University Writing Center

Robert Cochran is the Program Director of the Writing Center. He holds a BA in International Relations from Harvard University's Extension School and both an MA and a Ph.D. in History from Brandeis. Additionally, he has received training in writing pedagogy from Brandeis. He has been an active member of the Brandeis Writing Center since 2018, serving first as a Writing Consultant, then as a Senior Writing Consultant and a Graduate Assistant Director.

At Brandeis, Dr. Cochran plans and implements all of the Writing Center's programming for undergraduate and graduate students, including one-on-one consultations, workshops, writers' workspaces, and dissertation writers' retreats. He conceives of the writing center as a vital pedagogical space in which all writers, regardless of their background or ability, can meet to engage in the tough yet rewarding process of becoming stronger, more confident writers.

As an academic writing instructor, he enjoys working with and learning from individuals of all linguistic backgrounds and skill levels. He has extensive experience in the university classroom and takes a keen interest in matters of learning experience design (LXD). Apart from his work in academic writing support, Dr. Cochran also conducts research in the field of colonial history, focusing on the modern British Empire and the Caribbean. In his 2024 dissertation, he problematizes commissions of inquiry into nineteenth-century systems of Asian indentured labor throughout the British Empire, arguing that these public spectacles largely served political and plantocratic ends rather than the subaltern Indian laborers about whom they were supposedly concerned.

Manning is a sociology & health policy doctoral student in the joint PhD program in the Department of Sociology and Heller School. She is currently working on her dissertation research on fitness organizations in Greater Boston. Manning’s mother tongue is Mandarin, and she is learning French, Cantonese, and Spanish. While her mentoring strength is helping students build up research skills (such as brainstorming ideas, critical writing, searching for information, etc.) in social sciences, Manning is welcoming everyone who is struggling with writing and seeking improvements.

Jade is a second-year MS student studying Computational Linguistics. Topics of study include Natural Language Processing, Machine Translation, Large Language Models, and Annotation. She holds a BA in Spanish and International Studies with a minor in French from UNCW and has a passion for language learning. She also enjoys traveling and cooking. She is especially excited to see what interesting topics students will bring to the Writing Center this year!

Iana is a PhD student in the Department of English. Their research interests are in Victorian literature, new formalism, and philosophy and literature. Iana earned their BA in French and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies at Tufts University, having also spent a year studying in Paris during their time as an undergraduate. Iana looks forward to collaborating with students at the writing center and helping students feel more confident expressing themselves in whatever writing medium they are working in.

Ishan is a first-year PhD student in the English department. His work is at the confluence of Environmental Humanities and Postcolonial Studies. In 2024, he graduated with an MA in English from Vanderbilt University, where he wrote a thesis on a translated eco-disaster novel. His experiences in critical and creative writing and his former career as a professional writer and copy editor exposed him to a multitude of writing styles. He is curious to learn more about the Brandeis student community and help them brainstorm and develop their writing. Outside of work, you will often find Ishan on the tennis courts or watching sports.

Jacob is a first-year MA student in the Philosophy department. His research interests include the philosophy of science, metaphysics, and epistemology—especially of the social variety. He graduated from Fort Lewis College with a BA in Philosophy and a minor in Mathematics. Jacob is passionate about working with writers as they develop their voice and learn to clearly express themselves through their writing. In addition to his academic pursuits he enjoys rollerblading, cycling, and trail running.

Jarem is a first-year Master’s student studying Computer Science. He previously studied Linguistics at the University of Utah and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is interested in the intersection of Computational Linguistics and Machine Learning, and wants to study ways to make language generation tools more accurate and efficient. His published research includes studies of ways to generate portmanteaus (like “brunch” or “Barbenheimer”) and he has also worked on Natural Language Understanding tasks in the tech sphere. Jarem has taught English as a second language in Laos, Thailand, and his home state of Utah. He speaks English natively, as well as fluent Thai and Laotian, and has experience studying/speaking Spanish, German, and Mandarin.

