Current Graduate Fellows
 | Cheng Liu Cheng Liu is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Emory University. His research interests include Prehistoric Eurasia and Africa, hunter-gatherer societies, lithic analysis, and cultural evolution. For his dissertation project, he is trying to build a reference framework for inferring the reproduction of microlithic knapping technology within different communities of practice using a mixed-method approach that integrates experimental, ethnographic, and ethological analyses. Prior to joining Emory, Cheng completed his BA at Wuhan University, China and MA at the University of Haifa, Israel, both in archaeology. He has conducted multiple field and laboratory research projects in China, Israel, and Ethiopia, ranging from the Lower Paleolithic to the 20th century. His work has appeared in several peer-reviewed archaeology and interdisciplinary journals, including Evolutionary Anthropology, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Journal of Cognition and Culture, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Lithic Technology, PLoS ONE, and Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society. |
 | Breana Laguera Breana is a 5th-year PhD candidate in the Chemistry program. She is from Texas, holding a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Texas State University, and a Master's in Biochemistry. Her research centers on cationic peptides, with a focus on their self-assembly capabilities and antimicrobial applications. She explores the relationship between peptide assemblies and membrane activity, the effects of charge and helix-affecting residues on self-assembly, and the controlled assembly of peptides on DNA nanostructures to create complex, ordered hybrid systems. |
 | Rohit Chakraborty Rohit Chakraborty is a sixth year Ph.D. candidate in English at Emory and the 2024-25 SIRE Graduate Fellow. Their research is based on c.20th and contemporary global Anglophone queer literature with a focus on South Asia. Their writing has appeared and is forthcoming in GLQ and Journal of Postcolonial Writing, and their public scholarship has been published in The Caravan, Scroll, and The Hindu. They are from Guwahati, Assam. |
 | Jason Cabitac Jason Cabitac is a 6th-year PhD candidate in the Philosophy Department at Emory University. His research proceeds from the hypothesis that humans belong to the Earth. From this foundation, he utilizes his interdisciplinary training in religious studies, comparative theology, and ecology to discern how different human communities have aspired to live harmoniously with the natural world. His work is motivated by the question: how can we learn from these different paradigms of natural living to embody healthier and more connected lives in the 21st century? Jason currently serves as a SIRE Fellow in the Humanities and Social Sciences while he completes his dissertation entitled, “Restoring Goodness to the Earth: Pathways for an Ecological Humanism.” |