Daniela Pila

Candidate statement

Daniela Pila is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University at Albany, SUNY. Her dissertation explores how legal status affects the ethnic identity formation of Filipino young adults in the Greater New York metropolitan area. Despite the nearly four million Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the United States today, there is an overwhelming lack of representation of Filipinos in higher education, with less than 100 tenured professors in the country . My graduate education exposed me to the racial backdrop of the United States and its central role in my racially-ambiguous identity. As a sociology professor, I intend to leverage my empowering journey to arm my students, particularly women of color, with the knowledge to critically discuss racial, gender, and ethnic issues in contemporary America. As a student representative on the AAAS executive board, I will advocate for a community for underrepresented AAPI scholars. My background as a 1.5 Filipino-immigrant will provide a unique perspective that reflects the interests of both foreign-born and native-born students.