Dr. Mansoo Yu is an Associate Professor of Social Work and Public Health at MU, Faculty Advisor for the MSW/MPH Dual Program, and Associate Director of the Center for Children and Families Across Cultures. His research focuses on health disparities and the interconnections of mental health, physical health, and health risk behavior (e.g., substance use) among various racial and ethnic groups. You can learn more about Dr. Yu here.

Chuka Nestor Emezue, Sinclair School of Nursing, MU

Chuka Nestor Emezue, MPH, MPA is a Ph.D. student, Delta Omega National public health inductee and Sinclair Fellow at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. He holds a master’s degree in Public Health Policy from the MU School of Health Professions, and a masters in Public Affairs from the MU Truman School of Public Affairs. Chuka's research tailors culturally relevant stigma-informed interventions for minority male intimate partner abusers and/or survivors of partner violence across all ages, with particular emphasis on immigrant and rural populations. He is currently adapting and field-testing mobile health behavior change interventions that support the safety, wellbeing, and empowerment of survivors of partner violence and preventing recidivism among recently rehabilitated partner abusers. He remains passionate about global narratives, an equitable health policy agenda, proactive community engagement, and democratizing the power of storytelling in humanizing marginalized communities.

Monica Romero, Psychology, MU

My name is Monica Romero and my research interest relates to helping English Learner students. My research includes developing culturally sensitive assessment and interventions, dual-language learning instructions, the reading development of EL students with a specific learning disability, improving the utilization of evidence-based interventions, and Latinx families/school system collaboration. My research interest relates to the Cambio Center’s mission by bridging the research to practice gap among EL students and their families. Taking a social justice lens and advocating to improve a system for EL students. The hope is to foster change and provide inclusion for EL students and close the academic achievement gap.

Xiomara Cornejo, Theatre and Performance Studies, MU

Xiomara Cornejo’s research includes the integration of interactive theatre as an active learning method that functions across various fields and within diverse communities. Interactive theatre serves as a means of exploring social justice topics, including racism, xenophobia, sexual identity, and religious affiliation, and creates opportunities for folks from various walks of life and points of views to come together and examine these issues through theatre. Unlike most learning methods, theatre transcends language barriers and is a more inclusive and diverse form of promoting education and learning. Cornejo’s research practice also includes advocating for and producing multi-cultural theatre that celebrates personal narratives about the Latinx experience in the United States and Latin America.

Stephanie Hernández Rivera, Educational Leadership in Policy Analysis, MU

Hernandez Rivera's research interests are focused on the experiences of those who experience marginality at the intersection of multiple identities, specifically in higher education. This includes Women of Color, Queer Students of Color and Queer Women of Color. I have done narrative scholarly work about my own experiences as a Puerto Rican woman, engaging in practices of healing and resistance in higher education. I have also worked with Women of Color ofexperinecesdifferent ethnic identities and how they navigate institutions of higher learning. I am hoping my research will inform the actions, policies and practice of students, administrators, faculty, and practitioners.

Jenny Melo, Rural Sociology, MU

Melo's research focuses on analytical interdisciplinary frameworks to understand "green businesses" and "businesses of the biodiversity" boosted to improve the livelihood of rural communities in Latin America, paying special attention to its potential trade-offs. This helps to understand current socioeconomic dynamics in Latin American communities.

Andrés Felipe Mesa Valencia, Rural Sociology, MU

Mesa Valencia has a B.S. in Animal Science and an MSc in Food Science and Technology at the National University of Colombia. His field and research work have been oriented to the strengthening of food safety procedures for small producers to have access to markets, food security in Colombian rural areas, and characterizing functional foods to strengthen the value chain. Currently, he is researching on Latino students facing food insecurity on Campus and structuring the value chain with small producers. He is also working as a Graduate Assistant with the Cambio Center.