The Stanford Center for Racial Justice welcomes our inaugural group of research assistants, who will be working with Faculty Director and law professor Rick Banks to examine unique and challenging questions related to his research. These areas include critical race theory, racial inequality in higher education, race and democracy, and other law and policy related issues. We’re excited to bring their stellar range of personal, academic, and professional experiences to our Center this winter quarter!

Meet Our Winter 2023 Research Assistants

Aneliese Castro | Aneliese (she/her), a third-year Stanford Law School student from Los Angeles, is interested in improving health inequities and correcting structural racism within the U.S. healthcare system through public health advocacy and health law reform. Before law school, she earned a Master of Public Health from the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. While there, she was a Public Health Advocacy Fellow, was awarded the Lee Thomanssen Healthcare Finance Fellowship, won the UCLA Sinaiko Business Plan Competition, and interned for the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles. In law school, she is the Diversity Chair for the Stanford Law Review and has previously spent two years working as a Research Fellow for the Robert Crown Law Library. She is also a member of the Stanford Latinx Law Students Association (SLLSA); the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association (APILSA); the Women of Color Collective (WoCC); and the Older Wiser Law Students (OWLs).

Ross Snyder | Ross, a 1L at Stanford Law School, was born and raised in Denver. His studies focus on the interactive effects of racial and economic inequality on American democracy. Before coming to Stanford, Ross completed his bachelor’s in government and history at Georgetown. During his time there, Ross founded and served as president of the Georgetown ACLU, was a Presidential Fellow with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, and worked as a Student Strategist with the McCourt School of Public Policy. His thesis focused on the impact of foreign policy on Supreme Court rulings on race in the 20th century. After graduating in 2020, Ross pursued an MPhil in comparative politics at Oxford. His master’s thesis explored the mechanisms that help sustain racial and economic inequality in progressive communities in the United States. At Stanford, Ross is a volunteer for the Housing and Social Security Disability Pro Bono projects and a member editor of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal.