2025 Spring Semester Small Grants Recipients 

The second edition of the Small Grants Program runs for the Spring 2025 semester and pairs faculty with outstanding undergraduate students across the different schools on campus. Below is the list of the five pairs of faculty and outstanding undergraduate students and their projects receiving funding during the current semester:


Professor David Gonzalez (link is external)

School of Public Health 

Lauren Gonzalez, Undergraduate Research Assistant 

Investigating Population Exposures to Methan Super-Emitting Oil and Gas Development among Hispanic/Latinx Communities in the United States 

A growing body of evidence has found that oil and gas development (OGD) harms the health and well-being of nearby people. In these communities, living near oil and gas development (OGD), including drilling and active-producing wells, is associated with significant air pollution, water contamination, and multiple other stressors that impact the health and well-being of nearby residents. The purpose of this study is to conduct a detailed investigation of disproportionate exposure of OGD among Hispanic and Latinx communities across the United States. This will be done by utilizing new, satellite-based measurements of methane, quantifying emissions from methane super-emitters in the USA and identifying exposed communities (within 1 km), investigating demographic characteristics of communities exposed to methane super emitters, particularly focusing on Hispanic and Latinx communities, and evaluating whether these populations are disproportionately living in exposed communities compared to overall demographics.

Professor Lupe Gallegos(link is external)

Undergraduate Research Assistant (TBD)

Living and Leaving a Legacy: Latinas in the Nonprofit Sector 

This research project will work to answer the research question: "What keeps Latinas in the nonprofit sector and not moving to the public or private sector of the labor force?" Research factors include clear choices of why Latina stays in the sector, family, educational, and work pathways, challenges and opportunities, and the impacts on organizations and communities. This will be done by reinterviewing 7 Latinas again after 20 years from the original interviews conducted, asking them the same questions regarding their family life, educational and work experiences, and added questions. Each interview will be transcribed, analyzed, and compared to the interviews 20 years ago.

The contribution of Latinas in the nonprofit sector will add to the paucity of research on Latinas in the labor force, their role as organizational leaders, and their role as significant architects and visionaries as Chicana and Latina leaders.

Dr. Clara Mantini-Briggs (link is external)

Sammy Diana Villaseñor and Arely Robles, Student Research Assistants

Documenting Latinx Civil Movement Contributions to Health Care Access and Services 

This project investigates two central research questions: 1) How did health inequities center on social justice demands? 2) What alternative forms of healthcare and access were envisioned and implemented in Chicanx/Latinx social justice movements? While significant academic contributions have been made to understanding the impact and legacy of Chicanx/Latinx social justice struggles, their critical role in addressing health inequities has remained underexplored or marginalized within this literature. This project aims to expand on academic discussions on Chicanx/Latinx social justice movements by focusing on historical and contemporary efforts to address health inequities. It highlights how socio-political activism contributes to and addresses health through qualitative and archival research. Our previous proposal focused on documenting the stories of La Clínica de la Raza's founders and former and current employees to better understand this historic institution's community impact. To expand our archive, Critical Study HLC is turning to two other historically significant institutions—Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, based in Union City, CA, and the clinics established by the United Farmworkers (UFW) during the height of the farmworker movement.

Professor Hector Rodriguez (link is external)

School of Public Health 

Diana Orozco, Undergraduate Research Assistant

Examining Language Access in Primary Care Practices Serving Latinx Populations in California with Limited English Proficiency

Latinx populations with limited English proficiency (LEP) often experience barriers to accessing high-quality primary health care and receive limited assistance with managing their chronic medical conditions. As a result, the quality of care is often lower for Latinx patients with LEP compared to English-proficient Latinx and the majority non-Latinx White populations. Evidence also indicates that Latinxs with LEP experience higher rates of medical errors than English-proficient patients due to communication and coordination problems. No data, however, exist to characterize language access resources and systems of primary care practices serving safety net populations in California, limiting the development of policies and technical assistance to help these organizations improve language access for Latinx immigrant populations with LEP.

The proposed research project aims to leverage organizational survey data being collected as part of a statewide survey of adult primary care practices that will characterize the language access capabilities of safety net primary care practices across the state of California and will identify the barriers and facilitators of recruitment and retention of bilingual and bicultural primary care clinicians and staff, and the integration of professional medical interpreters to support the provision of high-quality primary care for Latinxs populations with LEP.

Professor Rosemarie de la Rosa (link is external)

School of Public Health 

Hector Muñoz, Undergraduate Research Assistant 

Biological Burden of Chronic Stress among Latinx Adolescents with Asthma

Asthma morbidity is disproportionately higher among Black and Latinx children, who experience more severe asthma and have double the hospitalization rates compared to White children. Despite knowing that social and structural determinants have a significant role in asthma pathology, the mechanisms that underlie this relationship remain largely unknown. Therefore, we will examine whether mtDNAcn is associated with both early life stressors and asthma risk in a pediatric population. For this project, we specifically aim to compare differences in mitochondrial function between adolescents with and without asthma and examine the relationship between psychosocial stress and mitochondrial function among adolescents.

The key innovation of this project is quantifying mitochondrial function in adolescents from Richmond, California, a historically divested AB 617 community with high exposure to socio-environmental stressors and asthma morbidity. This work aims to identify a stress-related biomarker of mitochondrial function in adolescents from this community. We further hypothesize that this biomarker may help identify individuals at increased risk for developing asthma.