Social Sciences Research Pathways
Social Sciences Research Pathways (SSRP) is a yearlong paid research development program that connects undergraduate students with graduate student mentors pursuing masters or doctoral-level research.
Through the SSRP program, undergraduate mentees develop fundamental research skills and receive meaningful mentorship from graduate researchers to prepare them for future scholarly pursuits. In turn, graduate student mentors gain experience leading a research team and the conscientious support of undergraduate mentees for their research projects. IRLE also provides participants with training in basic research methods and data visualization.
For their participation in SSRP, graduate student mentors will receive a $1,000 stipend (two $500 stipends), and undergraduate mentees will receive a $2,000 stipend (two $1,000 stipends, one per semester).
The program aims to attract students from all backgrounds, and provide meaningful, hands-on social sciences research experience.
The 2022-2023 SSRP application period is now closed for this year. Check back in Spring 2023 for application details.
Questions? Email irle@berkeley.edu.
How It Works
- Graduate students interested in mentoring should submit an application describing their research project and research support needs by September 6, 2022.
- Selected mentors will be notified in September 20, 2022.
- SSRP matches mentors and mentees into research teams based on research interest, background, and availability.
- Research teams will attend a SSRP program orientation.
- Mentors are responsible for overseeing their mentees’ work output, but are encouraged to seek out support from the SSRP and IRLE staff, who are available to provide training and orientation as necessary.
- As the departmental home for SSRP, the IRLE manages all logistics and administrative aspects of the program.
- Groups are welcome to utilize IRLE meeting space.
- Interested undergraduate students should submit a mentee application by September 6, 2022.
- Selected mentees will be notified in September 20, 2022.
- SSRP matches mentors and mentees into research teams based on research interest, background, and availability.
- Research teams will attend a SSRP program orientation.
- Mentees are expected to dedicate 3-5 hours of research time to the projects they support each week, in coordination with their mentor.
- More detailed expectations are outlined below.
Research and Mentorship Expectations
Time commitment
- 2-3 hours a week: mentorship, communication, consistent weekly/bi-weekly meetings, regular research training/check-ins
- 25 weeks (whole academic year)
Work commitment
- Provide ongoing research training, including practical methodological training, research process from start to end, and everything in between
- Provide academic and professional mentorship
Value commitment
- Letters of Recommendation, or reference to faculty members
- Graduate school applications support
- Guidance with independent research and/or senior theses
Time commitment
- 2-3 hours a week: mentorship, communication, consistent weekly/bi-weekly meetings, regular research training/check-ins
- 25 weeks (whole academic year)
Work commitment
- Provide ongoing research training, including practical methodological training, research process from start to end, and everything in between
- Provide academic and professional mentorship
Value commitment
- Letters of Recommendation, or reference to faculty members
- Graduate school applications support
- Guidance with independent research and/or senior theses
Research outputs
- All research teams (graduate and undergraduate students) involved in this research program will contribute at least one student-led research output such as a policy brief, fact sheet, report, or chartbook to IRLE’s Student Publication Series throughout the academic year.
Check-ins
- Teams will also participate in check-ins with SSRP program staff throughout the year to assess progress and identify additional areas of support.
Program Evaluation
- Research teams may be asked to complete a program evaluation survey.
“I love my research team and it has really helped me adjust to the research world and Berkeley. Having a grad student I feel comfortable talking with is so helpful.”
2021-2022 Undergraduate Research Mentee
Current and Past Cohorts
The Duality of Prison Technology
Mentor: Maria Smith (Sociology)
Mentees: Graciela Serratos and Nouhamin Leoulekal
The End of Language Barriers: Speculative Technology and the Imagination of a Seamless Communicative Future
Mentor: Skyler Wang (Sociology)
Mentees: Danielle Leard
Examining Social Inclusion in the Tax-Based Welfare System
Mentor: Carmen Brick (Sociology)
Mentee: Maya Diaz
Spiritual Ontology and Political Liberation: Muslim Marxist Movements in Late Twentieth Century Pakistan
