CACI Fall 2025 Fellows

Teaching Fellows

  • Jesus López Pérez

    Jesus Lopez-Perez is a Mexican economist with a diverse academic and professional background. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a master’s degree in Applied Statistics from the Tecnologico de Monterrey. He also earned a master’s degree in Economic Theory from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico. His professional journey has focused on the financial sector, empirical research and econometric analysis. His research has resulted in some publications in academic journals. Jesus is a third year PhD Economics student at The Graduate Center, where he also teaches International Trade and is TA for Macro Theory. I would like to have guidance on the China’s industrialization process. I cover a summary of the Soviet-Style Planning for the period 1950-1978 and the Reform period 1978-present. But I would like to deepen into this to bring students closer to programs as SEZ, China’s adherence to WTO, and the incursion in the textile industry after the end of MFA quotas limitation. Also, usually 3 to 5 students pick China’s international trade practices as a topic to dig into in their final research projects; so it would be helpful to have guidance on this.

  • Laura Altinsoy

    I am a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center, currently teaching American Government at Baruch College. My research focuses on the establishment of U.S. hegemony in international organizations after World War II, with particular emphasis on NATO and the IMF. I am especially interested in assessing potential hegemonic shifts and the emergence of a more multipolar international order. In Fall 2025, I plan to introduce China-related content into my U.S. Government course through topics such as immigration and labor history (e.g., Chinese railroad workers), as well as contemporary U.S.–China relations. These discussions will help students place U.S. political development in a global context and critically reflect on dominant narratives about power, identity, and international competition.

  • Bret Windhauser

    I am a third-year PhD student in the History Department, focusing on the British Mandate of Iraq. My current work examines smuggling and illicit movement around the region of the Persian Gulf. More broadly, I am interested in the intersection of criminality, health, and religion during periods of European colonization and imperialism. I hope the CACI fellowship will develop my ability to conceptualize interactive in-class activities on Chinese history.

  • Ryan Hitch

    Ryan Hitch is a PhD student in the Political Science program at the CUNY Graduate Center, specializing in international security and foreign policy. His research focuses on alliance politics and the strategic behavior of middle powers in a shifting global order. He holds a B.A. from Hampshire College (2016), an M.Sc. from the Technical University of Munich (2020), and an M.A. in Political Science from the CUNY Graduate Center (2023). He currently teaches undergraduate courses on international relations, international political economy, and international security at the City College of New York. As a China at CUNY Teaching Fellow, Ryan is incorporating China-related content into his international security course, with a focus on the strategic implications of the Belt and Road Initiative. He has previously held writing fellowships at the Technical University of Munich and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

  • Chris Harding

    Chris Harding is a PhD student at City University of New York, Graduate Center. His work focusses on themes relating to capitalism, class, labour, and agrarian life in 19th and 20th century Palestine. In 2024 his work featured in the Biennale De Venezia, as part of South West Bank, Landworks, Collective Action and Sound exhibition. Chris will be teaching on the connections between China and the Middle East during the 19th and 20th century, regarding the history of Islam.

Seminar Fellows

  • Anson Chung

    Anson Cheuk-Hin Chung is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center. His research focuses on the judicial behavior of judges, specifically looking at British judges serving as foreign judges in Hong Kong and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. His research also focuses on the strategic judicial behavior of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the CUNY City College of New York (2022) and a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Toronto (2024). Anson will be teaching Introduction to Global Politics at CUNY Brooklyn College in the fall and hopes to incorporate China as a case study to demystify the misconception of the politics of China to his students. He hopes that the program will help him teach about China to his students.

  • Danny Soper

    Danny Soper is a 2nd year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at CUNY Queens College and the Graduate Center. His research examines executive functions in undergraduate populations as they relate to internalizing symptoms, namely anxiety and depression symptoms. He is also interested in understanding how cultural identity and commitment correspond to performance on cognitive tasks. Clinically, Danny is involved in coordinating and running community outreach through the Queens College Psychological Center which includes multi-week psychoeducational sessions for children, families, and elderly populations. His work with CACI aims to improve his cultural competencies in his research and clinical work as well as prepare him for the critical task of teaching multicultural psychology to budding psychologists.

  • Aline Van Neutgem

    I am third-year PhD student in Political Science at CUNY Graduate Center specializing in political theory and comparative public policy. My research focuses on the intersections of power, justice, and gender, with particular attention to how policies affect marginalized communities. I am especially interested in the implementation of conversion therapy bans across different national contexts, using feminist theory and critical policy studies to analyze how gendered and sexual norms shape policy outcomes. I expect that the CACI fellowship will help me develop as both an instructor and scholar by providing deeper engagement with Chinese political thought and contemporary governance, enriching my ability to integrate non-Western perspectives into my research and teaching on power, justice, and policy.

  • Amalia Torrecillas

    Amalia Torrecillas (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in Comparative Politics at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her primary research interests center on queer economics and the intersection of inequality and queerness, particularly as shaped by family policies. She investigates how the concept of queerness influences and intensifies economic inequality, with an emphasis on how non-normative family structures are treated within welfare states. Amalia’s work draws on feminist political theory, welfare state analysis, and social justice frameworks to analyze the lived experiences of queer individuals in relation to economic systems and policy design. Through the CACI fellowship, she hopes to gain a deeper understanding of how queerness is experienced, regulated, and expressed in the Chinese context, and to explore how comparative approaches can broaden the global scope of queer policy analysis.

  • Gloria Caminha

    Gloria Caminha is a PhD candidate in History at the Graduate Center. Her research focuses on U.S. foreign policy toward Brazil from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, with a specific emphasis on energy issues. She teaches United States history and currently teaches U.S. policy in Latin America during the 19th and 20th centuries at John Jay College. I hope that the CACI fellowship will provide me with in-depth knowledge about China’s relations with Latin American nations and the United States, allowing me to develop a syllabus that includes various perspectives on US-Latin American-China relations in the twentieth century.

  • Rosa Emilia Milagros Arevalo Leon

    PhD Political Scientist Student at the Graduate Center, with a Master of Public Administration at the Maxwell School in Syracuse University and with complete studies in the master’s degree in Human Rights by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). Work and teaching experience in research, design, and analysis of public policies; on issues related to human rights, human mobility, and democracy. The latter is also her field of research, where she prioritizes qualitative methodological techniques. Likewise, she has developed in these fields, both in the private and public sectors. This fellowship will help me develop my skills as a scholar by providing access to expert mentorship, interdisciplinary research opportunities, and practical policy experience to deepen my analysis of immigration and international relations.

  • Danning Li

    I am a PhD student in Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center. I’m interested in the entanglement of labor migration and forms of colonialism in history and the present. Regarding the study of China, I’m interested in teaching topics related to rural-urban migration, development and poverty relief, contemporary life of red archives, and ideas of land and home. I expect the CACI fellowship will allow me to ground the teaching of social topics on China in the interest and need of CUNY students and rank and file New Yorkers.