Graduate Student
Mentorship Initiative (GSMI)

Enthralled by the mathematical and experimental revelations of the atomic and quantum realms, Amelia's passion is compelled by exploring the physics within. She aspires to enroll in a graduate program to study either nuclear or high-energy physics, with the desire to decipher the fundamental laws that govern the universe. In her future research, she is determined to contribute to the endeavor of advancing nuclear fusion to become a sustainable energy production in the world.

Aaliyah Alcibar is a first-generation Mexican-American born and raised in NYC. She is interested in addressing environmental issues through chemistry. Her research areas of interest include sustainable materials, biodegradable polymers, carbon dioxide conversion, and nanomaterials for water purification. Additionally, she hopes to participate in public engagement in graduate school to give back to local communities and get young students more involved in STEM.

Prisila Alvarez received her bachelor's degree in biology with a concentration in molecular, cellular, and organismal biology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During her undergraduate career, she performed research that monitored Chicago wastewater for COVID-19 presence. Alvarez is interested in obtaining a master's in Genetic Counseling or Public Health Genetics to support marginalized communities in accessing healthcare and increasing health science literacy.

Hazel Anagu, B.S. is investigating the interactions of corrinoid-dependent and corrinoid-producing bacteria in Dr. Michiko Taga’s lab at UC Berkeley. Using cutting edge therapeutics, she hopes to understand whether these two types of bacterium can coexist with one another in the naturally occurring rhizosphere. She hopes to pursue a PhD in biochemistry with a focus on the gut microbiome’s effect on innate immunity. Her work adds to our understanding of autoimmune disorders in humans.

Daniella Asturias, a senior at UC Berkeley, majors in Biology. Her research in conservation delved into the impacts of pesticides and salinity on frog growth. She backpacked the Sierra Nevada for 8 weeks, analyzing degraded terrains. Collaborating with Monterey Bay Whale Watch, she documented whale and dolphin behaviors, aiding in population understanding. Daniella aims for graduate school, focusing on corals and the repercussions of climate change on them.

Skye Austin conducts research into the ecology and conservation biology of insects, mainly in the orders Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. Troubled by the declines in entomofauna, they hope to use their passion for research to elucidate the best ways to conserve and protect our insect species while also communicating the importance of insects to the public. In their free time, Skye enjoys fiber arts, music, video games, and taking care of their dog Olive and hissing cockroaches Roscoe and Erazmus.

Elizabeth Bahar is a first-generation senior undergraduate student interested in bioengineering and reproductive biology. Approaching her last undergraduate academic year, she is applying to graduate schools in fall 2023 cycle. Elizabeth's curiosity extends further, encompassing her interest in clinical and translational research. This multifaceted enthusiasm drives her aspirations to contribute meaningfully to the realms of molecular biology at the graduate level.

Fox Baudelaire was born in Ecuador and came of age in Boston. He is a graduate of Brandeis University and Bunker Hill Community College. In 2023, supervised by Randy Stockbridge at the University of Michigan, he wrote a master’s thesis in which he explored the amenability of Fluc family proteins and their evolutionary history to bioinformatics. Now a Fulbright Scholar in Canada, he aspires to a Ph.D. program that will enable him to concentrate in statistical physics applied to problems in biochemistry and medicine.

David was born in Armenia and grew up in the US. In May, he graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A. in Psychological & Brain Sciences and Sociology. David has worked in neuroscience, neurology and psychiatric epidemiology labs primarily studying racial/ethnic disparities in Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias. David will apply to PhD programs in Clinical Psychology and plans to research the biopsychosocial factors that influence health disparities across the lifespan.

Yasmin is a proud first-generation Desi-Latina with a background in Psychology and Gender & Sexuality Studies. She is researching the perinatal reproductive experiences of mothers and working to nest the concept of reproductive identity into national sexual health education standards. She hopes to matriculate into a PhD program in Clinical/Counseling Psychology and work towards an ampler understanding of multicultural gender and sexuality issues especially as it relates to Latinx mental health.

Angelly is an undergraduate at the University of Southern California interested in leveraging AI to address environmental inequity, making sustainable technology attainable for those disproportionately affected by climate change. Looking ahead to graduate studies, her goal is to reshape sustainability and academia, promoting inclusivity and accessibility in scientific research.

Nia Cole is interested in doing research with minority children who have experienced trauma. Children who experience trauma sometimes experience externalizing symptoms such aggression and delinquency and internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression. I am interested in exploring those outcomes with mechanisms and risk research. I am most interested in examining those symptoms through psychophysiology.

Luis D. Cruz Vega studied physics at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, where he received his BS degree. He is interested in the study of pulsars, neutron stars that emit radio pulses through their magnetic poles. These objects possess strong gravitational fields that lead to strange phenomena in physics like gravitational waves. Cruz Vega would like to focus his studies on this topic, as a good understanding of this phenomenon could lead to better theories for various subfields in physics.

