IAC Student Fellows

Yaír André Cuenú-Mosquera has a B.A. in Literature from Universidad del Valle, Colombia and is a Ph.D. student in Hispanic Studies at Texas A&M University, USA. His research and creation focus on literature originating in the African Diaspora whose themes involve processes of migration, transformation, and empowerment of Afro communities. His work has been published in Colombia, Spain, Mexico, and the United States. Some of his projects are the writing workshop Meridiano de Barrio and Negro tenía que ser (Had to be black), which is planned to become his first book of short stories in both Spanish and English.

Brittany Garcia-Pi is a Ph.D. student in the architecture department majoring in Human Computer Interaction. Her research centers around the design and user experience of Virtual Reality applications for educational training and collaboration. As a fellow for the Institute of Applied Creativity, she hopes to build upon an application that is intended to aid individuals with intellectual disabilities during their job interview prep time. When Brittany is not conducting research, she spends time watching documentaries with her husband and dog, Ellie.

Astrid Lange’s primary focus in the Performance & Portfolio M.A. track in Performance Studies is in the development and benefits of multilingual improv comedy for students here at Texas A&M University. This is her first year in this program. As part of her action research, she has obtained multiple grants to host, facilitate, and study the effects of a weeklong bilingual comedy workshop series and performance for March 2022 with an internationally known guest improvisor! She plans to continue and grow this series to make a sustainable option for students from all cultures interested in this form of creative enrichment.

Astrid already holds an M.S. in Educational Human Resource Development with a focus on Organizational Change & Development from Texas A&M. Her 14-year career as a U.S. and international multilingual teacher and school administrator is the foundation upon which her creative career rests.

She is a current writer for the Texas A&M University Freelance Writing Association under the pen name “La Flaneuse Astrid”, found on medium.com. She performs comedy regularly in Houston; one of her troupes is !No Me Digas!, which she formed as she began her academic explorations here.

Ana-Luisa Ortiz-Martinez is a Ph.D. student in Communication Studies at Texas A&M University. She studies borderland identity, immigration, and Latin American social movements through a rhetorical lens. Her work explores the vernacular uses of Latin American music in social movements, decoloniality, and intersectionality while contributing to both Latino/a/x studies and rhetorical theory. Some of her projects implement auto-ethnography and art as methodology.  Her story as an immigrant highlights and forms the foundation of her research and her passion to help others, teach, and write for her community.

Junho Park received a B.S. degree in industrial engineering with a minor in psychology from Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2008, and a M.S. degree in industrial engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea in 2010. He is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree at the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.

From 2010 to 2015, he was a researcher with Korea Institute for Defense Analysis in the Center for Military Planning Division. From 2015 to 2019, he was an associate research fellow; he conducted force requirement analysis and evaluation research and cognitive decision-making modeling studies as a principal investigator. His research interests include human factors in assistive technologies and cognitive performance modeling.

Farnoush “Nusha” Torkzadeh is an MFA student of visualization and an aspiring artist from Iran with a professional background in industrial design. Her college portfolio expanded to 2D and 3D design, with a specialty in entertainment design (board games, themed entertainment, and digital game mechanics) based on historical stories and ancient carriers.