Bridging the Humanities and Hard Sciences
Transformational Learning, Retention of Latino/a and First Generation Students via a Global Borderlands Classroom
Dr. Sonia Hernández
Project Director, Associate Professor, Department of History, College of Liberal Arts
Sonia Hernández, a native of the Rio Grande Valley, received her Ph.D in Latin American History from the University of Houston in 2006 and began teaching at Texas A&M University in the Fall of 2014. Dr. Hernández specializes in the intersections of gender and labor in the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands, Chicana/o history, and Modern Mexico. She has published in Spanish and English; her most recent book, Working Women into the Borderlands (Texas A&M University Press, 2014) received the Sara A. Whaley Book Prize from the National Women’s Studies Association and the Liz Carpenter Award from the Texas State Historical Association. Dr. Hernández's forthcoming book, Transnational Feminisms and the Mexican Borderlands: Caritina Pina and Radical Labor Activism is forthcoming from the University of Illinois Press and examines the intersections of anarcho-syndicalism and feminism within the context of labor activism. Her third book project examines the near-lynching attempt of Mexican migrant and worker Gregorio Cortez in 1901 & the unlikely transnational alliance that emerged in the wake of state-sanctioned violence surrounding the case. Her research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright Foundation, and Texas Council for the Humanities.
Dr. Francisco Olivera
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Dr. Francisco Olivera is an associate professor at the Zachary Department of Civil Engineering. His area of expertise is in the application of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to water resources engineering. He has developed tools for delineating streams and drainage divides based on Digital Elevation Models (DEM), as well as GIS pre- and post-processors for hydrologic, water quality and ocean hydrodynamic models. Currently, Dr. Olivera has been working on the effect of land use change on runoff generation and on the probabilistic assessment of hurricane flood damage. He obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and a M.S. in Hydraulic Engineering from the International Institute for Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering at Delft, Netherlands.
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Dr. Luz E. Herrera
Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Experiential Education, Texas A&M Law School
Prof Luz E. Herrera is an attorney, a professor, and associate dean at Texas A&M University School of Law (TAMU Law). Prof. Herrera was born in Tijuana, Mexico and grew up in Whittier, California. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School. She teaches the Community Development Clinic where she, along with her law students, provide legal services to local nonprofit organizations, community organizations, social entrepreneurs, and individuals, who seek to transform their community through service projects. Prior to joining TAMU Law, Prof. Herrera was the Assistant Dean for Clinical Education, Experiential Learning, and Public Service at UCLA School of Law. She has also taught at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL). and Chapman University School of Law. She began her clinical career as a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center.
Tiffany Jasmin González
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, Graduate Assistant
(Co-PI Year 2018-2019)
Tiffany Jasmin González is a doctoral candidate in the department of history. She was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in North Richland Hills, Texas.
Her dissertation, Representation for a Change: Women in Government and the Chicana Civil Rights Movement in Texas, examines events that galvanized the rise of Latinas to work in government and run for public office. Her professional goals include joining the academy at a university, in order to work with-and-for the educational success of all students, especially first-generation, women, and underrepresented groups. Tiffany's work with "Bridging the Humanities and Hard Sciences" project has influenced her to incorporate service learning and field research methods in the classroom environment.
Randall Peterman
Graduate Student, Department of Civil Engineering, Graduate Assistant
Randall Peterman is a first year Master of Engineering student, studying civil engineering with a focus in water resources. He was born in Dallas, Texas, and then lived for 4 years in Austin, Texas, while getting his B.S. in Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.
Tyler Chawner
Undergraduate, Department of History, Undergraduate Assistant
TOP grant RA 2017-2019
Tyler Chawner is an undergraduate at Texas A&M University with a minor in museum studies. He is a student assistant to Dr. Hernández. His goal is to pursue a career in museum archive management.