Education

• B.A., Chicana/o Studies, History, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 2019

About

Joel’s research focuses on mining extractivism, Indigenous resistance, and technological exchanges across the Pacific Ocean in Mexico, Peru, and the Philippines. He brings together business history and Science and Technology Studies (STS) to examine how the epistemic networks of Mexican refugees-turned-technocrats and resource-grab universities in the U.S. Southwest forged a model he describes as "Corporate Imperialism" across the Pacific Ocean during the twentieth century. Mining corporations from England, Germany, and the U.S.  actively recruited and deployed Mexican technocrats as versatile intellectuals to address the issues of toxic environments caused by chemicals and Indigenous labor strikes across Mexico, Latin America, and the Philippines. 

Research Focus

• Science and Technology Studies in Latin America 
• Native American and Indigenous History
• Business & Company History
• Racial Capitalism 
• Intellectual History
• Modernity/coloniality of the U-S///Mexico border
• Resource Extractions in Latin America and the Pacific

Publications Publications

•  Eva Amarillas, Katy Maldonado, Joel Olea-Calixto, Julio Reyes, German Aguilar-Tinajero, and Yadira Valencia. "UndocuBruins: Critical Race Theory in the Forming of Resources for Undocumented Students.” Center for Critical Race Studies in Education at UCLA Research Briefs (2019)

Awards

• Hemispheric Institute on the American Summer Research Fellowship (2022)
• Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship (Honorable Mention) (2022)
• Davis Humanities Institute Research Cluster Grant (2021-2022) 
• Dean's Summer Graduate Fellowship (2021)
• Mellon Research Initiative on Racial Capitalism Fellowship (2021)
• American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Graduate Student Fellowship (2020)
• MCT Wakeham Fellowship (2020)
• Hemispheric Institute on the Americas Language Study Award (2020)
• UC Davis Provost Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (2019-2020)