New Graduate Students Join Brandeis With Wealth of Research Plans
Photo Credit: Dan Holmes
September 19, 2025
Abigail Arnold
This academic year, 451 new graduate students joined the Brandeis community. They are studying in each of the university’s four new schools: the School of Arts, Humanities and Culture; the School of Business and Economics; the School of Science, Engineering and Technology; and the School of Social Sciences and Social Policy. And across the schools, they have one big thing in common – they are excited to begin their studies and pursue research in their chosen areas. We reached out to our incoming class to ask them to share some of the work they plan to pursue. Across schools and fields, students are interested in communities and connections, in what makes people tick, and in tackling knotty social problems to help others and build a better world. The atmosphere is ripe for interdisciplinary collaborations! Here are students' plans, in their own words.
School of Arts, Humanities and Culture
Amarachi Attamah-Ugwu, PhD in English: “My research is on the intersection between African/Igbo chants and African American spirituals. I focus on how these oral traditions embody memory, performance, and resistance in African and diasporic communities. Through this work, I aim to highlight the role of voice, performance, and embodied memory in sustaining indigenous knowledge and connecting African and diasporic communities across time and space. I intend to bring together archival research and ethnographic fieldwork, integrating language, transcription, and performance analysis to document and interpret African chant traditions as living repositories of memory and cultural resistance. I am excited to pursue this research at Brandeis, where the program’s interdisciplinary strengths in literature, performance studies, and African and African American studies provide the ideal environment for my work.”
School of Business and Economics
Paru Acharya, MS in Finance: “My research interests are in the financial market, and I have been able to write a few independent papers, which are available online in SSRN. I am excited to be a part of the Brandeis community and hope to find some mentors and eventually pursue a PhD and work in academia.”
Shreejan Bhandari, MS in Finance: “I am excited to learn more about the risk management aspect of finance. My interest in risk management comes from my experience growing up in a nation with a higher level of risk due to unstable governments along with their unstable policies, fragile institutions and widespread financial illiteracy. Therefore, I am excited to learn more about risk management, especially the use of different tools that are used for managing various risks in the financial markets. I am looking forward to assisting the policy makers in understanding the financial markets and the need of different tools to manage the risk and to help clear any misunderstandings regarding modern financial instruments. My niche interest, however, hovers around managing risks when there is asymmetric information and I hope to learn to better manage financial risks by the time I graduate next year.”
Raviv Sapir, MS in Finance: “Finance, for me, goes far beyond numbers and spreadsheets. At its core, it’s about people. What motivates them, what scares them, and how relationships shape decisions. There is as much art in finance as there is science. That’s why I’m especially excited to explore the intersection of psychology and finance, drawing on works like The Psychology of Money and Predictably Irrational. Alongside traditional courses such as Financial Accounting and Analysis, I plan to take classes like The Psychology of Finance to better understand the human side of financial decision-making.”
Suhail Shaikh, Master of Business Administration: “I will be joining Brandeis in the spring of 2026. I plan to focus on attempting to scale my startup, Voltaics Alpha. By combining energy storage, agrivoltaics, and microgrids we want to build a peer-to-peer energy platform. We have already innovated on long duration energy storage using vanadium redox flow battery, which is in technology association with IIT Bombay. Next we are focusing on building a platform which can use blockchain for peer to peer energy transactions. The MBA will help me in preparing cash flows for a twenty-five-year period (the solar plant and our vanadium battery will last that long), converting CAPEX to OPEX using financial modeling and scenario planning, and fundraising for my venture.”
Priya Sharma, MS in Finance: “My academic focus is on financial modeling, data analytics, and the use of emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain to improve risk management and market transparency. With my prior experience as an Operations Analyst, where I streamlined data workflows and improved process efficiency, I'm particularly excited to explore how technology-driven solutions can make financial systems more efficient and accessible. Looking ahead, I plan to apply my studies toward developing innovative FinTech solutions that bridge traditional finance and emerging technologies, while preparing for a career in financial innovation and risk management.”
School of Science, Engineering and Technology
Noam Kazis-Taylor, MA in Psychology: “I'm interested in researching reproductive care for transgender men. I'm particularly interested in fertility preservation and pregnancy. The relationship between gender transition and fertility is topical and polarizing, but very little attention is given to transgender people who actually do carry children. I am curious how pregnancy is impacting transgender men’s mental health, particularly on the impact of pregnancy on gender dysphoria.”
