Interdisciplinary Studies Field

Vrinda Agarwal previously interned at the White House and will start working full-time at Goldman Sachs as a Public Finance investment banking analyst after graduation this year (Spring 2015). She double majored in Political Science (Department Citation Winner) and ISF. Vrinda is very passionate about public service and leadership, and is a four-time recipient of the Cal Alumni Leadership Award. As a sophomore Vrinda co-founded the Big Ideas-winning non-profit organization 100 Strong, which serves to empower low income women through leadership development, mentorship, and entrepreneurship. 100 Strong has trained over

Sierra Alef-Defoe completed her thesis on quality of life in pediatric cancer care in Spring 2015 following a course of study in global healthcare law. She has been admitted to Yale’s Summer Institute for Bioethics where she will continue her research on ethics in pediatric medicine. During her time at Cal, Sierra spent a semester in Washington, D.C., where she edited a guide for newly diagnosed brain tumor patients for Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure. She also spent one summer in the South of France, where she interned in the French

Melissa provides this abstract of her 2011 thesis: Attending UC Berkeley is Not Part of Your Welfare to Work Plan: The Social Impact of Welfare Reform on Low- Income Single-Mothers Pursuing Postsecondary Education: Single-mother-students on welfare are a small and unique demographic in the institutions of Higher Education. While conducting research on Maui County , Hawai ‘ i and in Alameda County, California I qualitatively examined the trajectory of single mothers on welfare pursuing higher education at the University of Hawai’i, Maui and University of California, Berkeley . Assessing the

The title of Sophia’s thesis was “What Is Real? Tracking Implicit Memory Acquisition and the Implications of Virtual Reality.” Her accolades as an ISF major include the Inspire Foundation Grant, UK Doctoral Scholarship, and the Queens Scholarship. She also served as a Research Assistant in the Center for Augmented Cognition and the Keltner Lab. After initially starting at NewPathVR, a VR company focusing on the development of VR applications for mental health, Sophia went on to complete internships for Y Combinator backed startups, finishing her tenure there by having her

Since graduating from the ISF major in 2011, Pat scaled a startup BPO firm that specializes in the luxury goods market into the European marketplace as a Global Business Development Manager. This allowed for plenty of travel while he was tasked with opening new offices abroad. Presently, Pat is the Managing Director for the company’s European subsidiary and advises the board of directors for the domestic firm. By identifying the right countries for growth while prioritizing work-life balance for future employees, Pat focused the company on factors beyond profitability. This

Brit graduated from ISF in 2010, having focused on globalization and international trade. Her thesis, Subordinating Women’s Interest: Natalism and Heteronormative State Policy, was a comparative analysis of reproductive policy and propaganda in the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union in the first half of the 20th century. After graduating, Brit worked for The Seasteading Institute, a non-profit working towards building autonomous cities in international waters to experiment with innovation in governance. She later worked for Future Cities Development, Inc., a start-up that aimed to build a charter city

Soham’s research field was Global Studies, Sociology, and Innovation. The title of his thesis was “An Examination of Indian Entrepreneurs: From New Delhi to Silicon Valley”. He studied abroad in Cuba in December 2017 and did a cross-cultural comparison of Cuban and Cuban American entrepreneurs. He is currently employed as a Business Development Specialist at itLab in Oakland, CA, and is the Co-Founder of SocratIQ.

Alex will be starting a PhD program in History of Art and Archaeology at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU in Fall 2014, and looks forward to bringing his ISF training to bear upon his research within this exciting discipline. Alexs thesis was an analysis of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, using cognitive linguistic theories of Mental Spaces and Conceptual Blending to explore how the modernist play’s unusual structure helps to reveal the workings of its characters’ minds. Since graduating, he has continued to develop his interest in art history through

After graduating in the Spring of 2014, Laura moved to New York and began work at one of the worlds leading brand consultancies. The title of Laura’s thesis was “Internet Privacy and the Behavioral Advertising Industry: Controversies, Challenges and Recommendations to Reduce Consumer Fears Online.” Laura’s thesis compared regulatory practices in Germany to those in the UK and US. Laura was both an international student and California resident. She writes: The ISF major was perfect as I’m a very independent person and loved formulating my own schedule of classes, taking