College of Law > Academics > Centers, Institutes & Initiatives > Racial Justice Initiative > Student Researchers

Student Researchers

​​2025-2026

Anum Ali_web

As an undergraduate international relations major, Anum Ali studied the myriad systems that perpetuate inequality on a global scale—including structural racism’s impact on the criminal legal system in the U.S. and the ongoing economic and racial inequality in the Global South resulting from Western colonialism and imperialism. These studies led to a deep commitment to public defense and public international law.  

Anum, now a second year at DePaul Law is the director of events for APALSA, a junior staffer for the Journal for Social Justice, and a sitting member of DePaul’s DEI Student Committee. She continues to focus her studies on race and criminal justice in the U.S. and the impact of Western imperialism on racial inequity in the Global South. During her 1L year, she studied the Rwandan genocide while in Rwanda and visited memorials in Kigali and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. More recently, in the fall of her 2L year, she interned in the Cook County Public Defender’s Juvenile Justice Division. She’s excited to continue to pursue these interests through expanding her understanding of the barriers to racial equity in Illinois and working towards the removal of those barriers as a research assistant with the Racial Justice Initiative. 

Boscato

Lauren Buscato has dedicated her professional and academic career to addressing racial inequality and injustice in the policing and the criminal legal system. As a third-year law student in DePaul Law's evening program, Lauren is excited to examine these systemic issues through a legal lens as a research assistant with the Racial Justice Institute and grow her skills in advocating for racial justice at a community-driven, local level.

While earning a MPA in Public Policy and Administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, she was a Tow Policy Advocacy Fellow with JustLeadershipUSA, which aimed to cut the U.S. prison population in half by 2030. As a fellow, Lauren worked on the campaign to close the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City. In 2019, the New York City Council approved a plan to close Rikers and build four borough-based jails by 2027 and a commitment to reducing the city's overall jail population to 3,300. In Chicago, Lauren has worked in police reform and accountability spaces in city government. First, with the city's Office of Inspector General, Lauren performed programmatic evaluations of the Chicago Police Department and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, leading to reports on CPD's harmful continued use of a "gang database" and race- and ethnicity-based disparities in CPD's use of force. She also spent two years reviewing closed police misconduct cases for material deficiencies and systemic issues. Currently, Lauren works with the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, supporting the work of the seven-member appointed body in ensuring that community members are active stakeholders in reforming Chicago's police accountability and public safety systems.

Love

Taylor Love, a third-year law student at DePaul Law, serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Justice and co-president of the Public Interest Law Association and is an active member of the Student DEI Committee. Taylor’s academic interests lie in the intersections of race, criminal justice reform, housing, and the impact of economic policy on vulnerable communities. She is currently studying in the social effects of historically and structurally inequitable housing law, specifically in homeownership, evictions, and succession, and, as a member of DePaul Law Review, she wrote her student article on the topic of Urban Renewal and the ongoing displacement and destruction of thriving African American communities.

Taylor has gained experience interning with the Federal Defender Program, the Center for Disability & Elder Law and in private criminal defense. She currently works with the City of Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, continuing her commitment to public service and advocacy. She plans to pursue a career in criminal appeals and prison abolition while contributing to local housing reform.

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​​​​2024-2025

Anum Ali_web

As an undergraduate international relations major, Anum Ali studied the myriad systems that perpetuate inequality on a global scale—including structural racism’s impact on the criminal legal system in the U.S. and the ongoing economic and racial inequality in the Global South resulting from Western colonialism and imperialism. These studies led to a deep commitment to public defense and public international law.  

Anum, now a second year at DePaul Law is the director of events for APALSA, a junior staffer for the Journal for Social Justice, and a sitting member of DePaul’s DEI Student Committee. She continues to focus her studies on race and criminal justice in the U.S. and the impact of Western imperialism on racial inequity in the Global South. During her 1L year, she studied the Rwandan genocide while in Rwanda and visited memorials in Kigali and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. More recently, in the fall of her 2L year, she interned in the Cook County Public Defender’s Juvenile Justice Division. She’s excited to continue to pursue these interests through expanding her understanding of the barriers to racial equity in Illinois and working towards the removal of those barriers as a research assistant with the Racial Justice Initiative. 

Giana Aguilar-Valencia

Giana Aguilar-Valencia is a senior at DePaul University and is set to graduate this June with a B.A. in journalism and minors in computer science and political science. As a first-generation U.S. citizen and child of Colombian immigrants, Giana has witnessed first-hand the burdens that the U.S. legal system places on people who do not have U.S. citizenship. As a result of her experiences, she plans on attending law school after graduation.  

Giana’s social justice pursuits have thus far centered on media, education and technology. She is particularly interested in the intersection of law, policy, and technology and hopes to contribute to efforts aimed at dismantling systemic racism and building equitable maps in Chicago and Illinois. Giana’s research will focus on the use of AI in policing and immigration policy under Trump. She will also help develop RJI’s communications, enabling her to use both her journalism and social media expertise.

Naia Elliott

As a third-year law student at DePaul, Anaia “Naia” Elliott is dedicated to racial justice and the pursuit of equity within the legal system. Her dedication is rooted in both her own personal experiences as an African American woman and in the broader experiences of those in her community, particularly as those experiences relate to the criminal legal system. Having witnessed how a lack of legal knowledge can harm individuals, Naia is committed to using the law as a tool for advocacy—ensuring that she never finds herself in a situation where she cannot advocate for herself or others. Raised in a resource limited school, Naia faced significant challenges. However, with her mother’s unwavering support, she not only caught up but excelled, ultimately becoming one of the first African American students in her district to earn an associate’s degree while still in high school. Now, as an RJI research assistant, Naia is eager to continue her advocacy work, focusing on the intersection of criminal justice and social media as well as the use of AI in policing.

