Congratulating Our Spring 2024 Undergraduate Certificate Recipients
Congratulations to our Spring 2024 Undergraduate Certificate graduates! They played important roles in the BCNM ecosystem, and we are thrilled to have been apart of their new media pursuits here at Cal. We remain in awe of their hardwork and dedication and wish them well in their future pursuits.
Isabel Li
Isabel Li is an artist, writer, researcher, and compassionate technologist, graduating with a major in computer science and minor in creative writing. With a background in visual art, queer activism, civic youth empowerment, they care deeply about how software tools can serve creatives and communities in building towards brighter and more just futures. With Berkeley, they leave behind late nights spent in their lab at the Berkeley Institute of Design; the beloved campus communities Codebase, Cal Hacks, Design at Berkeley, and Berkeley Innovation that built their understanding of ways to expand accessibility to computer science and design education; and some of their best ideas in their new media and Asian American studies classrooms. Isabel will spend their time after graduation making more software in industry for creative companies, writing, and completing a series of oil paintings, before returning to grad school later on to continue their work in creativity support, social computing, and justice.
Chula Chhay
Chula graduates with a BA in Cognitive Science. While at Berkeley, Chula was an Experience Design Intern and worked on assisting Google designers to streamline their workflow. Chula took several design courses while at Berkeley, through BCNM, Information, and the Jacobs Institute.
Anna Ma
Anna Ma (they/them) is a fourth year undergraduate at UC Berkeley studying Cognitive Science and Psychology, pursuing certificates in Design Innovation and New Media. They are interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the study of consciousness, exploring the intersection of neuroscience, sociology, philosophy, and spirituality. They are also involved in various arts organizations in the East Bay and currently serve as lead designer for Platform Artspace, an outdoor exhibition laboratory in the Department of Art Practice focusing on socially engaged art projects, pop-up exhibitions, and community events. Anna received a Eugene Jarvis Media Innovation Fellowship while at BCNM.
Kira Kutcher
Kira Kutcher (she/they) was born and raised in West Los Angeles, where she intensively trained in ballet and competitive figure skating as she completed her primary education. Through her training, she learned to draw power from feminine self-expression, artistry, and beauty, all of which ground her academic and professional interests. They are graduating from UC Berkeley with their B.A. in Media Studies concentrating on Digital Studies. Their scholarship and art practice explores digital media as a subversive medium for negotiating self-authorship, community, and queer feminist futures. Her work includes "Queering the Closet'', a 3D modeling project in collaboration with Lee Crandall that will be featured in Jill Miller, Asma Kazmi, and Kathy Wang's Missing Objects Library installation at Gray Area San Francisco in September 2024. Additionally, her short film "Shuck" was featured in Platform Artspace in April 2024 as a part of the gallery's "Being Bizarre" queer short film program.
Kelsey Choe
Kelsey Choe graduates with a BA in media studies with a concentration in digital studies. With a background in visual design, 3D modeling/animation, and media theory, Kelsey is interested in designing communities in virtual social spaces through historical lenses of queer culture, decolonized approaches, and history of science & technology writing. Kelsey recevied a Eugene Jarvis Media Innovation Fellowship while at Berkeley.
Christopher Bannon
Christopher, a software engineer and HCI researcher graduating with a degree in computer science, hopes to continue his creative endeavors at the intersection of art and technology. He loves obscure video games and communal creative computing interfaces.
Karen He
Karen majored in Economics and Media Studies with a concentration in Digital Studies. Karen's studies focussed on the intersection between technology, behavioral economics, and digital marketing. She is fascinated by how emerging new media technologies are increasingly changing human-computer interactions and are reconfiguring notions of identity, representation, and culture.
Joellene Yap
Joellene is a Data Science and Media Studies double major, and an international student from Singapore. She worked with the CDSS Human Contexts and Ethics team to develop curricula bringing greater awareness of digital ethics issues to CS & DS students, and wrote her Honors Thesis on users' algorithmic imaginaries of algorithm-first platforms like TikTok. She would love to connect with anyone also interested in creating thoughtful, inclusive digital public spaces! Feel free to reach out at jyap@berkeley.edu
Cynthia Rahman
Cynthia Rahman received a BA in Global Studies. Cynthia was awarded a BCNM Spring 2024 conference grant to present "The Intersection of "Second-Wave" Feminism and Population Control in the Aftermath of Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence" at the Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium in Baltimore.
Lily Wieland
Lily Weiland graduates with a BA in Media Studies. In her time at Berkeley, Lily was particularly focussed on exploring mis/dis-information and to consider how to combat these issues in society today.
Lulu Cardoza
Lulu double majors in media studies with an emphasis in digital studies, as well as in theatre performance studies. They also minor in dance performance studies, and are so grateful to be participating in the Undergraduate Certificate program from the Berkeley Center for New Media. They have grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the East Bay area region of Concord, CA. Lulu plans to continue working in education, a field they've been in for the past 9 years. They hope to teach, work in administration, and/or continue their education in graduate school. Lulu currently works for the Berkeley Discovery Database as a student assistant, helping to research opportunities for all Berkeley undergraduates hoping to enter graduate school and beyond. They also work as a student assistant for the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, Oliver O'Reilly. Through the Berkeley Center for New Media, Lulu has been able to connect and learn from many great instructors, most notably Professors Clancy Wilmott, Emma Fraser, Abigail DeKosnik, Shannon Jackson, and Lisa Wymore. Lulu feels empowered to continue to challenge what we consume, never settle for comfortability, and to keep a keen eye out for innovation and change.