Katherine Dailey started her research career probing the interactions between regulatory RNAs and RNA binding proteins in bacteria at Mount Holyoke College and has since shifted to investigating bacterial pathogenesis as a research assistant at Harvard Medical School. In graduate school, she hopes to continue studying microbial pathogenesis while bringing the focus back to molecular interactions and to further develop her teaching and science communication skills.

I am a Mexican undergraduate student in pure mathematics and biology. Currently, my focus revolves around investigating biomarkers to predict response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients through computational techniques such as Machine Learning. I am deeply passionate about deepening our current knowledge of diseases like cancer and using this information to improve the quality of life of patients. I believe graduate school is an amazing opportunity to pursue these interests.

Esau J. Estrada received a B.S. in Cognitive Science with a specialization in Neuroscience from the University of California San Diego. His current research focuses on the disruption of RNA metabolism in Huntington’s disease using stem cell models. With the intention of staying in the RNA field, he hopes to study non-neuronal cell types in disease and development. In his leisure time, you can find him surfing, rock climbing, or exploring the outdoors.

Luis is a Research Engineer at Adobe Research developing technologies to improve image-editing workflows. For his PhD, he is interested in vision and language models for high-level recognition tasks, specifically in building models that exhibit visual reasoning about the contents of images. He earned an MS in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in Math and Computer Science from Occidental College.

Isabela is an undergraduate student majoring in Chemistry and Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been involved in cancer biology, cell biology, and immunology research. Isabela is inspired to pursue a career in scientific research by the amazing mentors and role models she has had both in her hometown in Central New Jersey and at the places she has studied. Isabela hopes to pursue a PhD with the eventual goal of earning a faculty position studying cancer biology.

Rebecca is currently a senior at Barnard College, studying chemistry. Her research focuses on the directed evolution of a methyltransferase used in catalytic production and repair of phenazine derivatives, with fuel cell applications. In graduate school, she intends to study chemical engineering, focusing on research in bioelectrocatalysis with energy applications. She will use the knowledge and research skills she gains to create a startup focused on sustainable energy storage and production.

I am a second year, biological sciences masters student at Cal State LA. I am interested in the defense mechanisms of marine organisms and predator-prey interactions. I am currently conducting research on tiny estuarine sea slugs (Alderia spp.) that have a defensive secretion that protects them from predators. I hope to continue my career in academia by pursuing a Ph.D. and extend my research in the defense mechanisms of marine organisms, while hopefully having the opportunity to mentor students!

Rachelle’s interest in Biomedical Engineering began when she interned at Adaptive Neural Systems Laboratory at Florida International University (FIU). This led her to pursue a bachelor degree in the field and a minor in mechanical engineering at the University of Rochester (UofR). She continues to explore her interest by participating in other research such as Benoit Lab at the UofR and Medical Photonics Lab at FIU. She hopes to continue her research in prosthetics and neural implants in graduate school.

Gabriel A. Gonzalez, an undergraduate at Columbia University, has immersed himself in the realms of neuroengineering and genome editing. Drawing from a strong foundation in Biomedical Engineering, he's delving into the mechanisms of neuromodulatory systems and how to control them for therapeutics. In his PhD, Gabriel plans to leverage high-throughput genetic screens with hopes of contributing to developing innovative next-generation cell therapies for neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases.

Sushma Gude is a first-generation, Indian-American woman who is a PREP Post-Baccalaureate scholar at Purdue University with a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering (BME) from Virginia Commonwealth University. She aspires to pursue a PhD degree in BME with a specialty in utilizing biomaterials to aid in drug or immunotherapy delivery with future career aspirations of becoming a professor.

I was raised in a small pueblo in Mexico and I immigrated to Texas a couple of years ago; I am very close to my roots! I am currently an undergraduate student at Hamilton College, and in the future, I aspire to become a Ph.D. student in neuroscience. I am generally interested in studying molecular mechanisms and behavior, but I am keeping an open mind in exploring the different branches of neuroscience! I am also passionate about advocacy for diversity, particularly in STEM and higher education.

Colin Henneberry (he/they pronouns), a self-avowed "microbe fanboy," is focused on microbial ecology and the math underlying it. He received a BSc in Biology & Math from SUNY Albany in 2021. He has continued to work there as part of the Valm Lab, studying microbial spatial structure through fluorescence microscopy and serving as the only postbac in the department’s DEI committee. Colin hopes to join a PhD program where he can meld his twin passions for microbiology and mathematics.

Destiny Howell is a physics major at CUNY Hunter College who is a recipient of the Jenny Hunter Scholarship and TEAM-UP Together Scholarship. Her long-term goal is to enter into the field of space science once obtaining her Ph.D from a prestigious graduate program. Outside of being a student and a researcher, Destiny has gained immense interest in entrepreneurship and would like to combine it with astronomy/physics. In her free time, Destiny likes to run, paint, draw, bike, kayak, and zipline.

Jasmine Johnson graduated from Bowdoin College in 2021 and majored in biology and minored in dance. During her undergraduate studies she worked in a neuroscience lab researching cricket's auditory system to learn more about neuronal plasticity. Jasmine wants to attend a PhD program in molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry.

