Student Spotlight: Aspen K.B. Omapang

December 19, 2022—Updated April 28, 2025

Aspen K.B. Omapang is a doctoral student in information science from Hillsboro, Oregon. She earned a B.S. in computer science from American University and now studies the relationship between what a platform is, how it affects users, and the resulting interactions under the guidance of Drew Margolin, Steven Mana’oakamai Johnson, and Karen Levy.

What is your area of research and why is it important? (Updated April 28, 2025)

I study how technology fundamentally changes political participation processes. Whether this is showing up to provide oral testimony or the mass submissions to public rulemaking, technology plays a core role in the facilitation and storage of these moments of advocacy. However, technologies are made by humans, so they are built on specific cultural norms. My work specifically centers the tension between Indigenous people and occupying governments. How does the design and implementation of these technologies benefit certain advocacy techniques? I also study the process activists and organizers undergo to culturally translate in order to advocate within a foreign government.

What are the larger implications of this research? (Updated April 28, 2025)

Having political voice is one facet of advocacy. Perhaps the more important question is whether that expression of voice results in tangible change—a policy being created or changed. The path to social change is long, so being able to provide evidence that varying advocacy stances have in fact been expressed, and not listened to, allows advocates to step beyond these arguments and onto other forms of making change. This is particularly important when, as is true in my case, your community is subject to occupation. Evidence is one vital tool in educating and organizing communities. I hope my work contributes to the efforts of community organizers and activists.

Why did you decide to become a mentor with the MAC Mentoring Program?

During my first year as a Ph.D. student, I joined the MAC Mentoring Program as a mentee. As a first-generation scholar who grew up low-income and has various identities not represented in academe, it was pivotal to receive mentorship support. Moving into my third year, I feel I have reached a level of competency about the knowledge generation process and navigating the university that I would be well set to give back. A quote from a colleague years ago still speaks to me: “a hand up and a hand back.” Hands up help you; they provide support. Hands back make sure we are bringing each other along.

Why is it important for students to participate in peer mentoring programs?

Mentorship is important for two reasons. First, academe was not built for marginalized scholars. Second, if we are to persist we must be tapped into a network of support. Having peers as mentors provides a bridge between the mentorship provided by your committee and the lived reality of being a Ph.D. student. What I have personally found validating is seeing women, queer people, and disabled people senior to me succeeding. It fundamentally changes my relationship to who I am in academe and has been pivotal in redefining what impact I want to make in my next career.

What does it mean to you to be a Bouchet Scholar? (Added April 28, 2025)

I look back on the five years I have spent at Cornell as a Ph.D. student, and now candidate, and reflect on the amount of growth I have experienced. In my first two years, I was struggling to keep my head above water. The A exam at times felt insurmountable. Now I look at the successes I have been able to achieve reciprocating the mentorship, care, and community I had received in those early years. This past academic year I was a MAC mentor, Graduate and Professional Student Coordinator at the Gender Equity Resource Center, and president of the Indigenous Graduate Student Association (IGSA), all on top of my dissertation workload. In a sentence, becoming a Bouchet Scholar feels like a capstone on my long journey of becoming a community leader and academic.

How do you exemplify the five pillars of the Bouchet Society—character, leadership, advocacy, scholarship, and service? (Added April 28, 2025)

Each of these qualities represent a very high bar for anyone attempting a Ph.D. program, so to be recognized is an exceptional feeling. It is a recognition that I share with the outstanding mentors, activists, and teachers in my life who have given me the tools to become who I am today. Becoming an advocate and leader is often a necessity as a multiply marginalized person—we have no other option but to stand up in the face of fear. In my time at Cornell, I have served on countless panels and committees, led student organizations, organized my department, mentored many successful students, spoke and wrote my politics into being, and aligned my dissertation in service of my community. While time consuming and exhausting at times, there have been profoundly hopeful moments found in this work. It is this hope that drives and informs my advocacy and leadership.

What are your hobbies or interests outside of your research or scholarship?

When I am able to take a day off and rest, I immediately feel myself drawn to writing. A conversation can spur a blog post, a scenic vista manifests as a poem, and returning home can turn into a chapter of fiction. I have also made incredibly meaningful friendships during my time at Cornell. This semester we have enjoyed live music, apple picking, and cider tasting together!

Why did you choose Cornell to pursue your degree?

I was the first student at American University to major in both computer science and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. While this was exciting, when I turned to Ph.D. programs it was incredibly difficult to find where I belonged and could succeed. Information science programs are an ideal fit and Cornell is top in the field. I was particularly excited at working with Natalie Bazarova, who runs the Social Media Lab. From a practical level, Cornell is an Ivy-League university, which is fully-funded and provides unprecedented opportunities when you graduate.