November 19, 2018
Sara Bruene (pictured with her thesis advisor Dr. Lauren McDonald) was this year’s recipent of the California Sociological Association’s Elizabeth Nelson Distinguished Graduate Student Award. Sara is currently a student in the master’s degree program in sociology and is working on her thesis titled “Food Security and Global Climate Change: A Comparative Analysis of Farmers of Californian Almonds, Ethiopian Coffee, and Indonesian Coconut.” Sara is interested in how both demands for luxury items in the global food market and global climate change, have impacted both farmers and farm laborers.
Sara’s research also includes a co-authored article with Dr. Michael Carter titled “Examining the Relationship between Self-Perceptions of Person, Role, and Social Identity Change and Self-Concept Clarity” published in the journal Imagination, Cognition and Personality. She is also working on a project with her co-authors Victoria Loy and Dr. Moshoula Capous-Desyllas titled “Legalizing Street Vending in Los Angeles: Reframing a Movement during the Fourth Wave of Feminism.”
Last year Sara was a research assistant for CSUN’s Center for Assessment, Research, and Evaluation where she helped to collect and analyze data for the BUILD (Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity) PODER (Promoting Opportunities for Diversity in Education and Research) project. Sara is currently working as a research assistant for the CSU STEM VISTA program which is focused on eliminating disparities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields through programming to assist low income, first generation, students of color, and women.
Sara is also the recipient of the CSUN Graduate Studies Thesis Scholarship, the Robert H. Shiffman Memorial Award for Outstanding Research and Promise, the Paul Schrogin Memorial Scholarship, the CSUN Sociology Department’s Outstanding Continuing Graduate Student Award, and the National Education of Women’s Leadership Fellowship.