Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
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Carlos Valencia
Undergraduate, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
BioBorn in Camarillo, California, Carlos Valencia learned early that challenges forge resilience. As the son of a hard-working immigrant family, he spent summers working in the avocado and lemon industry—a childhood that taught him the value of grit and the power of opportunity. Today, as a Mechanical Engineering student at Stanford University, he channels that determination into robotics, education advocacy, and uplifting communities.
Carlos loves learning about robotic technology and has worked on numerous projects related to the field. Carlos’s passion for engineering took root in high school. As the former president of the ACHS MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science, & Achievement) chapter, he mentored 45+ first-generation students, leading them to compete in national STEM competitions. In the summer of 2024, he worked with L5 Automation, a robotics company based in La Cañada, CA, in Olmos, Peru where he helped develop harvesting platforms for one of the largest agriculture producers in Peru.
Beyond engineering, believes in the power of storytelling to inspire action. His TEDx talk, “Avocados Rot” drew from his upbringing to challenge audiences to seize fleeting chances—a message that resonated globally. Recognized as Camarillo Youth of the Year (2023) and awarded the Bronze Volunteer Award by the American Red Cross, he balances innovation with service, whether rebuilding communities after disasters or leading robotics teams.
Carlos’s mission is to democratize STEM access. Carlos envisions a world where education erases barriers. He aims to pioneer low-cost robotic solutions for agriculture and healthcare while expanding mentorship networks for first-gen students. When not engineering or volunteering, he unwinds by hiking, playing pickup soccer, or tinkering with 3D printers. -
Eric Van Danen
Director of Communications, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Current Role at StanfordDirector of Communications, Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE)
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Cassaundra Vergel
Senior Committee and Project Manager, VPO PGP Operations
BioCassie Vergel is a Senior Committee and Project Manager in the Vice Provost's Office in VPUE. Prior to her current position, she worked as a Committee and Project Manager in Residential Programs in VPUE and served as a Program Associate in Residential Education supporting the dorms in Stern.
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Kirsten Isabel Verster
COLLEGE Lecturer
BioHumanities Resume:
TBD
Teaching Resume: TBD
PhD/Science:
While most of us are familiar with vertical transfer (e.g. I get genes from my father and mother), I find horizontal gene transfer (HGT) - exchanging genes between species - far more compelling. Imagine if you ate a jellyfish and the next day you glowed in the dark and had poisonous stingers! The prevalence of HGT in natural history, and its ability to suddenly create incredible phenotypes in animals, is becoming more apparent every year. I am currently studying HGT of cytolethal distending toxin B in insects in the Integrative Biology Department at University of California - Berkeley. I discovered that cdtB was transferred into the genomes of several drosophilid and aphid lineages (Verster et al 2019, Molecular Biology and Evolution). I also recently found that cdtB (in addition to other toxin genes) was transferred into an agriculturally devastating clade of insects known as midges - and, interestingly, that living in the same habitat may increase the likelihood of HGT between organisms (Verster and Tarnopol et al 2021, Genome Biology and Evolution).
Education
BA, Spanish Literature, University of Florida, 2014
BA, Zoology, University of Florida, 2014
PhD, University of California - Berkeley, 2022
Postdoc, Stanford University, 2022 - 2024
COLLEGE Lecturer, 2024-present -
Cynthia Laura Vialle-Giancotti
COLLEGE Lecturer
BioCynthia is a Lecturer for the Civic, Liberal, and Global Education Program in Undergraduate Education.
Her research encompasses 17th and 18th century French literary forms, with a focus on novels, literary portraits, gendered and ageist representations.
Her dissertation titled: "Framing Portraits in 18th-Century French Novels" focuses on the portrayal of the body in French fiction of the 17th and 18th centuries. Its principal aim is to show the import of 17th century female authors in shaping 18th century descriptive practices. It also reveals the functions that descriptions of the body serve in the 18th century: instructing and guiding the reader, as well as entertaining her. Lastly, it underlines how descriptive practices offered a medium for female authors to assert their cultural primacy, against male narrative traditions.
Teaching is my greatest passion. At Stanford I have taught and TA'd classes on various subjects (French language, European History, Italian literature, German Culture, English Gothic Novels, Autobiographies and History of Revolutions) using innovative methods and assignments. My whole teaching approach is oriented toward one goal: to make students perceive the real-life impact of literary studies in particular and the humanities more in general. I am committed to rendering the study of the humanities and the apprenticeship of languages accessible to our diverse community. Having been a FLI (First Generation College) student I understand the difficulties that students from this community encounter and I am happy to support them in their learning needs.
Research Interests: the novel and novel theory, gender studies, life-writing genres, the body and issues of corporality (death, sickness, aging), supernatural genres, violence against women, history and art history. -
Lorenzo Vigotti
Overseas Studies ? Florence, Bing Overseas Studies
BioLorenzo received a M.Arch. from the University of Florence, Italy, and a Ph.D. in architectural history from Columbia University. The focus of his research is the origin of the Renaissance palace and domestic lifestyle in Italy during the 14-15th centuries. He received a EU grant to study the circulation of architectural knowledge between medieval Persia and Italy, specifically the materiality and the problems of preservation of brick dome structures.
Lorenzo has been the recipient of fellowships and grants from the European Union, NEH, the Kress and Mellon Foundations, the Society of the Architectural Historians, and the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio. He taught courses on Western architecture and urban planning at Columbia, NYU, Pratt Institute, University of Utah, Union College, and University of Bologna.
