Mellon Sawyer Postdoctoral Fellow
Eduardo Romero Dianderas is the 2022-23 Mellon Sawyer Postdoctoral Fellow in the Politics of Environmental Knowledge at the University of Southern California. He is a Peruvian anthropologist specializing in the study of media technologies, technical infrastructures and rainforest governance in Peruvian Amazonia. In 2022, he received a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from Columbia University. His doctoral dissertation, Calculating Amazonia, examines how various kinds of technocratic abstractions such as lines, polygons and volumes are stabilized to produce technical information about tropical rainforests, and the effects such abstractions have on how rainforests come to be experienced, known and governed today in the context of climate change and biodiversity loss. Eduardo’s research has been funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the NSF’s Cultural Anthropology Program, and the Explorer’s Club. You can find out more about his work here: eduardoromerodianderas.com
Mellon Sawyer PhD Fellows
Lauren Kelly is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the History Department. She is studying the social and cultural history of environmental harm in the Owens Valley, most notably caused by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) water extraction projects over the course of the twentieth century. She examines waves of conquest in the valley and how diverse groups within the valley responded to these intrusions.
Jaime Lopez is a 4th year PhD candidate studying Urban Planning and Development at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. His doctorate studies have focused on environmental planning/justice, participatory planning, media, and the use of narratives and storytelling in policy making. Over the past two years Jaime taught his first undergraduate course (Sustainable Communities, Policy and Planning) and has also directed and edited two short documentaries showcasing local civic engagement and environmental justice concerns in Southeast Los Angeles. Jaime has undergraduate degrees in film production and history from UCLA and a Master’s degree in City Planning from UC Berkeley. He recently served as a Planning Commissioner in the City of Paramount, where he grew up and is currently part of a community group working with the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a community air-monitoring collaboration recently awarded an Environmental Justice Small Grant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.