Biography

Andrea Ocasio Cruz received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Central Florida in 2021, graduating with honors from the Burnett Honors College. Her research interests include disaster anthropology, heritage studies, museum studies, and the Puerto Rican experience. Since her undergraduate career, Andrea has trained under Dr. Beatriz Reyes-Foster. In 2019, she served as Dr. Reyes-Foster’s research assistant, co-authoring an article now published in the peer-reviewed journal Birth. She was awarded the UCF Summer Mentoring Fellowship in 2021 and the Trevor Colbourn Anthropology Endowment Fund in 2022. Currently, Andrea is a graduate assistant for the Office of Experiential Learning. She defended her master’s thesis and received her M.A in Anthropology during the summer of 2023. Recently, she conducted research on-site, visiting local art spaces in Puerto Rico.

Areas of Research/Interest

Disaster anthropology, heritage and museum studies, Puerto Rican studies