"If Black Lives Matter, this work is important. If we want to Abolish I.C.E., this work is important. If Global warming is important, so is this work. This research doesn't exist in a vacuum and it is all connected." UC Santa Cruz alum Aitanna Parker plans to use her technical expertise for social good. With UCSC dual degrees in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, and Technology and Information Management, she works with the Theorizing Race After Race group at the Science and Justice Research Center. Her research, looking at datasets to understand how COVID is negatively impacting racialized populations in the United States, shows the disparities linked to race and the medical industrial complex. She says, "It is important to understand how COVID is negatively impacting these populations because people are impacted based on their race. Yes, race is a social construct, but there are tangible effects to being brown or black in the U.S." Get more info on Aitanna's work at our link in bio...