New Faculty

	Andrew Alexander Assistant Professor, Political Science Andrew Alexander received his Ph.D. from the planning, governance and globalization (PGG) program at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, in 2024. His broader research and teaching interests include global and digital political economies, AI and technology governance, critical data studies, financialization politics, the comparative politics of technology and international relations.
	Sergio Barrera Assistant Professor, Chicana & Chicano Studies Sergio G. Barrera is a first-generation Chicano from the Texas-México borderlands. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan’s Department of American Culture with a specialization in Latina/o studies and digital studies.
	Ulises Espinoza Assistant Professor, Anthropology Ulises Espinoza received his PhD from UCLA and his specialization lies at the intersection of cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, medical anthropology, and science and technology studies (STS). His research examines how values, politics and knowledge production intersect within medical systems, intellectual property regimes and biopiracy affecting Indigenous communities.
	Abel Gomez Assistant Professor, Sociology & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences (Native American Indigneous Studies) Abel R. Gomez earned a PhD in religion and a certificate of advanced studies in women’s and gender studies from Syracuse University. His research and teaching examine the relationships between land, ceremony, gender and sexuality, and (de)colonization, especially among contemporary Ohlone peoples. Gomez is a first-generation queer Latinx scholar born and raised in the Bay Area.
	CJ Jones Assistant Professor, Sociology & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) CJ Jones earned their PhD in feminist studies from UC Santa Barbara and their MA in American Studies from SUNY Buffalo. Her research examines how cisgender and transgender subjectivities are (re)configured through the lens of sports, especially women’s sports. Their current book project, “Governing Bodies: Trans Politics, Embodiment, and Sports,” analyzes the political contours of both trans-inclusive and trans-exclusionary discourses in contemporary sports and situates them within broader sociopolitical struggles over the meaning and malleability of gender at the local, national and global levels.
	Ayda Kianmehr Assistant Professor, School of Planning, Policy, and Environmental Studies Ayda Kianmehr is an environmental planner specializing in extreme heat, urban tree canopy, public health and climate resilience. Before joining San José State University, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Spatial Sciences Institute and the Department of Population and Public Health at the University of Southern California. Her research applies quantitative methods (such as microclimate modeling, data and spatial analysis and machine learning) to examine how physical, social and health-related factors shape communities’ vulnerability to climate-related hazards.
	Marina Manriquez Assistant Professor, Sociology & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Mariana Manriquez earned her PhD in sociology at the University of Arizona. Her research and teaching interests are centered in understanding how the ubiquitous presence of digital technologies are transforming work practices and worker’s identities. As a Mexican American scholar who grew up in the Borderlands of Arizona, and Sonora, Mexico, she has an acute sensibility for noting how transformations of work amid technological reconfigurations are experienced differently in the everyday of each locale.
	Marcel Moran Assistant Professor, School of Planning, Policy, and Environmental Studies Marcel Moran studies urban transportation via a variety of methods, including satellite imagery, mining open datasets and in-person field collection. His published work has led to policy changes in both San Francisco and New York City, and his research has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Forbes and Bloomberg CityLab. He received his PhD from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley in May 2023. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a masters degree from the University of Chicago.
	Nurettin Senol Assistant Professor, Justice Studies Nurettin Selçuk Şenol is a digital forensics professional specializing in cyber forensics, mobile forensics, Internet of Things (IoT) security, and embedded systems. He earned his Ph.D. in digital and cyber forensic science from Sam Houston State University. His research focuses on digital forensic investigations involving wireless communication protocols, forensic analysis of IoT, mobile devices and computer forensics. Şenol has contributed to different forensic cases and published in peer-reviewed venues.