Summer 2026
Mayra Ninazunta Anaguano
From Seed to Seedling: Translating Plant Ecology into Digital Storytelling transformed Mayra's research on Piper seed ecology and defenses into a public-facing digital platform that makes tropical plant science accessible to children, educators, and families. The centerpiece is Pip’s Midnight Flight, an illustrated educational storyboard for ages 8–10 that uses real Piper biology—including seed defenses and resource allocation, bat-mediated dispersal, germination, and seedling survival—to tell the story of a seed’s journey from fruit to seedling. The website also provides educational resources, information about Mayra's research and associated projects, and a photo gallery showcasing the tropical field environment where the research was conducted. Mayra created this content with the guidance of her mentor, Ruth Carpenter.
Nilupa Prasadani Gunarathna
Researchers often work with materials and phenomena that are far too small to see
with our eyes. Nilupa, mentored by Dr. Chelsea Gibson, created The Invisible World, Revealed by Light to show how light and spectroscopy are used to explore that invisible world and better
understand the materials around us. Her goal was to make some of the science behind
her physics research more accessible and enjoyable, especially for people who may
not have a background in physics or materials science.
The site takes visitors on a behind-the-scenes journey through Nilupa's daily work
as an experimental physicist, structured around the core rhythm of the scientific
process: Make It, See It, and Study It. Through engaging visual storytelling, intuitive analogies, and interactive illustrations,
the project demystifies how we "cook" atom-thin crystal sheets (TMDs) inside a high-temperature
furnace, inspect their quality, and use laser light to listen to the "dance" of vibrating
atoms to uncover hidden material properties.
Zunaira Yousaf
Indigenous Interactive Ecologies: Health, Healing, and Ecology across Native America and South Asia is an archive of oral histories gathered from South Asian and Indigenous American peoples who embody lived memory of environmental crises and climate change, and who also carry the knowledge of how to heal. The stories gathered here are not abstract environmental statistics. They are stories told in the first person. At the center of these testimonies is a shared understanding that runs across cultures and geographies: nature is not a resource to be managed. It is a relationship to be honored. Environmental crisis, then, is not merely ecological–it is a rupture in that relationship. And healing requires more than policy. It requires listening to those who never forgot how to belong to a place. This project sits at the intersection of environmental justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and the radical act of storytelling and was created with support from Zunaira's mentor, Andrew Frangella.
Summer 2025
Serra Kocek, PhD.
Serra was mentored by Dr. Chelsea Gibson in the creation of her documentary, Halal New York: How Success Happens for Second-Generation American Muslim Women in NYC. This short documentary is a digital ethnographic work that focuses on career trajectories and social mobility of second-generation American Muslim women. Serra combined primary data with archival research and learned video production skills through her Fellowship. These technical skills combine with storytelling skills in a way that makes tangible experiences of a potentially misunderstood group.
Yoona Salemizadehparizi, PhD.
Biomedical Engineering student, Yoona Salemizadehparizi, used her summer fellowship experience to build a visual representation of her research. After collecting data on calcified aortic valve disease (CAVD), this project makes this heart disease visible--moving from the complexities of the lab, to something that could be used by educators, physicians, and others to help anyone understand the progression of this pathology. Yoona was mentored by Haley Kerns to develop an animation that explores cardiac tissue and the development of CAVD.
Kiana Tanghatar, SLP.
With her mentor, Ruth Carpenter, Kiana explored the Twine platform for interactive storytelling as a pathway for training speech language pathologists in empathy within the clinical setting. She created The Empathy Game which guides practitioners through a series of simulations. Players make choices that allow them to earn or lose empathy points, with follow up on why each response links to a particular level of empathy.