Joseph is a fourth-year doctoral student in the History Department. He has worked as a Writing Consultant since 2022 and enjoys reading the wide range of papers that come through our doors. His experience providing feedback on writing includes working with students, peers, and mentors in other capacities at Brandeis. As a writer, he has experience working on projects intended for academic and popular audiences. When he is not in the Writing Center, Joseph is working on his dissertation about Jews’ relationship to slavery. Before he came to Brandeis, Joseph received a B.A. in history and Spanish from Haverford College.

Leon is a second-year PhD student in the English Department. He has a BA from Vassar College and a MA from Fordham University, both in English literature. His research interests are closely associated with British romanticism and love poetry, so he is especially familiar with close readings and literary critiques. He is a native Mandarin speaker and has spent a considerable amount of time studying multiple languages, including Latin, Italian and Old English, during his time as an undergrad. Before coming to Brandeis, he was an online writing tutor for three years, helping college freshmen and high school students from non-English speaking countries with all kinds of issues in academic writing. He is currently also a tutor at Brandeis's English Language Program.

Lianne is a second-year doctoral student studying transracial adoption from China to the United States. Although affiliated with the History Department, her research is interdisciplinary, bringing together fields such as Critical Adoption Studies, Asian American Studies, and Critical Race Theory. She holds a BA in English from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts as well as a joint MA in English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Brandeis University. In her free time, she enjoys reading poetry, playing ukulele, and spending time with her cat, Oliver. She looks forward to working with students across all stages of the writing process, from brainstorming to final drafts.

Liv is a first-year sociology PhD student interested in the intersections between culture, knowledge, and education. During their undergraduate years at Bard College, Liv pursued their bachelor’s in music (ethnomusicology) and sociology, culminating in a research project about popular music museums in the United States. Questions about meaning-making and pedagogical processes were core to Liv’s research, which complemented her work as a peer tutor supporting fellow students on writing and academic skills, and later as one of the administrative associates at Bard’s Learning Commons, where she led pedagogy training workshops while continuing to advise students. As a first-generation college student, Liv’s tutoring approach is collaborative and skills-based, recognizing that writing and thinking are processes shaped by our individual experiences. Liv is looking forward to working with students at the Writing Center as they develop their own writing process.

Sahid is a second-year English PhD student at Brandeis. He has a B.A. from Calcutta University and an M.A. from Jadavpur University, both in English. He studies the politics of religious pluralism and secularity among minorities in South Asia. He specifically looks into the issues of epistemic injustice, religion, caste, and gender violence through 20th- and 21st-century literature, film, and photography. Before coming to Brandeis, Sahid worked as writer, translator, and analyst at various firms. He loves to help students refine their writing as a consultant!

Seif is a Ph.D. student in the Neuroscience program at Brandeis. He is primarily interested in brain plasticity, learning, and memory with a few research experiences at the University of Florida, Rockefeller University, and University of Copenhagen. He also worked for 3 years a writing tutor at the Sewanee Writing Center at his undergrad institution. During his free time, Seif likes kayaking, fencing, and movies. 

Weichen is a first-year master’s student in the Computer Science Department. Before Brandeis, she studied at Kenyon College and then lived in Northern California. Even though she received most of her professional and academic training in STEM (first in the life sciences, now in computer science), she enjoys dabbling in many facets of writing, including fiction and memoir-style non-fiction. Chinese is Weichen’s native language; English is her second, and she also speaks a tad of Japanese. Over the years studying and working in the U.S., Weichen learned intimately the power a strong piece of writing holds for moving ahead in this country. As a writing consultant at Kenyon, she has helped many science writers and English-language learners on their writing journey: brainstorming ideas, crafting thesis, polishing resumes and cover letters, etc.. She is excited for the opportunity to continue to write and grow with the diverse student population at Brandeis University.