Shannon Howard

Shannon Howard was born and raised on Chicago’s Southside where she developed an early desire to help others. Over the years, this desire has translated into a passion for social justice and equity as well as an interest in community advocacy. 

As a recent Master of Legal Studies graduate and current FOIA officer for COPA, Shannon comes to RJI with a strong foundation in the handling of complex projects, legal research, compliance, and investigatory analysis. Her graduate work focused on public interest law, reflecting her commitment to promoting fairness, transparency, and accountability in the legal system. Shannon is excited to start as a research assistant for RJI and hopes to meaningfully contribute to the broader fight for equity, a cause she finds increasingly compelled to pursue given the current legal and social landscape. Her research will concern civil commitment reform.  

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​​​​​2023-2024

Briana

During her undergraduate studies, Briana Gastaldello was exposed to the prevailing social justice issues plaguing our communities and was given a space to discuss them. She loved being a part of those conversations, and that journey to find solutions led her to law school and fueled her desire to become an advocate for those who feel the weight of injustice. She began working with an organization that provides immigration services to low-income individuals and families and continued to work with the Public Guardian Ad Litem Board, learning how to serve the best interests of children in juvenile court. For the Racial Justice Initiative (RJI), she is working on legislative tracking for Illinois and Chicago, researching record expungement and assisting in analytics for the Chicago Police Consent Decree. The RJI allows her to stay engaged in the conversation and provides a channel for her to apply her growing skills to social justice issues in the community. 

Elizabeth
As a third-year law student aiming to work in policy and advocacy-oriented legal work post-graduation, Elizabeth Haris became involved with the Racial Justice Intitative because she believes that the law alone is insufficient to address racial injustice and inequity in the U.S. She believes that by organizing with groups and individuals dedicated to the furtherance of racial justice and equality, as well as conducting important research and engaging in advocacy work centered around legislative and policy reform, law students and lawyers have the potential to accomplish historical legal changes and reimagine a more just and equitable future. 
 
As a research assistant for DePaul's Inside-Out Think Tank at Statesville Prison, she also assists incarcerated Think-Tank members with drafting of legislative proposals aimed at addressing Illinois’s outdated and oppressive re-entry and parole laws. The Think Tank currently is working to increase the level of undergraduate and law student engagement in the advocacy work associated with this project, and she is helping Think Tank members create a graphic novel that illustrates and explains the systems of oppression that profoundly impact the incarcerated community in Illinois. 
Jack
As a second-year law student at DePaul, Jack McNeil is passionate about the intersection of public policy, race and the law. While working on campaigns in Chicago and across the state, he saw democracy working for some and failing others–largely still built on today’s color line. He also saw firsthand the power of advocates and movement lawyers, some of whom he has the honor of working with now, such as the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, in his role with the Racial Justice Initiative. Following undergraduate, he worked briefly in the Illinois State Senate before COVID-19 hit, and he decided to go to law school to learn the tools he could use to deconstruct broken systems that perpetuate systemic racism today.  
 
As voting rights are under attack, due in part from the Supreme Court’s Shelby and subsequent decisions, he feels it is important for law students speak clearly and honestly about the issues that lay ahead for our relatively recent multi-racial democracy to not only survive, but to be strengthened to advance racial equity.  
Jessica
As a former educator, Jessica Obi believes in equal access to quality education for all. Her previous work providing services to families living in local homeless shelters reinforced her belief in housing as a human right.  When she learned about the Racial Justice Initiative (RJI), she was thrilled about the opportunity to engage with issues close to her heart. She came to law school to gain tools to be a better advocate, and being a part of the RJI has given her the opportunity to work towards that goal.  
 
Her role with the RJI will include researching the Just Housing Amendment, which prohibits housing discrimination based on an individual’s criminal history. Specifically, she will be assessing the degree to which housing providers are complying with the Amendment.  
Beau
Beau Reeves joined the Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) to better learn how to help and improve marginalized communities. As an undergraduate, he had the opportunity to work as a data science intern with a nonprofit whose goal was to boost economic growth in low-income areas. His role involved collecting and analyzing school data across the state of Wisconsin to help the nonprofit find solutions to improve the schools in their own community. He has a similar role now with the RJI where he will work with the University of Chicago and their data analytics team to help determine whether the Chicago Police Department (CPD) is complying with a recently passed statute that requires the CPD to allow arrestees to make a phone call within the first hour of their arrest. He’s very glad to have the opportunity to use his IT background to help on this project.    
Ellerese
Ellerese Topacio joined the Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) to learn how to effectively combat racial inequities in her hometown of Chicago.  She lived in Chicago nearly her entire life and knows first-hand about the socio-economic effects caused by a citizen's racial identity. From overt racism to institutional barriers preventing minority groups from fulfilling their potential, she understands that there is an immense amount of work required to continue the momentum towards a more equitable society.  
 
In concert with the RJI, she is collaborating with the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights (CLCCR) to promote voter protection. She is researching ways to make the state's election laws more robust and combat the dilution of voting power, particularly among racial minorities. Cliff Helm and Ami Gandhi, two of CLCCR's leaders in voting rights and civic empowerment, have guided her throughout this experience. Their passion for ensuring that not only every voice has a vote, but every vote has an impact, resonates strongly with her. By the end of the semester, she intends to achieve some level of contribution in the fight to guarantee that no matter what language or race an individual beholds, they have the power to influence our democracy through voting. 

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