Research Interests

• Transborder/Transfronterize Students
• U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
• Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, and Latinx Studies
• Racial and Ethnic Identities
• Fieldwork and Qualitative Research Methods/Ethnography

Bio

Paula Michelle Ochoa is a Ph.D. student who studies the identity development of border commuters of the Matamoros, Tamps., Mexico/Brownsville, Texas borderlands. Michelle is interested in researching the influence of race, class, gender, culture, language, citizenship, and borderland location on transborder/transfronterize student’s academic success. They are also interested in working with mentorship and leadership programs designed to support underrepresented students, as well as help create inclusive spaces for transborder/transfronterize student commuters. She is currently working on their thesis “Border Commuting Student Experiences: Developing Transborder/Transfronterize Identities,” and as a Teacher Graduate Assistant with the Department of Sociology; as well as with the Department of History as a Research Assistant. Michelle holds a B.A. in Mexican American and Latinx Studies, and Government from The University of Texas at Austin.