Education

2030 — PhD, Environmental Science, Studies, and Policy. Graduate certificate in Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies. Committee: Ashley Cordes (chair), Sarah Wald, Stacy Alaimo. University of Oregon (Eugene, OR).

2023 — BA, American Studies, concentration in Vice and Violence, departmental honors. Minor in creative writing. Committee: Christine Palmer (co-chair), Sarah Gold McBride (co-chair), and Alexander Craghead. University of California (Berkeley, CA).

Scholarship

Research Experience

2025 – present — Co-organizer, the Racial Ecologies Lab. Center for the Study of Women in Society Research Interest Group.

2026 — Research Assistant, Tierra Viva Collaborative (Co-PIs Moe Gámez, Dr. Gabriela E. Nuñez, Dr. David J. Vasquez, Dr. Sarah D. Wald, and Dr. Priscilla Solis Ybarra).

2026 — Research Assistant; Convergence to Accelerate Research on Biological Sequestration (Co-PIs Dr. Lucas Silva, Dr. Ashley Cordes, Dr. Lillian Aoki, Dr. Jake Searcy, and Dr. Brendan Bohannan). 

2023 — Research Assistant, The Radical History of San Francisco Chinatown: A Digital Tour. Future Histories Lab (PI Dr. Lok Siu).

Publications

Ava Guihama Olson, Madison Fowler, Sarah Wald, and Ashley Cordes. “Six ways advocates and organizations can practice solidarity for environmental justice.” Resilience, August 7, 2026.

Conference Activity

August 2026 — “Settlers Gone Wild: Moves to Innocence in the Backpacking Memoir.” Supremacists, Settlers, and Tourists Gone Wild, Western Literature Association. Eugene, OR.

April 2026 — “Ancestral Fantasies & White Nationalism: Crater Lake National Park and Settler Colonial Mythology.” Oregon Indigenous and Settler Folk Geographies Panel, Western States Folklore Society. Eugene, OR.

Nov. 2025 — “Taxidermic Kinship and the California Grizzly Bear.” Haunted Wests Panel, Pacific Modern Language Association in collaboration with the Western Literature Association. 

May 2023 — “An American Happy Ending: Sex, Sickness, and Sin in the COVID-19 Pandemic.” American Studies Thesis Symposium, Berkeley, CA.

Aug. 2021 — “Fictional Violence, Real Brutality: The Police Procedural and Manufactured Consent.” Social Science Panel, Summer Undergraduate Research Conference, Berkeley, CA (remote). 

Workshop and Facilitation Activity

June 2026 — Collaborator on the Feminist Pedagogies Resource Hub. University of Oregon Women and Gender Studies Program, Eugene, OR.

Jan. 2026 — Graduate Lunch with Dr. Kate Hubert (facilitator). University of Oregon English Department, Eugene, OR. 

June 2025 — “Collaged Possibilities of Environmental Narratives.” UBC Okanagan’s FEELed Lab Symposium, Naramata, BC.

Dec. 2023 — “Our Bodies, Our Narratives: Zine-Making and Possibilities for Asian American Sex Workers.” CELESTE Working Group, Oakland, CA. 

July 2023 — “We Love Because HE Loved Us First,” Short Fiction Group, Tin House Summer Workshop, Portland, OR.

Oct. 2022 — “Organizing Sex Workers: Strippers United and the Star Garden Strike” (moderator). American Studies 102: The Workplace, Berkeley, CA. 

Teaching

University of Oregon

Instructor of Record
WR121z: Composition I (Fall 2025)

Graduate Teaching Assistant
ENVS 203: Environmental Humanities (Spring 2025; Dr. Emily Eliza Scott)
ENVS 203: Environmental Humanities (Winter 2025; Dr. Ashley Cordes)
ENVS 203: Environmental Humanities (Fall 2024; Dr. Sarah Wald)

University of California, Berkeley

Course Reader
American Studies 101: The Teen Age (Spring 2024; Dr. Christine Palmer).
American Studies 101: America in the Age of James Baldwin (Fall 2023,
Fall 2022; Dr. Christine Palmer)
American Studies 110: Media and Culture 1945-1994 (Spring 2023,
Dr. Christine Palmer). 

Instructor of Record
Ethnic Studies 198: Philippine Society and Revolution (Fall 2022, Spring 2023).
American Studies 198: Deconstructing America: Mythology and Hidden History
(Spring 2020).  

SELECTED HONORS AND AWARDS

2025 — Summer Research Fellowship ($2,000). UO Environmental Studies Program. 
2025 — Department of English Travel Award ($1,000). UO English Department.
2024 — Emerging Scholar. Center for Science Communication Research. 
2024 — Krohn Fellow for the Environmental Humanities ($1,500). UO English Department.
2024 — First Year Doctoral Fellowship ($2,000). UO Graduate School. 
2023 — Departmental Citation Winner (Valedictorian). American Studies Program, UC Berkeley.
2022 — American Studies Thesis Award ($400). American Studies Program, UC Berkeley. 
2021 — Adam Z. Rice Fellow for American Studies ($5,000). Adam Z. Rice Fund.
2017 — California Governor’s Medallion for Creative Writing.

Professional Service

2025 – 2026 — Graduate Student Representative for the Events Committee. Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon.

2025 – 2026 — Graduate Student Representative for the Diversity Committee. Department of English, University of Oregon.

2024 – 2025 — Graduate Student Representative for the Admissions Committee. Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon. 

2024 — Outreach Consultant. Natural History and Sustainability Program, Merritt College.

2023 – 2024 — CELESTE Asian American Sex Work Working Group. Theater, Dance, and
Performance Studies, UC Berkeley.

Community and Creative Experience

2026 – 27 — Vice President for Member Communications, Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation 3544.
2025 – present — Bargaining Team Member, Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation 3544.
2024 – present — Substitute Teacher, Ridgeline Montessori Public Charter School.
2024 — Substitute Teacher, Oakland Unified School District.
2024 — Educator, Acta Non Verba Youth Urban Farm Project.
2023 – 24 — Stewardship and Conservation Volunteer, East Bay Regional Parks District.
2023 — Short Fiction Writer, Tin House Summer Workshop.
2022 – 23 — Writing Director, Pilipinx Cultural Night.
2022 — Organizing Intern for SEIU-USWW and Teamsters 2010, UC Berkeley Labor Summer Program.
2021 — Caseworker, Suitcase Clinic.