Direct measurement of cell mass and growth can be difficult with traditional techniques, leaving unanswered questions about how exactly cells grow and divide and how cell mass responds to changes in state or therapeutic treatment. A challenge encountered by other developing mass measurement techniques is accommodating the breadth in the modes of growth of various cell types. This dissertation introduces and develops live cell interferometry (LCI) for the optical tracking and rapid mass profiling of live cells with varying growth types. Mass quantification is demonstrated with picogram resolution on both adherent and non adherent cells as well as single cells and colony-forming cells. The flexibility and speed of the LCI is applied to assess the sensitivity of four human breast cancer lines (BT-474, MDA-MB-231, SK-BR-3, MCF-7) to the HER2-directed monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) and to the growth dynamics of human pluripotent stem cells (HSF1) differentiating under retinoic acid treatment. With the LCI, detecting the sensitivity of the breast cancer lines to trastuzumab is 20 times faster than traditional proliferation assays, an important advancement towards individualized cancer treatment where patient samples are fragile. Dense clusters of stem cells also pose no barrier and intracolony motion is quantified in addition to overall colony growth.

This project will explore the role of Ethnic Studies (ES) and Ethnic Studies-adjacent disciplines at California community colleges (CCCs) narrated through the experiences of four Asian American former community college student activists. Situating the historical significance of the 1968 Ethnic Studies movement, this study will highlight the under researched site of community college ES programs and their influence in shaping student’s politicization. Influenced by the implementation of AB1460 at the California State University system in 2020, this study looks at the experiences of four Asian American students that have been impacted by Ethnic Studies programs at their local community colleges, highlighting distinct forms of pedagogy affecting student activism, retention, and solidarity building processes in relation to their local communities. Conducted through in-depth interviews, this study develops a critical lens for challenging narratives of diversity and multiculturalism initiatives, rejecting neoliberal framings of ES. Overall, the anticipated outcome of this study is to further develop scholarship and interest in community college ES programs in relation to fostering student activism, retention, and political solidarity among students of color.

Through a case study of women moonlighting as karaoke hostess girls in Los AngelesKoreatown’s underground nightlife, I investigate the colonial connections between the historical racialization and fetishization of women and feminized labors in the context of U.S. militarization, colonialization, and Orientalism and how these frameworks have directly impacted women participating in contemporary forms of feminized labor in ethnic economies such as Los Angeles Koreatown. Through participant observation and ethnographic interviews of women working as karaoke hostess girls in Los Angeles Koreatown’s Korean karaoke bars, I trace their (in)formal social networks and capital building, aesthetics, performativity, and affective labors within and outside the workplace, examining how hostesses, both unknowingly and knowingly, build kinships and feminist solidarities across ethnic and socioeconomic borders despite the historical and colonial genealogical impact that pervade their labor environment and work dynamics, providing a more nuanced understanding of feminized labor within transnational ethnic service economies. Past studies on hostessing work have focused primarily on the experiences of lower-class Korean and Japanese migrant women partaking in hostessing work, centering the workplace and highlighting hostess work as a form of precarious labor and conflated the labor to that of utilized solely for upward socio-economic mobility. In my research, the objective is to comprehensively explore the experiences of multi-ethnic women hailing from diverse cultural backgrounds and seeks to transcend the conventional focus on Korean and Japanese migrant women commonly associated with hostessing work. I aim to uplift the experiences and voices of my co-conspirators, searching for insights into the challenges, opportunities, informal and formal networks, and social dynamics of this highly feminized and contentious form of labor. This act of re-centering of experiences of hostesses through prioritizing their perspectives, stories, and experiences holds the power to illuminate nuances of the workers themselves instead of sensationalizing them and their labor. This deliberate shift not only provides a direct counter-narrative to prevailing masculine and patriarchal narratives pervasive in both the global workplace and everyday existence.