Besides developing his dissertation prospectus, Albert Ponce used the time provided by his DIGSSS Summer Fellowship to polish and submit an article to the Graduate Paper Competition in Latin@ Studies at Wayne State University—"and actually won first prize." The reward: $1,000 and the opportunity to publish is paper—which places the migrant rights movement of 2006 in a historical context—in Critical Sociology. The media viewed the 2006 marches "as a form of collective action that just arose spontaneously and caught everyone off guard," Albert says. In contrast, he argues "that resistance and collective action have been part of the Mexican and Latino community" dating back to the second conquest of 1848.

Albert also made significant progress on the background research for his dissertation, which looks at the violence associated with policing migrants, from homeowner complaints about day laborers soliciting work on street corners to state-run sanctions against immigrants. Thanks to DIGSSS, "I was able to remain at UCLA and utilize its vast resources pertaining to my project."

Published in Winter 2011, Graduate Quarterly