Mentor: Sarah Merchant (Sociology)
Mentees: Meena Ruqaiya
Ethnic Mobility
Mentor: Enrique Valencia Lopez (Education)
Mentees: Jazmin Aurora de Luna and Maria Dominguez
Protesting Austerity and Authoritarianism in the 21st Century: Greece and Turkey after the 2008 Crisis
Mentor: Eylem Taylan (Sociology)
Mentees: Asha Pruitt and Laila Reshad
Understanding Problem-Solving and Collective Agency for a Special Education Administrative Team (tentative title)
Mentor: Corrine Aramburo (Education)
Mentees: Pei Yi Tam Peng and Estrella Casas Saldana
Employee Activism: Worker Power and the Contestation of Capitalism
Mentor: Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya (Sociology)
Mentees: Izza Ahmed, Nicolas Fischer-Barcelo, Iliana Gonzalez, Syed Moiz Rauf, and Olivia Olmedo
Co-Construction of Gender and Autism in Scientific Discourse
Mentor: Emily Ruppel (Sociology)
Mentee: Alexandra Ward, Christian Burke, and Genevieve Bellavance
Languaging “To Be” Neoliberal: Understanding the Ideological Practices of the Naturalization Process
Mentor:: Karen Villegas (Education)
Mentees: Natalie Fierro, Emely Martinez Ramirez, and Selina Pacheco
New Teacher Racial Equity Learning
Mentor: Joy Esboldt (Education)
Mentee: Guadalupe Ayala, Julyssa Palacios Pizano, and Chloe Roesslein
The Politics of “Critical Race Theory”
Mentor: Tyler Leeds (Sociology)
Mentee: Wendy Aparicio and Leonardo Gonzalez
Large Scale Infrastructure Projects in American Economic and Political Development: The Case of the First Transcontinental Railroad
Mentor: Mary Shi (Sociology)
Mentees: Brayan Ramos and Luis Ramirez
The Demise of Urban Renewal and the Invention of Land Banking
Mentor: Allen Wright (Sociology)
Mentees: Maya Sapienza and Anthony Mondragon
Flood Shocks and Labor Reallocation: Evidence from Nigeria
Mentor: Pierre Biscaye (Agricultural and Resource Economics)
Mentees: Ilyne Castellanos
A Community-Based Design and Ethnographic Research Study of a Mam Language Learning across the United States and Guatemala
Mentor: Cristina Méndez (Education)
Mentee: Sarah Orozco and Norma Garcia
Immigration Courts & Bureaucracy
Mentor: Zabdi Salazar (Jurisprudence and Social Policy)
Mentees: Daniela Franco
Patterns in Stillbirth and Its Measurement in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Mentor: Payal Hathi (Sociology and Demography)
Mentees: Kimberly Lee and Prajwala Maharjan
Challenging Mass Immigration Detention: Race, Class, and Collective Action
Mentor: Douglas Epps (Social Welfare)
Mentees: Leslie Luis, Dani Plascencia Delgado, and Alondra Avila
Corporate Ownership of Residential Housing; Commercial Landlords
Mentor: Konhee Chang (Haas)
Mentee: Yeun Lee and David Cao
City Magick: Reentry, Security, and Urban Disorder in San Francisco
Mentor: Xavier Durham (Sociology)
Mentees: Eduardo Ayala, Adrian Caceres, and Alonzo Harvey
Corporate Political Contributions and Government Subsidies to Firms: Quid Pro Quo Exchange?
Mentor: Ming-yen Ho (Haas and Political Economy)
Mentees: Anna Diaz and Aaron Oculto
Nonprofits and Inequality in America
Mentor: Isaac Dalke (Sociology)
Mentees: Ashley Osorio and Alejandra Aguilar Arce
Corruption in Collusion: Evidence from China
Mentor: Qianmiao Chen (Agricultural and Resource Economics)
Mentees: Yuning Xue and Tiffany Liu
Determinants of State Level Renewable Energy Infrastructure Investment in the US
Mentor: Irem Inal (Sociology)
Mentees: Ke Hu and Iliana Lazaro
Immaculate Re-Conception: Redefining Health and Reproductive Risk Using Prenatal Genetic Testing
Mentor: Meghna Mukherjee (Sociology)
Mentees: Karen Tirado and Elizabeth Brown
Good Fire the Land Needs: Prescribed Burning in Northern California
Mentor: Ghaleb Attrache (Sociology)
Mentees: Fiza Mehmood and Reuben Rodriguez
New Agriculture Frontiers: Land, Labor, and Sovereignty in the Northwest Territories, Canada
Mentor: Mindy Price (ESPM)
Mentees: Kathia Lara and Naz Alexa Bautista
How do voters respond to campaign finance information? Experimental evidence from Taiwan
Mentor: Chi Man Cheung (Agricultural and Resource Economics)
Mentee: Han Tseng
Black Tech Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and Atlanta
Mentor: Alicia Sheares (Sociology)
Mentees: Nyla Williams and Katherin Velazquez
From ‘Computer Bums’ to Competitive Athletes: Cultivation of the Gaming Habitus and Institutionalization of Collegiate Esports in Contemporary Digitality
Mentor: Khoi Quach (Sociology)
Mentee: Zoe Anderson, Wilson La, and Melinda Zou
Learning Customer Heterogeneity from Aggregate-Response Online Experiments
Mentor: Mengyao Huang (Haas)
Mentees: Atharva Gupta and Grace Judge
What Triggers the Cops?: Campaign Contributions and Law Enforcement Labor Organizations
Mentor: Rebekah Jones (Political Science)
Mentees: Nigel Hawkins and Naz Shakur
