Student Curators
Mitra Aminian is in the class of 2027 and is a Neuroscience major on the pre-medical track in the College of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland College Park. Mitra is a researcher in MSI, where she is working to find the connections between drug abuse in youth and rock and roll artists drug use in the 1970s. Mitra is enjoying looking at the psychological effects that drug use has on artists and how these behaviors are modeled for the youth population.
Christian Andriolas is part of the class of 2027 and is a Journalism major at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism with a minor in General Business. In MSI, he researches the Vietnam War’s connection to culture and music in America, specifically at UMD, in a project entitled “Rhythms of War.”
Madeleine Antevil is a Psychology major within the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS) intent on graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 2027 from the University of Maryland, College Park. Maddie is a researcher in the MSI stream where she is performing original research into the connections between rock music and its drug subculture within and around the University of Maryland campus. She has enjoyed exploring the 1970s and comparing it to today within the contextual lens of music.
Catherine Argentina is part of the class of 2027 and studies Engineering in the A. James Clark School of Engineering. In the MSI, she researched Vietnam War’s connection to music and culture in America, specifically focusing on UMD. Catherine connects lyrics of popular war songs to the overwhelming protests that took place on campus.
Josephine ‘Jo’ Ashley-Osuzoka is an Architecture major with a minor in History and Theory of Architecture at the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. She is part of class of 2025 and a researcher in the FIRE MSI stream at the University of Maryland College Park where she worked on a project titled “Black UMD: Space, Expression, Community”. In this project, she explores how space, expression, and the rise of social movements in the 70s contributed to community health within the Black community at UMD.
Bella Baker is part of the class of 2027 and is a Psychology major in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. In the FIRE program’s MSI stream at the University of Maryland, they worked on a project titled “Rhythms of Resistance: The Intersection of Black Feminism and Music in the Era of Black Power.” With this project, they aim to help break down the intersectionality of discrimination faced by Black women and to make this complex concept more accessible through analyzing music.
Matt Brown is part of the class of 2027 and is a Psychology major with a minor in Sociology, in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. He is a researcher in the MSI stream in the FIRE program at the University of Maryland and worked on the project titled “Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: Functions of Protest among the Youth” in 2024. This project focuses on youth activism as a subset of socialism in the 1970s, specifically focusing on the manifestation of recreational drug use, feminism, and the sexual revolution. Matt hopes to continue social and behavioral research in their academic and professional future.
Alyssa Brunetto is part of the class of 2027 and is a Psychology major in the College of Behavioral Arts and Sciences with a minor in General Business. In MSI, she worked on a project titled, “Canonization of 1970s Rock at the University of Maryland,” which focuses on how rock music became so revered and how students contributed to this process. This research process taught her the specificities of research and how to analyze archival sources.
Katie Dodge is part of the class of 2027 at the University of Maryland and is a Psychology major in the College of BSOS, seeking to add Finance as another major. She is a researcher in the MSI stream of the FIRE program. She worked on a project titled “70s Social Advocacy Through Artist Persona on Students at UMD,” which focuses on the social and political influence that artists had through their impact on music and attitudes.
Madelynn Dorf is part of the class of 2027 and is a Psychology & Criminology double major at the University of Maryland in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. In the FIRE: MSI stream, she researched prominent artists in the 70s who contributed to social and political change through their music and personal messages in a project titled, “70s Social Advocacy Through Artist Persona on Students at UMD.”
Miah Duncan is part of the class of 2027 and is a Journalism major in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. In MSI, she contributed to the project titled, “Rhythms of Resistance: The Intersection of Black Feminism and Music in the Era of Black Power.” She researched popular Black women artists in the 1960s and 1970s to highlight their empowerment and struggles through a period of discrimination.
Isabelle Fink is part of the class of 2027 and is a Public Relations Communication major in the College of Arts and Humanities with a minor in General Business. In this research she worked on a project titled, “Canonization of 1970s Rock at the University of Maryland,” which focuses on how rock music became popularized and coined the term classic rock due to students’ contributions. This research process taught her how to investigate archival sources and how to interpret them into her analyses.
