Mellon Research Fellows Projects
In August 2025, a group of Mellon Pathways Program students from Brightpoint and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Colleges began year-long research projects in the humanities and arts under the mentorship of a community college faculty member and a VCU faculty connection as part of the Mellon Research Fellows program.
Through weekly meetings with their mentors and peers, attendance at monthly symposia, and many hours of reading, interviewing, reflection, writing and learning, our Mellon Research Fellows have produced 17 thoughtful, unique and creative final projects, which can be explored below. Most of these Mellon Research Fellows will be transferring to VCU in the upcoming academic year.
Azrael Anderson
Project: Tabletop Roleplaying Games Mechanisms and Their Interplay: A Decision Tree Showing Some of the Potential Choices In Mechanism Design for Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Bailey Clark
Project: Theatre, Cosplay, and the Art of Playing Dress-Up
Noralee Cleve
Project: Investigative Women: From Marple to Mare, Amateurs to Professionals
Gabriella Coello-Veillette
Project: Human Rights and Folk Literature around the World
Audrey Crenshaw
Project: Elusive Energy—How unseen forces influence our experience
Caleb Diez
Project: Art’s Movement: Aesthetics, Realization, and Transcendence
Donovan Fanning
Project: Horror (Re)Productions: Birth, Body Horror and History
Sophia Hornyak
Project: Letterforms As a Barometer for Social Mood, Cultural Shifts, and Collective Memory
Destanee Joiner
Project: Representation, Identity, and Literacy: Why Seeing Matters for Student Success
F. Elizabeth Jones
Project: Extraordinary Experiences and the Nature of Consciousness
Gilbert Lopez
Project: Pillars of Community
Nyla Lunsford
Project: Behind the Image: Underrepresentation in Fashion & Beauty Industry
Isaac Parrish
Project: Censorship in U.S. Literature: The Ethics of Book Banning
Joani Rayl
Project: Henrietta Lacks: Her Legacy Beyond HeLa
Justice Robinson
Project: Nspired Mindz: Reimagining Creative Community, and Opportunity Through Research and Lived Experience
Christopher Ruiz-Torres
Project: Community Land Trusts as Prevention, Not Intervention: Case Studies in Sacramento, Asheville, and Logan Square
Danait Samuel
Project: An Analysis of the Influence of Rhetoric in the Deaths of Those in Marginalized Groups
Faculty connections
Each Mellon Research Fellow worked with both a faculty mentor at the community college and a faculty connection at VCU. The VCU faculty connections not only provided feedback on students’ projects in the spring, but also discussed students’ goals, academic and professional aspirations, and VCU opportunities.
The VCU faculty connections are:
- Caddie Alford
- Christopher Brooks
- Chris Burdett
- Liz Canfield
- Chris Cynn
- Catherine Ingrassia
- Shermaine Jones
- Mary Caton Lingold
- Alicia Borre Montealgre
- Michael Paarlberg
- Emilie Raymond
- Donald Smith
- Shawn Utsey
Previous Cohorts
- Stafford Armstead: Unblemished Documentary
- Abigail Flowers: The Salem Witch Trials: The Impact on the United States Society
- Algernon Harvey: I Saw it on TikTok: An Analysis of Citizen Journalism, Social Media, and the Short-Form Video
- Nehemiah Klee: Prevalence of Nightmares by Work Environment
- Rylee Lawson: Against Natural Order: Discretionary Scarcity and the Structure of Money
- Dianne Marentes: What are the challenges that authentic artists deal with when it comes to the present and future presence of AI-generated art?
- Elijah McLeod: Jamaican Pottery and Art
- Tiffany Millner: True Grit, The Universal Quality: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Resilience and Determination Among Different Races, Cultures, and Backgrounds
- Grace Orrick: Whitewashed Tombs: Coercion, Abuse, & the Hidden Sins of the Fundamentalist Church
- Auder Reyes Morales: Latinx vs. Latine: How Culture Influences Identity Language
- Diana Vite: The Cultural Footprint of Latinos in the USA
- Tracie Artis: An Analysis on the Distinct Effects of the Patriarchy on Different Demographics
- Bea Castro: The Vibrant Rhythms and Cultural Fusion of Bomba: A Celebration of Afro-Puerto Rican Heritage
- Starr Goodridge: I Came, I Stayed, I Conquered
- Andrew Hilborn: The United States vs The Americans
- Princess Johnson: It’s Giving Hellraiser: What is the “Ideal Face” and how has it Influenced the Way Gen Z Women Wear and Consume Makeup?
- Arsen Khachatryan: Recipe: A Documentary on Language and Identity
- Adonis Mullins: Why? Nothing is wrong?
- John-Lewis Opher: Litterboxes, Therians, Cringe Culture Oh My: Pulling Back the Curtain on the Furry Community
- Courtney Sawyer: “Welcome to your first day of your new life.” A Journey of Self-Publishing my Webcomic
- Ryan Scott: The Ethical Implications of AI in Healthcare
- Monique Thompson: The Legacy Trauma Creates
- Eva Wiznerowicz: Compositional Voices: Remembering the Women of Classical Music
- Nardia Barnes: The Lasting Effects of Positive Energy Transfer
- Manuella Escobar: The Master’s house: An Analysis of Reggaeton's Interpolation and Commodification into the U.S Mainstream Culture
- Nataly Feliciano: Behind the Lack of Latinx Representation
- Fabiola Filiaggi: More than Pretty: Challenging Mainstream Cultural Narratives about Venezuelan Women
- Bert: Small Gestures: Variation in Cultures
- Kiari Harris: Safe ? Spaces
- Emily Harrison: Third Wave Coffee
- Thawin Kim: Loot Boxes: Revolution or Regret?
- Kristina Konwerski: The Weimar Republic, The Far-Right, and the Return of Moral Panic
- Regina Mason: The Kennedy Family Scrapbook
- Katia McCleaf: Cracking Birdo's Egg: Applying Clark's Stages of Representation to Transgender Visibility in Video Games
- Savannah Morris: The United States of Hysteria: An Examination of 'Witch Hunts' and Their Impact Upon American History
- Franco Ramos: Teach Yourself About Yourself: Using Storytelling to Re-contextualize Self-actualization