Fall 2024 Staff
Faculty Advisor
Susan Varnot
Since joining UC Merced in 2007, Susan Varnot has been active in Writing Studies, including founding the UC Merced Creative Writing Collaboratorium, a multi-campus conference, and curating the Write! Look! Listen! reading and workshop series. She has also been active in general education, assessment and review processes, the UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal, student clubs and events, as well as other campus initiatives and projects. These areas of engagement and inquiry stem from her teaching and research interests in collaborative, integrative, anti-racist, and empowering pedagogy and praxis, creative writing, interdisciplinarity, poetry, and creativity studies.
Editor-in-Chief
Emily Le
Emily Le is currently a third year at UC Merced, majoring in Microbiology and Immunology. She is working hard to achieve her career goals and figure out the focused area of research she wants to pursue. Outside of class, you can either find her in the research lab, or trying out new restaurants, cafes, or tea shops.
Managing Editor of Multimedia
Analee Munoz Luna
Analee is a second-year undergraduate student at UC Merced majoring in Writing Studies. She loves writing poetry and about her life. She hopes to publish her own book one day.
Managing Editor of Editorial Workflow
Yu Fang Tseng
Yu Fang is a 4th-year Psychology major who joined the URJ to actively engage with the community of student researchers at UC Merced, especially those early in their research career, and help promote diversity in academia. She plans to pursue a Clinical Psychology PhD in the near future. Her research interests are in the developmental etiology of ADHD, learning difficulties, and their preventions and interventions. She has a black and brown cat named Felix (nicknamed “Raggedy Cat”), who adopted herself into the family.
Digital & Web Operations Director
Zachary Gatto
Zachary Gatto is a Second Year student at UC Merced. Currently enrolled with a Human Biology Major, but has an uncertainty about their exact future. Primarily focused on the world of medicine and technology, they are most often found working tirelessly on a new project or attempting to figure out how the website somehow managed to break itself again.
Social Media & Publicity Manager
Jose Mondragon
Jose is currently majoring in Management and Business Economics with a minor in Writing Studies. He decided to add on a writing minor in order to improve his writing abilities and has enjoyed all his writing classes in the process.
Managing Editor of Campus Outreach & Events
Kaisey Reynoso
Kaisy is a third year student at UC Merced, pursuing a major is Writing Studies. Aside from academic pursuits, she has a passion for freewriting and swimming on Sunday evenings. Additionally, an interest in cinematography how movies evoke emotion, direction and thought-provoking concepts.
Campus Outreach Ambassador & Treasurer
Genesis Iniguez-Espinoza
Genesis is a second-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Writing Studies. She enjoys writing creative pieces and reading books in her free time. She has two fur babies: a puppy named Sukki and a tabby cat named Suga.
Art Director & Secretary
Micah Angela Lardizabal
Micah is a fourth year undergraduate student at UC Merced. They are currently majoring in Psychology and minoring in Creative Writing and exploring what they wish to pursue after graduation. They enjoy doodling, writing, and (recently) crocheting.
Editorial Training Coordinator & Lead Copy Editor
Mitchelle Bauer
Mitchell Bauer is a fourth-year English major and writing studies minor. He joined the Undergraduate Research Journal to help fellow students polish their skills in writing and research, though his interests and hopeful expertise lie in creative writing. Over the summer, Mitchell started The Wheel of Time book series but has put himself on hiatus from them since the start of the semester in order to read what he calls “real books.”
Section Editors
STEM Section Editor
Emily Le
STEM Section Editor
Zachary Gatto
Humanities & Arts Section Editor
Mitchelle Bauer
Humanities & Arts Section Editor
Genesis Iniguez-Espinoza
Social Sciences Section Editor
Jose Mondragon