Nataliya Grant is a student at the University of Maryland and is a part of the Class of 2027. She intends to study biology on a pre-med track in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. In the FIRE: MSI stream, she collaborated with other students on the research project “Rhythms of Resistance: The Intersection of Black Feminism and Music in the Era of Black Power.” In this project her team focused on Black female artists of the 1970s and their importance in social movements within the music industry and at the University of Maryland.
Meredith Heubeck is a Neuroscience major within the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland. She is expected to graduate in the spring of 2027. She is a researcher in FIRE: Music & Social Identity, currently working on a project titled, “Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll: Functions of Protest among the Youth”. Her research focuses on youth activism and rebellious behavior at UMD in the 1970s, which hopes to highlight the underlying features of socialism on campus.
Ariella Hirschhorn is a part of the class of 2027 as well as a Computer Science major within the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Science. In MSI, she worked on a research paper titled, “Canonization of 1970s Rock at the University of Maryland,” which focuses on how rock music became popularized in the 1970s, and how it stayed popular, through student perspectives from the University of Maryland. This process taught her a lot about how research works and how to formulate new analyses on old cases.
Journey Hodari is a member of the University of Maryland’s class of 2027 and an Information Science major. As part of FIRE; MSI, she has collaborated with a team on the research of the Black Arts Movement, with an emphasis on the theatrical arts, and its impact on Black identity in a project titled “Breaking Boundaries: Black Musical Theatre and Artistic Individualism.”
Hayden Polsky is an undergraduate student of the University of Maryland class of 2027. He is a dual-degree student pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Theatre (College of Arts and Humanities) and Government/Politics (College of Behavior and Social Sciences). His MSI project, titled “Breaking Boundaries: Black Musical Theatre and Artistic Individualism,” examines the Black Arts Movement, with a focus on Black musical theatre, and the role these trends played in the expansion and diffusion of structural racism post-1960.
Alex Reyes is part of the class of 2025, majoring in Theatre with a minor in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Politics (S.T.E.P) As part of the MSI stream, he analyzed substance abuse in the 1970s and how it affected famous singers in terms of how they crafted their work by using drugs to then release their music to the world.
Priyanka Saini is a member of the class of 2027 and is an undergraduate Criminology & Criminal Justice student within the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a researcher in the MSI stream of the FIRE program. While in the program, she has conducted extensive research about the Vietnam War and how it intersected with music and displays of resistance at UMD in the 1970s.
Lauren Scisci is part of the class of 2027 and is majoring in general biology at CMNS College on the pre-medicine track. She is a researcher in the MSI stream of FIRE, where she researches music and culture during the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, working on a project titled “Rhythms of War.”
Annie Song is an undergraduate Psychology Student in the Class of 2027 at the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences located in the University of Maryland, College Park. As a researcher in MSI, she collaborates with her peers researching the Music of UMD Student Resistance in the 1970s regarding the Vietnam War and Cambodian War protests.
Marypearl Tienabeso is a part of the class of 2027 and is a Psychology major (College of Behavior and Social Science) at the University of Maryland. She is a researcher in the MSI stream where she is researching black theater. Her project is titled “Breaking Boundaries: Black Musical Theatre and Artistic Individualism.”
Liam Wood is part of the University of Maryland’s College of Behavioral and Social Sciences as a Government & Politics major in the class of 2027. He is a researcher for the MSI stream of FIRE, examining closely the Vietnam War and its subsequent protests at UMD.
Peer Research Mentors
Payton Buchner is a Peer Research Mentor for the MSI stream of FIRE at the University of Maryland. She is a member of the Class of 2026 as well as a molecular, cellular, and physiological neuroscience major within the CMNS college. Within MSI, Payton oversees projects ranging from the Vietnam War & rock music to Black theater & race relations.
Maddie Reynoso is a member of the Class of 2026 and is a Government & Politics major in the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences. Maddie is a Peer Research Mentor for the MSI stream of FIRE at the University of Maryland. Maddie worked directly alongside 4 teams including projects: The Music of Student Resistance, Black Identities, Social Advocacy, and Rhythms of Resistance: The Intersection of Black Feminism and Music in the Era of Black Power.
Yusra Yousuf is a Psychology major in the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences and a member of the class of 2026. She oversees two groups as a Peer Research Mentor for the MSI stream of FIRE. Yusra manages projects about the canonization of rock music and its relation to the Vietnam War.