Ayanda M. Masilela, PhC
I am currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington Department of Geography. My interests include cultural geography, health, and place, to name a few! I am always seeking new understandings and sources of learning in order to develop as a scholar and a person.
I spent my youth and early adult life in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. I enrolled at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) in 2006, where I began my studies at the Robert E. Cook Honors College that same year. During that time, I participated in the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program for two years. For my independent research I studied the potential for using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing sytemsfor highway safety and simulation design. I also had the privilege of studying abroad at Nagoya Gakuin Daigaku in 2009. In 2010, I graduated with a BA in Geography, concentrating in GIS and Cartography, and a second major in Asian Studies.
During the brief period between my undergraduate and graduate degree, I worked for the Northwestern Human Services. I also participated in several volunteer projects, including activism with the Coalition for a Healthy County in Indiana County, PA and IUP's TRIO Programs chapter with its grant proposal for renewed funding. Using GIS to conduct a comparative analysis of socioeconomic conditions and educational attainment in Indiana County, I was able to assist the Upward Bound Math and Science program with its case for the needs of a new funding pool. The TRIO Programs at IUP were awarded funding in September of 2012.
From 2012 to 2014 I attended Virginia Tech , where my interests shifted to geographies of health. I've continued on this path into my doctoral degree at the University of Washington, but have chosen to adapt qualitative methods alongside quantitative methods. It is my hope to become a well-rounded scholar who prioritizes context in equal measure to quantitative methodologies.