Investigating Educational Leadership: Principal Support and Supervision of Special Education Teachers & Do or Die: How Special Education Administrators Problem Solve
Mentor: Corrine Aramburo (Education)
Mentees: Mayra Herrera, Aisvarja (Aisha) Eassey, and Tingyue Cui
Getting into the Club: The Social and Symbolic Dimensions of the Film Industry
Mentor: Jenae Carpenter (Sociology)
Mentees: Keziah Aurin, Keziah Aurin, and Vivian Ramirez Rodriguez
Geographic and Historical Variation in Labor Market Structures and Consequences for Inequality
Mentor: Joshua Choper (Sociology)
Mentee: Jaeyeon Bae
Antiblackness and Pro-Black Social Action at UC Berkeley
Mentor: Caleb Dawson (Education)
Mentees: Tya Valentine, Tatiana Butte, and Artemio A. Reyes Orta
New Teacher (Racial) Equity Learning
Mentor: Joy Esboldt (Education)
Mentees: Julyssa Palacios Pizano and Chloe Roesslein
Unruly Categories: Transnational Circulation of “Transgender”
Mentor: Tara Gonsalves (Sociology)
Mentees: Allie Giang and Ana Giulia Serra-Lazaro
Gut Knowing and Panza Awareness: Bridging the Mind and Body Divide Using Community Approaches to Knowledge Production about Cultural Concepts of Distress
Mentor: Sonia Cristina Hart Suarez (Ethnic Studies)
Mentees: Elle Henry and Julia Maloney
Corrupting the Conscience: The Congressional Black Caucus and Constraints of Black Politics
Mentor: Christian Hosam (Political Science)
Mentees: Giancarlo Fernandez and James Reyna
The Struggle to Define Justice: Community Organizing in the Criminal Courts
Mentor: Cathy Hu (Sociology)
Mentee: Tanya Decendario
High-Tech Environmental Fix: Economic Growth and Ecological Sustainability in the Taiwanese Semiconductor Industry
Mentor:: Janna Huang (Sociology)
Mentees:: Lucius Wu and Ahllain Santos
Making Race Count: Data Disaggregation and Racialization on the Ground
Mentor: Jessica Law (Sociology)
Mentee: Samantha Aguila
A Public Idea on TV: The 1619 Project Debate
Mentor: Tyler Leeds (Sociology)
Mentee: Jaime Mendoza
The Social and Cultural Tensions in Mexican Immigrant Families’ Acquisition, Use, and Understandings of Money and Wealth
Mentor: Nallely Mejia (Sociology)
Mentees: Citlalli Florez, Kassandra Ruiz, and Daniela (Dani) Plascencia
The Collateral Consequences of Childhood Trauma
Mentor: Michael Menefee (Sociology)
Mentees: Angel Garcia, Suchita Khanal, and Andrew Zepeda Monroy
Immaculate Re-Conception: Redefining Health and Reproductive Risk Using Prenatal Genetic Testing
Mentor: Meghna Mukherjee (Sociology)
Mentees: Natalie Rivas and Karen Tirado
Collective Action in Tech
Mentor: Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya (Sociology)
Mentee: Wynnie Chan
Blood, Honor and Family: Reconciliation of Blood Feuds & Nation Building in Kosovo
Mentor: Dhurata Osmani (Sociology)
Mentees: Leonardo Gonzalez and Satyam Sharma
College For All? College Non-Completion and the Reproduction of Inequity in U.S. Higher Education
Mentor: Sarah Payne (Sociology)
Mentees: Maya Hernandez Reza and Lizbeth Flores
Domestic Outsourcing in the United States: 1979-2019
Mentor: Kelly Quinn (Sociology)
Mentees: Jamie Ha and Emily Miles
New Agriculture Frontiers: Land, Labor, and Sovereignty in the Northwest Territories, Canada
Mentor: Mindy Price
Mentee: Angela Belulia
The Co-Construction of Gender and Autism in Medical Discourse
Mentor: Emily Ruppel (Sociology)
Mentees: Alexandra Ward and Zoe Anderson
Settler Colonialism and American Political Development: A Congressional Analysis
Mentor: Mary Shi (Sociology)
Mentees: Mark Yoo, Salvador Uribe, and Norma Garcia
The Rise of Smart Prisons: Understanding the Duality of Communication Technologies
Mentor: Maria Smith (Sociology)
Mentees: Ana Navidad Rayon and Graciela Serrato
The Changing Faces of Vietnamese Womanhood: From Warriors to Mothers
Mentor: Phung Su (Sociology)
Mentees: Vanessa Urrutia and Cristina Acosta Navarro
Investigating the role of family members in the demand for maternal care in rural India
Mentor: Pooja Suri (Public Health)
Mentees: Ashley Santos and Julio Ornelas
The Reparative Circuits of Second World War Confinement Camp Preservation: Hawai?i, British Columbia and Alaska in Context
Mentor: Desiree Valadares (Architecture)
Mentees: JP Pina, Rungsiri Upradit, and Laishaa Maciel
Ethnic Mobility in Mexico
Mentor: Enrique Valencia López (Education)
Mentees: Michael Garcia and Ariel Alba
Languaging “To Be” Neoliberal: Understanding the Ideological Practices of the Naturalization Process
Mentor: V de la Vega (Information)
Mentees: Jennifer Ramirez, Ananya Kapur, and Naz Shakur
Optimizing the Numbers Game: How Lovehackers Create and Moralize Dating Spreadsheets
Mentor: Skyler Wang (Sociology)
Mentee: Long Ly
How Exclusionary Conceptions of the Working Class Limit Support for the Left
Mentor: Alan Yan (Political Science)
Mentees: Isabel Cholbi and Alexander Davies-Morris