The Resident Graduate Affiliates and Graduate Affiliates are an integral part of the Pauli Murray College community. As a team, they contribute to the life of the college in important ways, including organizing and hosting study breaks, movie nights, and other events and programs for the college. Coming from a variety of backgrounds, they also serve as another academic and professional resource for Pauli Murray College students. The Resident Graduate Affiliates live in Pauli Murray College.
Resident Graduate Affiliates
Wendy Luo will soon defend her PhD thesis and work as a postdoc at Department of Psychiatry. She was born and raised in China, and just received a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Zhejiang University. She also spent a year at Columbia University as an exchange student and half a year at University of California San Diego as a research assistant. She loves cats and human brains. Working on neuroimaging, she uses computational methods to explore brain activities. Definitely ask her about that if you share the same interest! She enjoys painting in her free time and cooking to feed herself and friends. She is thrilled to be a member of the Pauli Murray community and she is more than happy to answer any questions or just chat! wenjing.luo@yale.edu
Graduate Affiliates
Anri Chomentowska is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She currently commutes from New York City, where she lives with her husband Jason. Anri is half-Korean, half-Polish, but home has always been Tokyo, Japan, where she was born and raised. She also has a soft-spot for western Massachusetts after spending four years at Amherst College where she played Ultimate Frisbee, worked as a Resident Counselor, and volunteered as an EMT. As a biology major at Amherst, she figured out that she could make a career out of her one true passion: plants. She wrote an undergrad thesis about the genetics of mating in wild tomatoes and you should definitely ask her about it. At Yale, Anri studies an incredible group of desert and montane plants, and gets to hike incredible places in North and South America for work. She is very excited to be back for her fifth (!) year as a Murray GA!
Isabelle Aboaf (she/her) is a second-year PhD student in the Political Science department. Before coming to Yale, Isabelle earned her BA at Cornell University and spent a year working as a federal auditor in Washington, DC for the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She’s interested in elections, political ethnography, cultural change, and body politics. Isabelle grew up in the great state of Colorado and loves all things outdoors-related, especially hiking, camping, and skiing. Other hobbies of hers include watching movies and playing the violin. Isabelle’s a strong believer in the cycle of mentorship and is happy to chat anytime about working in public service or pursuing graduate study in the humanities/social sciences!
Guarocuya “Frank” Batista-Kunhardt is a second-year MBA student at the Yale School of Management (SOM). Originally from the Dominican Republic but has lived in Brooklyn, NY, and Traverse City, MI, he graduated from Western Michigan University while majoring in Economics. After college, he worked outside the US in international development and commercial banking. He then returned stateside and graduated from Brown University with a Master of Public Affairs (Sustainability and ESG specialization). At Yale SOM, Frank was elected to Student Government, a 1Y Leader at the Association of Hispanic & Latin American Students, Social Impact Consulting Club, and as an Admissions Yield Lead. He is happy to talk about moving and working abroad, applying to business school, consulting, mixed martial arts, the Spanish language, Latin-American culture and history, Caribbean cuisine, and navigating college as a first-generation immigrant.
Kendall Laws (she/her) is a second year MBA student at the Yale School of Management. She hails from Atlanta, GA, and she recently graduated from Harvard College, where she studied Economics and African American Studies. Kendall is interested in the business of fashion, and she is passionate about the relationship between race, power, and aesthetics. At Yale, Kendall is on the executive board for the Black Graduate Network, she plays intramural volleyball, and she is a member of several professional clubs at SOM. In her free time, she loves roller skating, sewing clothes, and discovering new music. She is excited to be joining the Pauli Murray community, and she is happy to answer questions about Yale SOM’s Silver Scholar program, fashion and retail careers, and more!
Charlie Lovell-Jones is a second-year MMA violinist at the Yale School of Music. Hailing from the UK, Charlie was born and raised in Cardiff, Wales. He holds an undergraduate degree in Musicology from Oxford University, and a masters degree in Performance from the Royal Academy of Music in London. He performs extensively in the UK and beyond, as soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster of the Sinfonia of London, and has competed in several notable international competitions. He is also a pianist and enjoys singing. His further interests include spiritualism, mindfulness practices, running, drag, queerness, TV, film and (video-)gaming. He is also a major foodie (with emphasis on dessert), and thoroughly enjoys a chat over a cup of herbal tea. You can catch him drinking tea and eating cake watching an episode of Drag Race after a good day’s music-making!
Claudia Mastrogiacomo is a second-year PhD student in Biostatistics with a focus on methods for implementation science. She is originally from Long Island, NY, but has lived in Chicago, Seattle, and New York City. She completed her bachelor’s in Statistics at the University of Chicago. After graduating, she worked at the University of Washington modeling global fertility rates and spent a year in New York analyzing U.S. child welfare data. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, bouldering, watching reality TV, and playing online chess. She is always happy to chat about statistics, public health, demography, and coding in R!
