Graduate Certificate Students

Our STS Graduate Certificate Students are high achieving scholars in an STS-related field who choose to expand their studies by taking at least four courses from among the areas of concentration or in another area of their choosing. This coursework contributes to the coherence of the STS perspective that students bring to their dissertation research. The pursuit of the certificate bolsters intellectual engagement with STS and allows students to signal competence in the field. 

Current Students

Daniel Akselrad, Communication

Dissertation: TBD

Daniel is a PhD candidate in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. His research uses historical and ethnographic methods to examine how media affect the ways we understand ourselves, each other, and the world. In particular, this research concerns the sensemaking of individuals inside expansive bureaucratic institutions, information systems, and military infrastructures. More broadly, Daniel’s research interests include the sociology of technology, the history of science, STS, human-computer interaction, and media studies. Daniel holds a BFA in Photography & Imaging from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an MA in Media, Culture, and Communication from NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. More about Daniel

Nina Dewi Toft Djanegara, Anthropology

Dissertation: Taken at Face Value: Facial Recognition Technology and the Cultural Politics of Identity

Nina Dewi Toft Djanegara is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology and a Program Fellow for the CCSRE Race + Tech Action Lab. Her research uses ethnographic and archival methods to explore how computer vision is applied to “solve” political problems. In particular, her dissertation investigates the use of facial recognition for U.S. border enforcement. Nina holds a MSc in Environmental Science from Yale University and a BA in International Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. More about Nina

Jaime Landinez Aceros, Anthropology

Dissertation: Assets for Peace: Biodiversity and Science in Post-Conflict Colombia

Jaime is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology with a minor in History. His dissertation research examines how scientific knowledge is mobilized as a means to secure post-conflict aspirations in Colombia. Jaime studies how biologists, rural residents, and government officials produce, circulate, and use knowledge about biodiversity in regions impacted by the civil war. Jaime is originally from Colombia and holds a B.A. in Sociology from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and an M.A. in Political Science from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. More about Jaime

Katja Schwaller, Modern Thought and Literature

Dissertation: Bubble Worlds: Silicon Valley Company Towns, Inflatable Archiecture, and Everyday Life

Katja Schwaller is a PhD candidate in Stanford’s Modern Thought and Literature program. Her research examines how Silicon Valley technology companies imagine, appropriate, and reshape (sub)urban space and everyday life, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. She builds on STS frameworks to study the interplay of digital and spatial practices and analyze the politics of the built environment in a platform economy. By fusing feminist media and technology studies with cultural, architectural, and geographical approaches to (sub)urban space, her research demonstrates the strategic importance of liminal urban spaces and everyday life for both capital expansion and social struggles in a digital age. More about Katja

Monica Sircar, Graduate School of Education

Topic: Science Teachers' Experiences Localizing a Climate Change Curriculum

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School of Education. My dissertation focuses on science teachers’ experiences adapting climate change curriculum units to reflect relevant, local phenomena and include opportunities for students to take action in their communities to address climate change related problems. The knowledge I have developed through the STS Graduate Certificate program has strengthened my capacity to bring historical and sociological perspectives into curriculum materials designed for K-12 science learning. This foundation supports me as I consider how science education can reflect nuanced understandings of how science is made, used, and taught. I hold a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford and an M.A. in Science Education from UC Berkeley. Mora about Monica

Chun-Yu (Jo Ann) Wang, Anthropology

Dissertation: Refining Politics: Oil Development, Environmental Activism, and Political Improvisation in Rural Malaysia

“Ethnicity” is the main category through which the question of politics is articulated in post-colonial, multi-cultural Malaysia. My Ph.D. dissertation extends an ongoing anthropological project which has denaturalized and problematized “self-evident” social or analytical categories such as ethnicity and explores alternative grounds for or processes of political formation. Informed by political anthropology and STS, I account for the processes of state and ethnic formation in Malaysia by examining the material, technological, and infrastructural developments of its national oil and gas sector. My ethnographic research shows how political subjectivity and solidarity are remade and realigned through non-elite, rural Malay and Chinese villagers’ everyday entanglements with the state and oil. More about Chun-Yu (Jo Ann)

Past Students

Ronnie Miller, Engineering

Dissertation: Agency in QBism: Quantum Measurement Outcomes, Objectivity, and the Intersubjective Construction of Scientific Knowledge

Ronnie Miller is a Master’s candidate in the School of Engineering. Their research uses historical and sociological methods to investigate quantum Bayesianism, a psi-epistemic program in philosophy of physics that emphasizes agency in quantum measurement outcomes. Their work consists of redefining agenthood within foundations of quantum theory. Ronnie has extended their analysis to the construction of science as a whole, and how collective “objectivity” is influenced by idiosyncrasies of communication, differences in specialization, and personal interpretation. Their further interests include twentieth-century physics and history of particle accelerators. Ronnie is the first Master’s student to obtain an STS certificate and holds a B.A. in Operations Research from UC Berkeley. More about Ronnie

Frank Mondelli, East Asian Languages and Cultures (Japanese)

Dissertation: The Social, Technical, and Musical Construction of Deafness in Japan

Frank Mondelli is a PhD Candidate in Japanese at Stanford University studying media and disability in 20th century and contemporary Japan. His dissertation draws upon STS and media archaeological methodologies to explore the historical relationship between deafness, music, and assistive technology through an analysis of the socio-technical dimensions of hearing aids, tactile technologies, sign language media, and D/deaf musical performance. His broader research and teaching interests include topics like the history and politics of public infrastructure, scientific/academic professional networks, popular media (film, video games, etc), inclusive design, and sound hardware. More about Frank

Daniel R. Pimentel, Graduate School of Education

Topic: Teaching Science, Digital Media, and Data Literacy in K-12 Science Classrooms

I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School of Education. One question that guides my research is, "How can we reimagine the science classroom as a space that promotes public understanding of science in the digital world?" To answer this question, I study how science, digital media, and data literacies can be integrated in the K-12 science classroom. The STS graduate certificate has supported my work by introducing me to frameworks for conceptualizing the connection between science, technology, culture, and social systems. I am originally from Boston and I hold a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Music from Boston College, an M.Ed. in Secondary Education from Boston College, and an Advanced Certificate in Special Education from the Relay Graduate School of Education. More about Daniel

Rose K. Pozos, Graduate School of Education

Topic: Equity, technology, and health literacy learning in families of young children during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic

Hello! I am a 4th-year PhD candidate in the Learning Science and Technology Design at the Graduate School of Education. My research focuses on two primary areas related to technology and learning: (1) how families use technology to create powerful and collaborative learning experiences, and (2) equity-oriented computer science education. Through studying STS, I have explored theoretical frameworks and developed technical skills that deepened my inquiry into social, cultural, and power structures that shape the opportunities and experiences learners have when they engage with technology in both strands of my research. More about Rose