Meet the Team
Iván Chaar López
Principal Investigator
Iván Chaar López is an Assistant Professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the Principal Investigator of the Border Tech Lab, and his work appears in American Quarterly, Social Studies of Science, Critical Ethnic Studies, The Guardian, and Interactions (ACM). He is also the author of The Cybernetic Border: Drones, Technology, and Intrusion (Duke University Press, 2024). As a member of Precarity Lab, Chaar López co-wrote Technoprecarious (Goldsmiths, 2020) and "Digital Precarity Manifesto" (Social Text, 2019).
Claire Fitch
Graduate Researcher
Claire is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas at Austin. She works at the intersection of geography, critical media studies, and STS, taking interest in the technological mediation of emplacement. Her research studies the spatial imaginaries of contemporary technocapitalism, focusing on the technocultures of Austin, Texas and the socio-spatial relations they foment.
Odalis Garcia Gorra
Graduate Researcher
Odalis Garcia Gorra is a doctoral student in American Studies at UT Austin. She has a BA from The New School in Journalism with a concentration in Religious Studies, and an MA in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School. Her research explores diasporic Latinx and Caribbean identities. She's specifically interested in how Latinx digital communities become pathways for innovative cultural expression, identity formation, and how Latinidad is commodified.
Isabella Haid
Visiting Researcher
Bio
Astrid Liu
Undergraduate Researcher
Astrid is an undergraduate student pursuing a BSA in Mathematics and a BDP certificate in Social Inequality, Health & Policy. Their research interests include the medical and environmental history of empire, plantation geographies, and the commodification of nature. Their research focuses on how epistemic and material violence affect the production of urban space. Astrid also enjoys learning about critical theory, poststructuralism, experimental film, literature, art, and music.
Crys Zhao
Graduate Researcher
Crys Zhao is a doctoral student in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Their current research investigates how Chinese migration to the Pacific Islands redefines American Oceanic borders, impacting U.S. militarism in the Pacific and border patrol policies in the continental U.S. Crys is also interested in Asian diasporas/mobilities, digital humanities, and borderland histories. They graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Gender and Women’s Studies from UW-Madison.
BTL Alumni
Emma Li
Undergraduate Researcher
Emma Li graduated the University of Texas at Austin with a major in Race, Indigeneity, and Migration, and Marketing. She will be joining the Boston Consulting Group as an Associate. Emma's interests include diaspora experiences, social movements, and Chinese society and politics. In her free time, she loves exploring coffee shops around Austin, becoming an amateur ceramicist, and bouldering!
Anahí Ponce
Graduate Researcher
Anahí Ponce is an El Paso native, writer, and scholar. She holds a BA in English and American Literature from the Univ. of Texas at El Paso, an MA in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies (MALS) from the Univ. of Texas at Austin, and is a current doctoral candidate in MALS. Her research focuses on digital technologies as methods of contemporary borderlands activism. Anahí is interested in how queer, and women of color borderlands residents work with and against the grain of the digital to do political organizing and construe notions of identity, belonging, and solidarity.
Carolina Vela
Undergraduate Researcher
Carolina Vela graduated the University of Texas at Austin, earning their B.A. in History. Their research interests include border histories/narratives, critical urban studies, and artistic methods of collective resistance. Outside of academia, Carolina enjoys spending time working through their long (much-ignored) list of films and walking around the neighborhoods of Austin.
Victoria Sánchez
Visiting Researcher
Victoria joined the lab in spring 2021 until spring 2023. She received her BA from Carleton College and her MA from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research interests include feminist STS, the racial politics of care, game studies, and Latinx Studies. You can find her furthering diversity and inclusion efforts at Riot Games.