Nora O’Neill (she/hers) is a fourth year MD/PhD student in the History of Science and Medicine. She is originally from Washington, DC and graduated from Harvard in 2018, where she also studied History of Science. After two years of working in clinical research at Boston Children’s Hospital, she moved to New Haven in 2020 to began the long journey of the MD/PhD program. Having completed 2 years of medical school, she has narrowed down her clinical interests to Ob/Gyn or Pediatrics but is thoroughly confused otherwise! Now in the PhD portion of her degree, Nora is usually found frequenting her favorite coffee shops (G Cafe, Poppy’s, the Coffee Pedaler), running around East Rock Park, or at home binging reality tv shows. She’s happy to chat about pre-med life, MD and non-traditional MD/PhD applications, history of medicine, and where to find the best almond croissant in New Haven.
Vatsal Patel is a fourth-year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, working on robotic hands and manipulation. Originally from Gujarat, India, he mostly grew up in the small country of Qatar. Vatsal completed his bachelors and masters at University of California, Berkeley, where he worked on automation of surgical robots, while being an active member of the engineering student government supporting undergraduate student organizations and coordinating with the college. Outside of research and classes, he wants to explore New Haven food and enjoys playing badminton, soccer, and is looking for friends to play squash! Say hi if you see him around or want to find a new restaurant you haven’t tried yet!
Christina Qiu is a PhD student in the Economics department studying trade and macroeconomics. Raised in northern New Jersey, she graduated from Harvard College in 2019, where she majored in Applied Math, wrote a column for the Crimson, and spent two summers in France aiding Roma migrants through job counseling in a social worker’s collective. After graduating, she worked for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the International Price Program and received an MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy from Oxford University as a Clarendon scholar. In her free time, she likes to cook and write fiction. She is happy to talk about post-grad plans, writing, and anything related to the economy. She is very excited to join the Pauli Murray community!
Kyle Ranieri is a third year J.D. student at Yale Law School and was in the inaugural Pauli Murray Class of 2018. Born in New Mexico and raised in Michigan, Kyle studied History and Global Affairs in college and worked in management consulting after graduation. At the law school Kyle is interested in government policy, corporate law, and Native American law. Outside of class Kyle enjoys cooking New Mexican food, taking workout classes, and playing cornhole. He is excited to be back in the Pauli Murray community and hopes you’ll say hello in the dining hall!
Carla Sanchez-Noya is a native of Miami, Florida and also a proud Pauli Murray alum (MY ’22) currently pursuing her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Healthcare Management as a 5-year BA-MPH student. She recently graduated from Yale College, majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Human Health and the Environment. Carla is passionate about the intersection between healthcare delivery and climate change, focusing on Environmental Justice and health equity for her undergraduate thesis. While at Yale, Carla was a part of the Yale Women’s Club Volleyball team, president of the Undergraduate Consulting Group, and part of SUBE: Yale’s first Latinx business group. In her free time, you can find Carla playing grad IM volleyball, working out at Payne Whitney, or making a fire playlist on Spotify. She is beyond grateful to have one more year in the Murray family and is looking forward to spending time with everyone!
Aalap Shah is a third year PhD student in the Department of Psychology. His career trajectory has been all over the place – he did his bachelor’s in Computer Science and a masters in Robotics before entirely switching domains to study the ways of the mind and the brain. Before enrolling into the PhD program, he worked in the industry for two years as an AI/ML software engineer (and during this time, he represented his company at a special edition of Shark Tank). Now as a PhD student at Yale, he develops hypotheses for how the brain processes incoming sensory information and uses computational models to explain/verify them.
Diego Ellis Soto is a fifth year PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Having lived, study, and work, a bit all over the place – from the soccer nation Uruguay to beach paradise Costa Rica, to medieval Germany, up to New Haven in fall time – he is excited to discuss potential travels and planning of research expeditions, academic exchange semesters, or how to navigate new cultures. Diego likes to spend his spare time cooking, exercising, making music, watching reality tv, backpacking, videogames, and hanging out with friends outdoors. Definitely reach out if you have questions about planning exchange programs, scientific expeditions, random questions about bringing more art (and music) into science, Latin America and biodiversity in general ! A fun fact about Diego is that he loves giant tortoises and lived in the Galapagos prior to coming to Yale!
Kirsten Traudt (she/her) is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Classics. Originally from New Jersey, she completed a BA at Princeton University and an MPhil at the University of Oxford. When she’s not studying dead languages, Kirsten loves making and watching theatre, knitting and crocheting, and baking. She has loved being part of the Pauli Murray community, and is especially happy to answer questions about studying the humanities as an undergraduate or postgraduate or studying abroad in the UK.
Irene Zhou is a second year PhD student in Psychology with a focus on cognitive neuroscience. She grew up near Atlanta, GA, and went to undergrad at MIT, where she double majored in Brain & Cognitive Sciences and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science with a minor in Linguistics. At first, she considered a career in software engineering and interned at Microsoft before realizing that her true passion was not in software, but in exploring the human mind and brain. She spent the rest of her undergrad years doing research, first investigating spatial navigation by recording brain activity in navigating mice, before switching to a computational psycholinguistics lab where she modeled how humans convey and infer pragmatic meaning in communication. Now, she studies how the human hippocampus helps form and retain spatial and episodic memories. In her spare time, Irene enjoys hiking, bouldering, painting murals, and playing the viola. She is always happy to chat about brains, tech, difficult career choices, and exploring the great outdoors with zero sense of direction!