Destiny Kluck, MS in Biotechnology: “My research will investigate how participation in dance groups impacts the mental and physical health of Brandeis University students. My project has two primary aims: to determine the impact of dance participation on student health through a comprehensive assessment and to foster community engagement and support for dance involvement on campus. I will establish a protocol to quantify changes in physical and mental health among dance group participants, collaborating with diverse campus dance groups. I began this program with the Schiff Fellowship and the GSAS Master's Proposal in Undergraduate Studies at Brandeis and continued it in my 4+1 program for my master's thesis.”
Gleidia Sauli, PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology: “Over the past eight years, my passion for science and the exploration of diverse research impacting health and disease has led me to pursue my PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology at Brandeis University. Laboratory classes captivated me and inspired me to seek opportunities to explore both prokaryotic and eukaryotic biology as well as human disease. At Brandeis, I am interested in understanding how life works at its most fundamental level. My research will focus on macromolecules including DNA and RNA for mechanistic understanding. I will examine how these molecules interact with each other and with proteins to perform crucial functions in cells and more complex biological systems and, more importantly, how DNA and/or RNA dyshomeostasis impact human health and disease. To answer my research questions, I will be employing cutting-edge techniques, and I will be using well-established model organisms which are very similar to humans on a molecular level, including Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies). I am particularly excited to join the Molecular and Cell Biology program because of its highly supportive and collaborative environment.”
School of Social Sciences and Social Policy
Dillon Belmont, PhD in Social Policy: “My research interest falls at the intersection of media narratives, political discourse, and wealth inequality. I'm excited to dive in because this topic is increasingly relevant with the current administration's policy goals and the ever-changing nature of social media platforms.”
Richmond Worlanyo Dzeamesi, MSc in Global Health Policy and Management: “I plan to focus on strengthening health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular attention to how policy interventions can improve access to quality and affordable healthcare. My interest lies in studying how global health policies can be localized to address inequities in underserved communities, and how governance, financing, and innovation intersect to drive sustainable change. I am excited about this work because I believe that effective health systems are the backbone of development, and I want to contribute research and policy solutions that reduce health disparities, especially for vulnerable populations.”
Tom Gilbert, PhD in Social Policy: “I’m interested in determinants of outcomes for people involuntarily committed for substance use disorders, from a Massachusetts perspective.”
Sarah Young Goldberg, PhD in Social Policy: “I recently completed a Master of Public Policy at Brandeis, where my research emphasized gender equity, ethical AI usage, and their intersections with policy and political engagement. Recently, I have become interested in how critical examination of AI can highlight its lack of neutrality and create space to question who benefits and who is harmed. By emphasizing critical thinking skills around AI use, I hope to help support and encourage a new type of AI literacy that strengthens democracy, promotes equity, and serves our communities for the better.”
Julia Hassell, PhD in Social Policy: “My research interests are in health care reform, particularly state-level policies and how they can improve health care access and outcomes.”
Justine Imanishimwe Kirezi, MS in Global Health Policy and Management: “Before coming to Brandeis, I worked as an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) officer, which inspired me to deepen my skills in analyzing health and development data. I am excited to explore how data-driven approaches can improve global health outcomes and to connect with peers and faculty across different disciplines.”
Anastasia Shteinert, PhD in History: “I study Soviet and Russian history, with a particular focus on Saint Petersburg and the ways its regional identity was (re)formulated during perestroika and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Before moving to New York from Russia in February 2022, I worked as a political reporter for Vedomosti newspaper, Echo of Moscow radio, and other outlets. That experience is part of why I’m especially drawn to Russian newspapers of the 1990s - particularly those published in Petersburg - as my main primary sources. My second area of interest is modern Jewish history, especially the Jews of Eastern Europe. I’m very excited about all the academic resources at Brandeis and - after almost four years in NYC! - the benefits of Waltham’s seclusion.”
Arjun Kumar Singh, MA in Global Sustainability Policy and Management: “I’m interested in studying resource-mobilizing civic institutions, like philanthropic bodies and cooperatives, and how they influence citizen voice and collective action. I’m excited about them because of their power to confront inequalities and empower communities.”