Alyssa Newman, PhD

Alyssa received her PhD in Sociology with a doctoral emphasis in Black Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2018. During her graduate studies, her research interests centered around the production of racial meaning with a focus on multiraciality. She has explored these topics through research projects relating to collective identity formation, biology and genetics, the intersection of mixedness and masculinity, as well as family relationships and reproduction. Prior to the Hecht- Levi fellowship, Alyssa was the Hixon-Riggs Early Career Fellow in Science and Technology Studies at Harvey Mudd College, where she taught courses on technology and human reproduction and scientific and popular perceptions of racial mixing. Her current research uses gamete donation as a site to investigate how ideas about race, culture, genetics, and connection to family background inform the selection of a gamete donor.