Vanessa López entered California State University, Northridge in Fall of 2017. Since her arrival, she was selected as a CSUN Mellon Student Fellow and also awarded the Henry Van Slooten Scholarship in English. Vanessa presented at the Politics of Participation in Popular Culture conference in April 2018. She also partook in a summer intensive seminar for Pre-Doctoral Students. This fall, Vanessa will serve as a Supplemental Instructor for the Chicanx Studies department, emphasizing effective expository writing and logical composition. After graduation, Vanessa intends to pursue a degree in Rhetoric and Composition. Her current research links Third Space Theory and visual rhetoric. Other academic interests include social semiotics, critical discourse analysis, culturally responsive pedagogy, Chicanx studies and performativity.