Graduate Writing Consultants
Deni Li (they/them)
Deni is a 6th-year PhD student in the Drama department, and holds an MFA in Writing from the California Institute of the Arts. Their research explores ways of navigating selfhood/identity and social dynamics in multiple realities, by bringing performance studies, digital media, and experimental genres of writing (such as autotheory) into conversation with consciousness (and psychedelic) studies, as well as queer, feminist, and trans* epistemologies. Their interests include consciousness-expanding (“psychedelic”) performance/art/writing and digital media that involves practices of cultivating perception, attention, intuition, imagination, and speculative inquiry, for the purposes of psycho-spiritual healing and knowledge-making. They enjoy working with students on developing concepts/ideas, writing process, and interdisciplinary writing, as well as with neurodivergent students.
Cherry (Zaoying) Ji (she/her)
Cherry is a 6th year Ph.D. Candidate in the Sociology Department and holds a B.A. in Educational Studies (Honors) from Vassar College. Her research interests lie at the intersection of higher education, gender, economic sociology and cultural sociology. More specifically, her dissertation project examines how global discursive changes on women’s rights and educational inequality have facilitated women’s entry into higher education systems worldwide. She has extensive experience with various research methods and enjoys working on all genres of academic writing, especially research papers at any stage from brainstorming to proofreading.
Maryam Hassani (she/her)
Maryam Hassani, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Informatics at UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, brings together her background in Computer Science and Electronic Engineering to conduct research in health informatics and health data science. Her work focuses on using technology to improve healthcare experiences, especially through user experience research for healthcare tools. With a strong grasp of both the technical and human aspects of technology, she is also driven by her passion for entrepreneurial ventures and has been involved in projects such as addressing mental health challenges among college students. Maryam enjoys taking on writing projects that challenge her.
CEWC Graduate Scholar
Adrianna Burton (she/they)
Adrianna Burton (she/they) is a second-year doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests focus on the intersection of representation, identity-making, and analog games. They take a radical, critical lens to media studies and cultural artifacts in the service of diversity, equity, and inclusion of BIPOC, queer, disabled, and otherwise Othered communities. At the Writing Center, Adrianna organizes and facilitates different projects and collaborations across units, like resource flyers and writing workshops with the Womxn’s Center.