In addition to our current team and faculty associates, CHASI has collaborated with a number of past student research assistants and interns, and we thank them for their impactful contributions to our research.
Research assistant: Gina Dhinsa
Gina recently graduated from UFV with a bachelor of arts in global development studies and a minor in economics. Gina has been volunteering for the UFV Student Refugee Program for the past three years and is passionate about supporting those impacted by the refugee crisis. She has also worked for her Member of Parliament and hopes to one day work for Global Affairs Canada.
Research assistant: Michelle Grafton
Michelle is a student at UFV working towards a degree in sociology with a social research concentration as well as an extended minor in psychology. She currently works as a research assistant on a qualitative study exploring the education of paramedics and as a Supported Learning Groups leader for an introductory sociology course.
Michelle is extremely excited to be joining the team at CHASI and looks forward to the opportunity to put what she’s learned at university into practice!
Michelle recently presented her work, alongside CHASI faculty associate Dr. Michael Corman, at the Pacific Sociological Association conference. Watch the video here.
Research Assistant: Klara Goettke
CHASI research assistant Klara is a graduate from Bishop’s University with a triple major in biochemistry, pre-medicine, and biology (concentration in health science). Her current project with CHASI utilizes British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) data to create a health and demographic database for use in identifying and addressing health issues in local communities.
Klara’s interests include medicine, outdoor recreation, and music. She enjoys using her knowledge of biology and passion for medicine to partner with local communities and encourage positive health outcomes.
Research assistant: Kayla Harvey
Kayla is a student at UFV working towards a degree in psychology with a minor in sociology, who aspires to start a career in trauma counseling. Kayla became involved with CHASI in the 2021 Fall semester and enjoys working alongside her co-workers on impactful community projects.
In her spare time, Kayla engages in a variety of leisure activities such as camping/backpacking, spending time with her brother working on their cars and reading psychological academic literature. Sports have always been a large part of her life; having played soccer and running competitive track-and-field throughout high school, with a recent transition to competitive show jumping.
Kayla is very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the team at CHASI and looks forward to contributing to future projects.
Graphic Design Intern: Celina Koops
Celina is a proud Indigenous designer and illustrator. She is a UFV bachelor of fine arts student majoring in the graphic and digital design program. She creates eclectic and thoughtful designs inspired by many genres, with illustrations reflecting how enthusiastic and wild she aspires to be. Celina has a passion to collaborate with like-minded people and values relationships. In her free time, Celina enjoys drawing, dancing to music, hiking, and petting dogs.
You can see Celina’s work on Instagram at @celinamedia
Research Assistant: Vicki Lin
Vicki is currently completing her final year of a bachelor of arts in criminal justice with a minor in sociology at UFV. In addition to her work in the Hub, she is also an ophthalmic technician at Fraser Valley Cataract & Laser.
Her current project with CHASI includes creating a national directory database of universities, colleges, and friendship centres with the objective of catalogue employment and skills development opportunities for Indigenous Communities. This project is in association with the Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada (AFAC) through the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council (NIFSC) Project. Vicki looks forward in continuing her work with CHASI and the community.
Research assistant: Alexa Murray-Schlitt
Alexa is a third-year student at UFV pursuing a degree in sociology with a minor in anthropology. She started at CHASI as a research assistant in summer 2021 and has enjoyed putting her studies into practice while getting to meet and work with like-minded people for a meaningful cause. When she’s not studying or researching, Alexa spends her time listening to music, creating art, reading, and basking outside in nature.
Admin Assistant: Kim Swanepoel
Kim Swanepoel is joining CHASI as a practicum student from the applied business technology program at UFV.
Kim has a background in trauma informed care, with experience as a youth support worker and later as an administrator. She enjoys organization, data analytics, and office and data management. Kim is currently involved in social media marketing, and enjoys expressing her creative side through content design. Kim loves the outdoors, and in her downtime likes to snowboard and hike.
She is looking forward to utilizing her skills while at CHASI and will be demonstrating those organization skills while she updates the ever-growing project list.
Research Assistant: Ruoyu (Sherry) Xiao
Sherry graduated from University of the Fraser Valley with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. As a witness of global inequality and systemic racism, her research interests lie broadly within political theory, gender, and ethnicity. She is particularly interested in contemporary Chinese studies. Her research work has been focused on discourse analysis and the construction of ethnic boundaries. She aspires to pursue graduate education, as well as seek research opportunities. Sherry was born and raised in the southwest region of Sichuan Province, China. Prior to studying in social, cultural and media studies in UFV, She was influenced by the feminist movement in China and developed her interest in gender studies. Her academic choices have been profoundly shaped by her living experiences. As an individual, she loves singing, playing video games and 3D model and texture creation.