Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellows

Emilio Leal Cárdenas was born and raised in Fresno, California. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from California State University, Fresno. In 2014, he pursued doctoral studies at Purdue University under the supervision of Prof. Arun K. Ghosh. His doctoral studies focused on the design and synthesis of potent and selective aspartic acid protease inhibitors as potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, Type-2 Diabetes, and HIV. In 2019, he started postdoctoral studies at the University of Michigan under the supervision of Professor Amanda L. Garner. His postdoctoral work focused on the design and synthesis of m7GMP-derived cap-binding inhibitors of eIF4E as a potential treatment for cancer. In 2025, he joined the group of Professor Osvaldo Gutierrez to work on the development of multicomponent iron-catalyzed radical cross-coupling reactions. Cárdenas will be mentored by Osvaldo Gutierrez, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Mario Gómez Zamora is a scholar of queerness, gender and sexuality, migration, memory, Latinx studies, dance studies, Indigenous performances, and P’urhépecha studies. He earned his PhD and MA at UC Santa Cruz in Latin American and Latino studies with an emphasis in anthropology. He holds a master’s in teaching history from Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, and a BA in secondary education with a concentration in history from Normal Superior Juana de Asbaje in Michoacán. Gómez Zamora is a first-generation P’urhépecha and mestizo scholar (the son of a mestiza mother and a P’urhépecha father) originally from Tangancícuaro, Michoacán, where he was raised by his grandparents, aunts, and sister. For over a decade, he has collaborated with P’urhépecha youth and elders in the recollection of oral histories in his community of origin, which culminated in the multilingual publication Entre el Recuerdo y la Memoria: Historias de Patamban. As a UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, he will work on his book project “Queer P’urhépecha Histories and Performances Beyond Borders,” in which he explores the cultural tensions that queer Indigenous P’urhépechas face when participating in their communities’ traditions and ceremonies in both sites of the border. Gómez Zamora will receive mentorship from Professor Jason De León in the Department of Anthropology, who will help Mario to analyze systemic issues related to the murder and migration of queer P’urhépechas.

Nancy Molina-Rogers earned both her doctoral and master’s degrees in communication from the UC Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the relationship between social media and collective action among marginalized groups, with a particular emphasis on racial and ethnic identity. In her dissertation, she explored how advantaged and disadvantaged groups differ in their perceptions of social media as a tool for group-empowering online activities, such as collective action. As a UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Molina-Rogers will build on this foundation by examining media literacy and political participation within the Latine community. Her work will specifically focus on how news consumption on social media platforms shapes these dynamics. Her fellowship appointment will be in the Department of Communication, under the mentorship of Professor Stuart Soroka.