Meet the Team

Pamela K. Sari, Ph.D.

• Director
• Pronouns: she/her/hers
• Email: psari@purdue.edu

Pamela K. Sari is an American Studies scholar who specializes in the intersection of religion and transnational Asian/immigrant communities. She earned her Ph.D. in American Studies and graduate minors in Anthropology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Purdue University.  As a graduate student, she was involved in Asian Pacific American Caucus and Student Steering Committee to propose the AAARCC. She was a 2019 Summer Research Associate at The Pluralism Project, Harvard University. Her favorite parts of working at the AAARCC are the faculty/staff-facing and student-facing opportunities to weave Asian American and Asian experiences into Purdue's campus through research and programming. Her other favorite parts are late afternoons at the AAARCC when students gather with their communities: listening to music, doing homework, talking with each other. The cultivation of community that takes place is real, contagious, and energizing!

Samantha Huang, M.S. Ed.

• Program Administrator
• Pronouns: she/they/ 她
• Email: samhuan@purdue.edu

Samantha (also known as Sam) is an artist turned coordinator. Using her BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Go Vols!), Sam's research explores the narrative and visual representation of gender, sexuality, and Asian American experiences in the South and Midwest. As a graduate student working in residence life at IU Bloomington (Go Hoosiers!), Sam advised the undergraduate leadership councils for Asian Pacific American Thematic Community and Spectrum (LGBTQ+) Thematic Community at Teter Quad. Sam’s student affairs journey took her to the NASPA Fellows Program at Eastern Michigan University (Swoop!) and the New Students and Family Programs at the University of Florida (Go Gators!). Back at home, Sam volunteered with the Campus Events Board and Dogwood Arts to host art and cultural celebrations in the Knoxville community. At the AAARRC, Sam always looks forward to the weekly veggie harvest and the annual Lunar New Year Week of Events!

Vacant: Administrative Assistant

Mukhamad Suhermanto, B. Ed, M.Eng

• Graduate Student Assistant
• Pronouns: he/him/his
• Email: msuherma@purdue.edu

Mukhamad Suhermanto, known as Herman, grew up on the slopes of a mountain in East Java, coming from a farmer household. During high school, he participated in an exchange student program in Anchorage (AK), which broadened his horizons. As a first-generation college student, he completed his undergraduate studies in Engineering Education at the State University of Malang and was awarded a scholarship to pursue a Master of Engineering at Kocaeli University in Turkey. Herman's academic journey continued with a prestigious Fulbright scholarship, enabling him to undertake a PhD program in Environmental and Ecological Engineering. Before joining Purdue, he taught Thermodynamics in the Mechanical Engineering faculties at the State Polytechnic of Jakarta and the State University of Malang.

Apart from his formal education, Herman enjoys learning languages and is proficient in five languages: Javanese, Bahasa Indonesia, English, Turkish, and Arabic. He has a passion for cultural events and has contributed to Javanese traditional dance performances in Washington DC and Anchorage, Alaska. Additionally, he performed on stage in Turkey to promote Indonesian culture to international students and Turkish citizens.

Nguyen Le

• Graduate Student Assistant
• Pronouns: he/him/his
• Email: le219@purdue.edu

Nguyen, an international student from Vietnam, is currently pursuing his PhD program in Language and Literacy Education at Purdue College of Education. Previously, he served as a teaching assistant at Purdue University and a lecturer at the University of Foreign Languages in Danang, Vietnam. He also chaired a small book club to help Vietnamese college students improve their English reading skills. His research concentrates on the language policies in Vietnam, perceptions of Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans, and narrative research of multilingual families in the US. Coming to AAARCC, he is eager to meet people from all backgrounds and enjoy the cuisine, music, and talks from other cultures.

Lamiya Laxmidhar

• Student Staff
• Pronouns: she/her/hers
• Email: llaxmidh@purdue.edu

Lamiya Laxmidhar is a senior majoring in Data Science. She is currently serving her second year as a Resident Assistant at Owen Hall and works as student staff for the Asian American and Asian Resource and Cultural Center (AAARCC). Lamiya has also been a Peer Information Consultant (PIC), a role dedicated to helping fellow students navigate academic resources, connect with library services, and build research skills to support their learning.

As a Purdue undergraduate researcher, Lamiya focuses on machine learning, with an emphasis on Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) models. She is passionate about creating inclusive learning spaces and enjoys engaging with the unique AAARCC community.

Originally from India, Lamiya loves swimming, reading fiction, crocheting, and exploring different cafes in her free time. She looks forward to continuing her work supporting students, building connections, and sharing her cultural experiences with the Purdue community.