��«Ӱҵ

From academics to real-world impact, explore stories from our community that highlight the people and experiences making ��«Ӱҵ a place of opportunity, discovery, and success.

Student Biochemistry

In just two years, Kenna Mueller ’27 helped lead the Occidental Dance Team from a spirit squad to a nationally competing, student-run program grounded in passion and community.

Student Environmental Science

From the Bluegrass State to ��«Ӱҵ, Jaymes Griggs ’27 has found community and a path to leadership through science, civic engagement, and the Obama Scholars Program. And amid all this, he still has time for pickleball.

A young ��«Ӱҵ alumna with long brown hair and a big smile

Mariah Rutiaga Amaya ’22

Driven by her experiences in food justice and her father’s health struggles, Mariah Rutiaga Amaya found her calling in medicine. Now, she’s preparing to become a physician who centers community, advocates compassionately, and uplifts the most marginalized.

Samantha Acuña

Faculty Politics

Samantha Acuña is interested in constitutional law, immigration policy, judicial behavior, and gender-based violence.

Faculty Chemistry

Vikram Shende's research group studies the structure and function of molecules found in nature, and how we can engineer enzymes—proteins that catalyze chemical reactions—that biosynthesize these “natural products.”

Cristina Awadalla

Faculty Latino/a & Latin American Studies

Cristina Awadalla is an interdisciplinary sociologist whose teaching focuses on Central American politics, Latin American feminisms, women’s labor, and research methods.

Faculty Critical Theory & Social Justice

Ben Ratskoff specializes in histories and theories of antisemitism, race, and fascism; Holocaust and genocide studies; Black diasporic culture and thought; and critical theory and cultural studies.

Faculty Economics

S.K. Ritadhi is an applied microeconomist whose research interests lie at the intersection of development and finance. His current research studies affirmative action for religious minorities in credit markets, and how globalization shocks affect ethnic politics.

Faculty Asian Studies

Jingyi Li's research centers on Japanese popular literature, print culture, and cultural identity in the 19th century,

Samuel Luterbacher

Faculty Art & Art History

Samuel Frédéric Luterbacher specializes in Early Modern (1500-1800) art, craft, and material culture in a global context and teaches courses on premodern art histories of the wider Mediterranean world.

Faculty Geology

Lydia Harmon '13 is a geologist who studies volcanoes and magma systems. Her work focuses on the magmatic processes and tectonic influences that govern magma formation and eruption.

Faculty Cognitive Science

Shengyun Gu is a linguist whose research aims to better understand language (including its structure, acquisition, and processing) through the lens of Shanghai Sign Language and American Sign Language (ASL).