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. On Spring 2026, I will continue participating at CACI to deep my understanding of China from an academic point of view, mainly by looking at its economic development policies: export-oriented growth and foreign policy relations.

  • Laura Altinsoy

    I am a PhD student in political science at the Graduate Center, CUNY and a lecturer currently teaching American Government at Baruch College. I earned my undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh and a master’s degree from the University of Dundee.

    My scholarly specialization is U.S. hegemony in international organizations, with particular attention to structural power, institutional design, and global governance. I am fluent in English, German, French, and Spanish, which informs my comparative and transnational approach to both research and teaching.

    In Spring 2025, I expect to incorporate China-focused content into my courses by examining U.S.–China trade relations and tariffs, U.S. foreign policy toward China, and broader theoretical concepts such as hegemony, unipolarity, bipolarity, and multipolarity. This program will help me deepen my understanding of China’s evolving role in the international system and strengthen my ability to integrate rigorous, contemporary China-related case studies into my curriculum.

  • 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 and the institutional design of incorporating foreign judges in local courts, specifically focusing on the case of Hong Kong. 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 currently teaches at Brooklyn College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In Spring 2026, Anson will be teaching a class called United States in World Politics at Brooklyn College, where he plans to have a module focusing on U.S.-China Relations and the rise of China. He will also be teaching a class called Judicial Processes and Politics at John Jay College, where he plans to focus on aspects of legal mobilization in China. By incorporating China into his teaching, he wishes to expand the scope of knowledge for his students, especially on East Asia and China.

  • 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 is a Ph.D. student in Public Policy at the CUNY Graduate Center, where her research focuses on labor informality, inequality, and the political economy of social policy. Her work examines how informal and precarious labor arrangements shape economic insecurity, access to social protection, and democratic governance, with a particular emphasis on migrant and marginalized workers. Methodologically, she combines comparative political economy, welfare state analysis, and mixed methods, drawing on both macro-level data and on-the-ground research in urban contexts. Alongside her research, she is a Graduate Teaching Fellow at Baruch College, where she teaches Introductory American Government and prioritizes connecting institutional analysis to everyday labor realities.

    In Spring 2025, she plans to incorporate China-related content by examining labor informality, migration, and inequality in China in a comparative perspective, focusing on state regulation, social insurance systems, and urban labor governance. The China at CUNY Initiative will help her strengthen her comparative framework by providing mentorship and resources that enable her to integrate China’s labor and welfare institutions into her teaching and research in a rigorous, grounded way.

  • 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 plan to use the contemporary conflict over the Panama Canal, between the US under Donal Trump’s administration, China and Panama to show how China has become a significant influence in Latin America posing a challenge and threat to US hegemony and interests in the region.

  • Rosa Emilia Milagros Arevalo Leon

    Rosa Arevalo Leon (M.P.A., Syracuse University; M.A. studies, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the City University of New York (CUNY). Her research focuses on human rights, human mobility, democracy, and subnational politics, with a methodological emphasis on qualitative approaches. She was a Sardon-Glass Fellow at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, sponsored by the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs. Rosa has served as a consultant for organizations including the International Labour Organization and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in Peru. At the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), she taught courses on academic research and social responsibility with a focus on human mobility. She brings extensive experience in the research, design, and analysis of public policy.

  • 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.