Research Team
Elizabeth Aranda, Ph.D.
Dr. Aranda is Professor of Sociology at the University of South Florida. A native of Puerto Rico, she has dedicated herself to documenting the lived experience of migration and to share (im)migrants’ stories through her research and teaching. Her research addresses migrants’ emotional well-being and how they adapt to challenges posed by racial and ethnic inequalities and legal status.
Personal website: lizaaranda.com
Alessandra Rosa, Ph.D.
Dr. Rosa is a Postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Sociology at University of South Florida. As a Puerto Rican she has dedicated her teaching, research, and service to fostering diversity, equity, and justice. Her research centers on social movements, Internet activism, education, Puerto Rican studies, post-disaster migration studies, emotional well-being, and discourse analysis.
Personal website: alessandrarosa.com
Rebecca Blackwell, Ph.D.
Rebeca Blackwell is an instructor of Sociology at the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa. Her research focuses on the areas of social psychology and social communication. She studies emotions in society, cultural understandings of health, disability, and migration. Some of her previous work includes social issues in Venezuela, her native country, and Peru, her adoptive home for five years. She comes from a background in translation work and linguistic research back in Venezuela.
Personal website: rebeccablackwell.net
Collaborators
Maritza Novoa-Hadley, MPH.
Ms. Novoa-Hadley is a Public Health Professional working as a consultant for research projects with the University of South Florida and non-profit organizations in the Tampa Bay area. A Dentist from Colombia, she has concentrated her work on research studies related to cancer prevention, smoking cessation and breastfeeding using a social marketing approach in local Hispanic communities. Since hurricanes Irma and Maria, she has focused on collaborating with agencies in the public and private sectors to assist Puerto Rican families to rebuild their lives. Her current projects are concentrated on emotional adaptation and community resilience post-disaster.
Personal website: maritzanovoahadley.com
Nancy Hernandez
Ms. Hernandez is President and founder of Mujeres Restauradas por Dios (Women Restored by God), a non-profit, faith-based agency serving victims of domestic violence with the support of the Underground Network, Inc. A native of Puerto Rico, she extended the agency’s assistance providing holistic and compassionate case management services to Puerto Rican families that relocated to the Tampa Bay area after hurricanes Irma and Maria. In June 2018, Mujeres Restauradas por Dios was awarded with the Tampa Bay Disaster Relief and Recovery grant from the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay. Ms. Hernandez has received important recognitions from Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, Governor Rick Scott and Congresswoman Kathy Castor, among others.
Melanie Escue, M.S.
Melanie Escue, M.S. is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at The University of South Florida. Her current research interests reside at the intersection between immigration/migration experiences and education. Specifically, she is interested in examining how undocumented students navigate institutions of higher education, to what extent migration experiences vary by racial/ethnic backgrounds, and the identity formation of immigrants and migrants in the United States.