Irina Chukhray, M.A. (pronounced: Eereena Chooh-Righ)
Irina is a Ph.D. candidate in the Sociology Department at the University of California, Davis, specializing in immigrant-origin youth (1.5-Generation youth who arrived to the U.S. before age 18) and their college-going experiences. Irina has earned several awards for her research, including fellowships from the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, Berkeley. Her research has been supported by the Immigration Initiative at Harvard University, the Penn Migration Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Originally born in Ukraine and being a first-generation college graduate, Irina has dedicated her research to understanding what factors help immigrant-origin students follow their college-going dreams. In 2023, Irina was selected by the Ukraine Global Scholars nonprofit organization to mentor low-income high-achieving Ukrainian students aspiring to attend college in the U.S. For more information, please visit www.irinachukhray.com.