American Cinema, Reproductive Justice
Faculty Advisor: Arcelia Gutierrez
Ari Polgar
she/her
M.A. Cinema & Media Studies, USC; B.A. Film Studies, Wesleyan University; B.A. French Studies, Wesleyan University
Interactive Media, Extended Reality, Video Games, Infrastructure, Materiality and Embodiment, Digital Media, Industry Studies, Music
Yilia (Yijia) Qu
She/her
M.A. Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University; B.A. Cinema and Media Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, Wellesley College
Queer and Feminist Studies, Game Studies, Digital Media, Media Technology, Domesticity and Domestic Labor, Smart Home Devices
Raphael Rosalen
he/him/his
M.A. Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California; B.A. Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California
Digital media, celebrity culture, internet studies, virtual experiences
Faculty Advisor: Bo Ruberg
Alexander Rudenshiold
he/him/his
M.A. Media, Culture, & Technology, University of Virginia; B.A. English, Political Science, Digital Studies, University of Mary Washington
Internet (sub)culture, podcasting, labor/left politics, (post)marxism, livestreaming, video games, gay/queer media, the end(s) of the world
Faculty Advisors: Bo Ruberg & Allison Perlman
Maya Singleton
she/her/hers
M.A. Humanities, CSU, Northridge; B.A. African American Studies: Arts and Literature, CSU, Northridge; B.A. English- Creative Writing: Poetry, CSU, Northridge
Black girlhood; Speculative fiction/horror; Black visual culture; Black popular culture; Black feminisms
Faculty Advisor: Philana Payton
Trevor Redd Smith
he/him/his
M.A. Communication, The University of Utah
Generative AI, Games Studies, Digital Media
Faculty Advisor: Peter Krapp
Brittany Turner
she/her/hers
M.F.A. Writing for the Performing Arts, University of California, Riverside; B.A. History and Literature, Harvard University
Black feminist and queer poetics; Black ontology; critical race and ethnic studies; biopolitics; performance theory; humor, satire, and stereotype; post-traumatic cinema and memory studies; media industry studies/history; Third Cinema; decolonial and participatory art practices; counter-publics; affect theory; psychoanalysis
Faculty Advisor: Philana Payton
Wendy Zhang
she/her/hers
M.A. Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Hong Kong
eco cinema, ecofeminist art, film festival studies, critical infrastructure studies, global Asias
Faculty Advisor: Catherine Liu
Contact Film and Media Studies PhD
2000 Humanities Gateway
Irvine, CA 92697
Phone: (949) 824-3532