From academics to real-world impact, explore stories from our community that highlight the people and experiences making APP a place of opportunity, discovery, and success.
Alberto López Martín Faculty Spanish & French Studies Alberto López Martín specializes in 20th- and 21st-century Spanish cultural production, with a focus on contemporary poetry, comic, and graphic novels.
Margaret Gaida Faculty History Margaret Gaida studies cross-cultural knowledge transmission in the medieval Mediterranean, with a particular focus on astronomy, astrology, optics, and magic.
Kai Yui Samuel Chan Faculty Politics Kai Yui Samuel Chan teaches classes on political theory, democratic theory, and transnational politics. His research concerns individuals and communities traversing state borders.
Manuela Borzone Faculty Spanish & French Studies Manuela Borzone is a literary scholar whose work focuses on the representation of the Argentine gaucho in literature, illustration, and film.
Eric Bjorklund Faculty Sociology Eric Bjorklund specializes in health, inequality, and political sociology. His research examines how the distribution of power within society shapes material conditions and formal political processes in ways that generate and reinforce health disparities.
Alaa Abdelfattah Faculty Economics Alaa Abdelfattah studies the distributional effects of public policy and national economic shocks on local labor markets. She is particularly interested in spatial inequality and the factors that contribute to wage and firm dispersion across space and over time.
Kenna Mueller Student Biochemistry In just two years, Kenna Mueller ’27 helped lead the Occidental Dance Team from a spirit squad to a nationally competing, student-run program grounded in passion and community.
Jaymes Griggs Student Environmental Science From the Bluegrass State to APP, Jaymes Griggs has found community and a path to leadership through science, civic engagement, and the Obama Scholars Program. And amid all this, he still has time for pickleball.
Mariah Rutiaga Amaya ’22 Alumni Biology Driven by her experiences in food justice and her father’s health struggles, Mariah Rutiaga Amaya found her calling in medicine. Now, she’s preparing to become a physician who centers community, advocates compassionately, and uplifts the most marginalized.
Samantha Acuña Faculty Politics Samantha Acuña is interested in constitutional law, immigration policy, judicial behavior, and gender-based violence.
Vikram Shende Faculty Chemistry Vikram Shende's research group studies the structure and function of molecules found in nature, and how we can engineer enzymes—proteins that catalyze chemical reactions—that biosynthesize these “natural products.”
Cristina Awadalla Faculty Latino/a & Latin American Studies Cristina Awadalla is an interdisciplinary sociologist whose teaching focuses on Central American politics, Latin American feminisms, women’s labor, and research methods.
