Vanessa Lopez
![](https://cmsi.gse.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/Lopez%20headshot_0.jpg)
Vanessa López is a first-generation college student raised in West Los Angeles, California. She is currently pursuing a B.A. in English at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Her current research links Third Space Theory and visual rhetoric. Her academic interests include social semiotics, critical discourse analysis, culturally responsive pedagogy, Chicanx studies, and performativity. Vanessa contributed to the WhatEvery1Says research project partnering CSUN and University of California, Santa Barbara by exploring discourse surrounding the humanities in Latin America. Vanessa also received the Henry Van Slooten Scholarship in English for her observations on the effect of unconventional narratives across literary genres. In her free time, Vanessa enjoys music, movies and spending time with her daughter.