CV

chelsearoesch [at] ucsb [dot] edu

Education

University of California, Santa Barbara

PhD, Film and Media Studies, emphasis in Information Technology + Society (in progress)

MA, Film and Media Studies (2023)

Hampshire College

B.A., Media and Cultural Studies (2014)

Awards

2021–2026 Regents Fellowship in Film and Media Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

2025 Brython Davis Endowment Graduate Fellowship

2024 Building Intellectual Community Grant, University of California, Irvine Humanities Center

2023 University of California Marxist Institute for Research (UC-MIR) Summer Seminar Inaugural Cohort

2022–2024 HASTAC Scholars Fellow

2022–2023 Multicampus Graduate Student Working Group Grant, University of California Humanities Research Institute

2022–2023 Graduate Collaborative Award, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center at University of California, Santa Barbara

2014–2016 North American Language and Culture Ambassador, Government of Spain

2013 Reproductive Rights Activist Service Grant, Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program

2010–2014 Hampshire College New Faculty Scholarship, 2010–2014

Publishing

Coeditor, Media Fields, “Special Issue: Media Literacy of the American Alt-Right,” 2025.

Editorial Assistant, Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies (Duke University Press), 2021–2023.

Conference Presentations and Public Talks

  • Model Dealers: Women’s Work and the Facilitation of Risk in the Digital Casino,” Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, August 2025.

  • “Model Dealers and Screen Workers: Women’s Work and the Reproduction of Capital in the Digital Casino,” Console-ing Passions. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, June 2025.

  • “Carsey-Wolf Center Docs: Shut Up and Sing discussion with directors Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck,” Carsey-Wolf Center, Santa Barbara, CA, May 2025.

  • Moderator, “Weather,” Anonymous Labor in Film and Media. UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, February 2025.

  • “Conspiracy Theory Trivia: Popular Culture, 9/11, and the Deep State,” Understanding Conspiracy Culture: Theory and Practice. UC Irvine, Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve, Joshua Tree, California, February 2025.

  • “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Researching the Alt-Right,” Alt-Right Media Literacy Series Symposium. UC Santa Barbara, Sedgwick Reserve, Santa Ynez, CA, February 2024.

  • “Carsey-Wolf Center Docs: Feels Good Man discussion with director Arthur Jones and producer Giorgio Angelini,” Carsey-Wolf Center. UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, November 2023.

Professional Experience

Researcher, Global Health 50/50, 2023.

  • Consulting researcher on GH5050’s reports on labor, gender, and racial/ethnic inequality.

Managing Director, Technologies for Justice Lab, 2022–2023.

  • Planning interdisciplinary events and programming that brings students from the arts, humanities, social sciences into collaboration with engineering and computer science students.

Technical Recruiter, Cadre, November 2018–October 2020

  • Consulted tech companies in LA and San Francisco on best practices for hiring software engineers. Clients ranged from seed-stage startups to publicly-traded enterprises.

  • Recruited individual-contributor, management, and executive-level software engineers. 

Technical Recruiter, CyberCoders, January 2018–November 2018

  • Recruited software engineers for aerospace, robotics, and industrial automation companies nationwide.

Support Team Lead, Honey, November 2016–January 2018

  • Maintained Support responses for over 6 million users through email, Facebook comments + messages, Twitter, and bug reports in a manner consistent with the brand's style, voice, and tone.