The Billion Worlds Lab is a space for experimentation with liberatory study: research, organizing, teaching, caring and all of the messy spaces in between. We aim to operate both within and against the university, questioning its hold on our collective creativity while developing infrastructures to help us know the world otherwise. Our members are connected with a variety of organizations and organizing projects, our faculty teach a number of courses (at Virginia Commonwealth University) that inform our work with the Lab, and we are engaged in a number of active research collaborations. If you are interested in connecting, get in touch!
What is the Billion Worlds Lab all about? An abridged conversation
For a thorough discussion of our foundational values and goals, read an abridged version of a conversation between lab members, faculty, and alumni from a workshop held in summer 2025.
Current Members
Frankie Mastrangelo (faculty)
Dr. Frankie Mastrangelo is associate chair of the Sociology Department at Virginia Commonwealth University and co-founder of the Billion Worlds Lab. She received her PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies (Media, Art, and Text) from Virginia Commonwealth University and her Master’s Degree in Media, Cinema, and Digital Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her teaching and research examines how racialized gender, subcultures and movement work are mediated in digital and physical spaces. Her work has been featured in publications such as Social Media + Society, ephemera, Bitch Media and Teaching Resistance. She has been interviewed by the Washington Post, Huffington Post, and Today for sociological perspectives on pop culture and media.
Select publications and media:
- Teaching Resistance: Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Cultural Subversives in the Classroom (PM Press)
- Interview with Nitasha Tiku featured in her piece “Famous Women Join the Crypto Hustle, But It Could Cost Their Fans” (Washington Post)
- Interview with Candice Frederick featured in her piece “How ‘90s Teen Movies Reflected the Real-Life Homophobia Throughout the Decade” (HuffPost)
Jesse Goldstein (faculty)
Jesse (he/him) is an associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He serves as the Associate Director of VCU’s Humanities Research Center (HRC), and Director of the HRC’s Environmental Humanities Lab. His work explores various ways that creativity is economized by colonial and capitalist relations, from enclosure to entrepreneurship.
Select publications and media:
- Planetary Improvement: Cleantech Entrepreneurship and the Contradictions of Green Capitalism (MIT Press)
- with Victor Chen, The Theatre of Entrepreneurship: Learning to Perform the Speculative Self in University Entrepreneurship Programs (Social Problems)
- with Elizabeth Johsnon, Biomimicry: New natures, New Enclosures (Theory, Culture & Society)
- with Alycia Sellie et al, Interference Archive: A Free Space for Social Movement Culture (Archival Science)
- Terra Economica: Waste and the production of enclosed nature (Antipode)
- with SpaceTime Research Collective, To What Will We Resort When Capitalism Is Over? (Human Geography)
Ben Haskett
Ben Haskett is a Sociology Graduate Student at VCU, with a B.S. in Sociology also from VCU. He is currently conducting ethnographic research on the Broad St. Bullies, a biking group local to Richmond – you can read more about his research under the Project page of this site! Ben has also worked with Dr. Jesse Goldstein, Dr. Kai Bosworth and other lab members on research examining university sustainability, and he is currently the web designer for the lab.
Ben Boehmcke
Ben Boehmcke is a Sociology Graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University, with a B.S. in Sociology from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is currently working on Futures of Love and Study, a practicum project, intertwined with George Ferrandi’s JumpStar project – it is meant to exemplify radical pedagogies and speculate on the future of study. Ben is also a research assistant for the Billion Worlds lab and a member of Alpha Kappa Delta. In his free time Ben enjoys playing games with friends, eating diverse food, and hanging out with his cow-shaped cat Mochi.
Emma Badach
Emma Badach is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University majoring in Sociology with a minor in International Social Justice. Through her work with the Billion Worlds Project Lab, she’s been researching international postgraduate opportunities and helping to make these options more accessible and easier to navigate for students. Emma is also here as a resource for anyone who has questions about studying abroad as an undergraduate and would be happy to support you!
Lab Alumni
Katy Sweeney
Katy Sweeney is an urban and regional planning student at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). She is passionate about free public transit and reframing public access to human needs such as the right to the city and clean safe water.
Taylor Clement
Taylor Clement is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University with a double major in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (GSWS) as well as Sociology. She is currently working as a research assistant with the Billion Worlds Lab focusing on collaborative radical pedagogy. Taylor serves on the Student Advisory Board for the GSWS department, is a member of Alpha Kappa Delta the International Sociology Honor Society, and is on the VCU Goldrush Dance Team. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys watching reality TV and cuddling her cat.
Selma Ait-Bella
Selma Ait-Bella is an undergraduate sociology student at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and a research assistant for the Billion Worlds Lab where she is organizing our Climate Circle program. She is also a student leader at the Pace Center where she engages her interests in community development and empowerment.
Sage Ginther
Sage Ginther is an undergraduate Computer Science major at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) working as a website developer and research assistant for the Billion Worlds Lab. They are interested in accessible higher education and labor organization movements.
Olivia Couillard
Olivia Couillard is a recent VCU alumni with dual majors in Sociology and Psychology. I assisted the Billion Worlds Lab as an undergraduate student for Frankie’s ‘white liberal feminism’ project as well as Jesse Goldstein’s climate lab, and i plan to continue working in the lab as a VCU alumni.
Billion Worlds Lab 