Anatoli Ulyanov is a media researcher and documentary filmmaker bridging Media Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Visual Anthropology. He examines how toxic narratives shape identity, legitimize violence, and fracture social relations. Before UCLA, he led international media at the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center and an AI-driven hate-speech detection project. His work spans Soviet media on mass violence, restoring marginalized voices in imperial cinema, and analyzing hate offenders. His current project maps exclusionary lexicons, tracks how hate reshapes discourse, and develops interventions to repair civic space.

Hardy is a second-year Master of Architecture student at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design. He was born in Tianjin, China, and studied abroad in the UK for 8 years. He received his B.S. in Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL in London. During his studies, he focused on time-interactive architecture that adapts to ever-changing environmental conditions in response to global crises such as climate change and species extinction. Experiencing the walkable urbanism of London and the car-oriented fabric of Los Angeles has deepened his curiosity about how architecture can respond uniquely to different communities.

Chunyi Li is a second-year M.Arch student at UCLA AUD. Born and raised in Beijing, he has maintained interest in urban and social development since childhood. He earned his B.Arch degree from Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, where his academic research and practice extended beyond architecture to encompass anthropological studies (Naxi ethnic group), heritage conservation assessments (the Great Wall), historical spatial research (Jingdezhen), and aging-friendly renovations (Changchunyuan). He finds fulfillment in sharing these perspectives, aiming to translate his knowledge into enhanced community well-being.

Serafin Olguin received his BA in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College, concentrating in philosophy. Before graduate school, he gained hands-on experience in framing, masonry, and furniture design, alongside residential and conceptual projects. His work integrates craft, technical precision, and material awareness, drawing from classical, vernacular, and contemporary influences. As an M.Arch candidate at UCLA, he is interested in advancing architectural practice through collaboration with communities and developing sustainable, cost-effective design strategies that deliver enduring social impact.

Ayanna is a first-year Urban Planning Master’s student at UCLA. She received her bachelor’s in Sociology and Anthropology, with a minor in Public Policy from Carleton College. Her research interests, which include collective and participatory planning for immigrants and people of color, are shaped by her exploration of black thought and radical pathways in urban planning.

Ícaro Carvalho is a Ph.D. candidate and Teaching Fellow at UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese. His main research focuses are Brazil and Latin American literatures, urban spaces, history, and society.

Isabel Filson is a first-year Master of Library & Information Science student specializing in Library Studies. Prior to graduate school, she served as a California Climate Action Corps Fellow for the City of Santa Monica Community Gardens Program. She is interested in urban agriculture, sustainability, literature, and the intersection of art and storytelling with the built environment. She received her B.A. in English and Geography/Environmental Studies from UCLA.

Lynn is a first-year graduate student pursuing her Master's in Urban and Regional Planning at UCLA, where she received her B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Community Engagement and Social Change. Lynn also works at LARC, a climate nonprofit housed at UCLA IOES, where she organizes an extreme heat awareness campaign. Her research interests are in spatial justice and democratization of public space involving communities that have been displaced due to climate change. In her spare time, Lynn guides tours on AAPI history and culture in Los Angeles.

Skijler Hutson is a first year PhD student in Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA. He holds a BA in English from Duke University, where he studied the literary and cultural history of Los Angeles. His current research interests surround the architectural history of agricultural industry and technology in California. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he is excited to rediscover the city with the UHI team.

Alexander is a 3rd Year Masters of Architecture Student who has worked interdisciplinarily to further youth & community equity & creative involvement in the urban landscape throughout his life in Los Angeles & the San Gabriel Valley. He has led & taken part in work ranging from design engagement activities with families in MacArthur Park, to volunteering for & helping refurbish properties for foster children & pregnant+new single mothers in Pasadena, to leading outdoor ethics trainings, arts camps, & program interest research around LA. His favorite designs to make are those which are made for the public to access & build communities through.

I’m originally from outside Memphis, Tennessee, and earned my Bachelor of Science in Interior Architecture from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I am now in my second year of the Master of Architecture program at UCLA AUD. I am especially drawn to working in interdisciplinary groups to explore and address complex challenges, which is what I most look forward to during my time in the Urban Humanities Institute. Outside of my academic and professional work, I enjoy reading, running, sports, podcasts, and spending time outdoors with friends.

Anthony Lehi Garcia is a first-generation QuestBridge scholar from East Los Angeles/Montebello, Calif. His journey across numerous, under-resourced public education systems into higher education inspires his commitment to advancing educational equity for low-income communities of color. Anthony holds a B.A. in Sociology and Educational Studies from Colgate University and will pursue a Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.) at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Proud of his Mexican immigrant heritage, Anthony hopes to uplift Chicano excellence through grassroots advocacy, policy research, and social change grounded in community justice.

Kathy Zhang is a second-year Master of Urban and Regional Planning student. She previously worked at Carnegie Mellon University’s Steinbrenner Institute, supporting the development of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program. Her interest in planning stems from her desire to be an involved member of her community and build neighborly connections. This informs her approach to planning in bottom-up, decolonial approaches. Kathy has a BHA in Environmental and Sustainability Studies and Art from CMU.

I am a PhD student in the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies (ELTS) at UCLA, where my research explores the relationships between space, place, and the production of knowledge and subjectivity in literature. After completing a literary preparatory program in philosophy at Lycée Henri IV, I studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and exhibited at the Palais des Beaux-Arts and Fondation Le Corbusier. I lived several years in New York, teaching at the French Institute and Brooklyn College while developing my practice-based approach to urban space and narrative.

Heidi Yang is a PhD candidate in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. They are from the San Fernando Valley, where the surrounding chaparral and oak savannas first inspired their interests in biology and conservation. Their research focuses on understanding how California native oaks adapt to their local environments, and applying this knowledge to species conservation, ecosystem restoration, and urban forestry. They graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Molecular Environmental Biology and Geography.

Sarahy (she/ella) is a PhD student at UCLA in the Chicana/o and Central American Studies department. She was born and raised in the unincorporated areas of Oxnard, CA (Nyeland Acres and El Rio). Her work focuses on women farmworkers in California, specifically, food and reproductive justice. Her work is informed by her background of being the daughter/granddaughter/great-granddaughter of farmworkers/Braceros. In this upcoming year, she will be working in the archives of the Central Coast of California (Ventura County and Santa Barbara County) to find women farmworkers voices from the 20th century.

As a performance artist and emerging scholar, Moodzi narrates stories at the intersections of urban space, gender experimentation, interactive systems, social activism, and cultural memory. Their capstone project investigates nazar—a gaze so potent that being seen is conflated with the sensation of being touched, and explore this through frameworks of interactivity, materiality, and urban spatial politics. They are excited by UHI’s call to engage across disciplines—to inquire about somatics in relation to borders, belonging and cartographic anxiety.

Shiyue Shen is a third-year Master of Architecture student at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design. Her work is grounded in architectural thinking while extending across disciplines through collaboration and research. She aims to challenge boundaries of knowledge and practice, using design as a platform to connect diverse fields and to create more inclusive and possible futures.

Evan Eshel is a first-year in the Global and Comparative Urban Planning and Governance dual degree (UCLA–Sciences Po). He holds a BA from Wesleyan’s College of Social Studies, where he studied history, government, social and political theory, and economics. A Westwood native, Evan approaches transit through critical theory and ethnography, examining how technologies of mobility shape the shared imaginary of the city (civitas). His prior research traced the proto–transit state in nineteenth-century Los Angeles during the bicycle boom. After a few close calls on his bike, he’s back on the public transit—for now.