The HICCUP Team!
How we began
Each member of the HICCUP Team worked as research assistants at Brooklyn College, where the group met. Over the years, co-founders Grace and Nirupika shared their challenges as women of color in psychology and soon enough, HICCUP was born!
Grace Flores-Robles
Co-Founder, PhD Student at the City University of New York
Grace Flores-Robles is a PhD student in the Basic and Applied Social Psychology program at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Her research interests focus on issues at the intersection of race, gender, and work. Currently, she explores the factors that make people see systemic injustice and organize for change, especially within care work. She has additional projects that aim to promote diversity in business fields and reduce epistemic exclusion in academia, which kickstarted her interest in the Hidden Curriculum.
nirupika sharma
Co-Founder, PhD Student at the University of California, Berkeley
Nirupika Sharma is a doctoral student in UC Berkeley’s social-personality psychology program. Broadly, her research focuses on the effects of identity on perceptions of the self (i.e., authenticity) and intra- and inter-group dynamics. More specifically, she is investigating the psychological and social implications of code-switching; cultural uniqueness; and the experience of shared reality. Her personal trajectory and research focus have culminated in goals to be more conscious of and acknowledge the unique challenges graduate students may face during their respective journeys.
Makesha balkaran
Research Assistant, BA from Brooklyn College, CUNY
Makesha Balkaran graduated with a bachelor’s in psychology from the Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College. Her research interests include exploring the impacts of identity and norms on educational attainment for minorities, and she hopes to pursue a career in research project management.
Erica Yoshimura
Research Assistant, Post Bacc Student at University of California, Berkeley
Erica Yoshimura studied comparative literature at Northwestern where she earned her bachelor’s, and, is currently pursuing a post-baccalaureate degree at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research now focuses on real people instead of characters in books. She is interested in investigating how people make meaning through narrative.