I’m in my last year studying civil engineering, and I’m interested in the interaction of geotechnical and earthquake engineering. My research interests are analyzing and discovering implications of carbon capture and how this can affect the soil behavior and response to vibration and waves caused by seismic activity. I’m also interested in soil structure interaction and seismic isolation systems.

Jungwon Lee aspires to unravel and comprehend the significance of all metabolic processes in the functioning of organisms. He is set to graduate with a Biochemistry degree from Hamilton College and plans to pursue a PhD in genetics/molecular biology.

My interest in cancer immunotherapy drove my undergraduate and postgraduate research to explore the intricacies of our immune system at a cellular, host-pathogen, and therapeutic level. My research interest and aspiration for graduate school is to understand the fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms of immune cells in various disease or cancer context and to translate these findings therapeutically to tackle limitations and resistances to current therapies or innovate new immunotherapies.

Gabriella is a first-gen college student who completed her undergrad in Biological Sciences at the University of Campinas, Brazil. She currently works as a Research Assistant at the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology at Rockefeller University. Her main interest is the immune-disease interaction in the context of infection and cancer. She is thrilled to take her scientific career to the next level by pursuing a graduate degree that will provide her with the knowledge to elevate her scientific skills.

Carrie is a senior in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. Her current research focuses on improving health outcomes in HIV individuals by replacing the need for expensive equipment with 3D printed microfluidic devices to rapidly measure drug concentrations. She plans to pursue graduate studies in biomechanics or microfluidics to continue making medical technology accessible and to share her love for making science available to all communities outside of the traditional scientific circle!

Adamari is an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois Chicago double majoring in Applied Psychology and Sociology. She has been a research assistant in the UIC FAMLab for one year now working on behavioral coding and just recently completed the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) at UIC. Adamari’s research interests consist of the intergenerational transmission of depression risk in youth, parenting, and stress exposure/response.

Lucia Vina Lopez is a physicist determined to accelerate scientific research through ML to meet climate goals. She is currently at MIT developing algorithms to predict the reactivity and synthesis of molecules in the excited state. Lucia hopes this work will pave the way for better design of molecules and energy devices. During her Ph.D. Lucia aims to continue accelerating scientific discovery with ML. She is fascinated by molecular design, excited state phenomena, and simulation of QM systems.

Isabella Macias is an undergraduate student at the University of Florida (UF), majoring in Astrophysics with a minor in Latin American Studies. As a student, her research background has involved participating in NASA’s L’SPACE Academies, serving as the UF Undergraduate Telescope Operator, working as a Caltech SURF student for the NASA NEOWISE Mission, specializing in stellar archaeology as a UF Research Assistant, and establishing exomoon constraints through the MIT Summer Research Program.

Fascinated by the intersection of plant biology and toxicology- Melanie Madrigal has investigated how terpenes can be used to combat fungal pathogens. She's also recently began a project which seeks to characterize the host range of Clavibacter pathogens. Eager to continue her academic journey, she envisions graduate school as a platform to delve deeper into the mechanisms of pathogens or pionerr innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture.

Malaika Mahmood is a TEDx Speaker and recent graduate from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in chemistry. Currently she is a research specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, where she's understanding how pain and opioids are processed in the brain. Her goal is to obtain a PhD in neuroscience and she hopes through her work she can influence diversity and inclusivity in the field. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and exploring all forms of art and design.

Paula is the Lead Research Specialist and lab manager for Bing Yao’s lab at Emory University. She was born in Colombia and was raised in Barcelona, Spain. She completed her B.S. Biology and B.S. Neuroscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2019. Recently, she finished experiments for a project studying the role of the epigenetic mark N6-methyladenine (6mA) in Alzheimer's disease. Paula wants to pursue a PhD to further contribute to the fields of neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration.

Megan Cervera is currently a fourth-year undergraduate Psychology major at UC Berkeley. She’s deeply interested in exploring the origins of mental illnesses like Bipolar Disorder through combined neurobiological and psychosocial approaches. Having moved to the US from Mexico when she was 8, she aspires to continue her education by going to graduate school, aiming to further explore and contribute to the current understanding of bipolar disorder’s etiology, with the goal of a full-time career in research.

I have had some amazing opportunities to explore cognition while working with the Working Memory Lab at the University of Missouri and managing the Music Cognition and Aesthetics Lab during my postbacc at Missouri University of Science & Technology. During my undergrad, I also worked with my school's Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center and hope that I can combine my passion for understanding trauma with my skills in cognition research in graduate school.

Hubert currently studies Huntington’s disease in the Laboratory of Synthetic Embryology at Rockefeller University. He uses embryonic stem cells to investigate early embryogenesis in vitro, as well as study the transition from a primed to a naive-like cellular state. Hubert hopes to pursue a P.h.D. in cancer biology and to leverage his background to develop innovative approaches to cancer treatment, striving to redefine and revolutionize the way the disease is studied and treated.

Paola Méndez is a Chemical Engineering student at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. She is part of Dr. David Suleiman’s research group where she has been working with an advanced water purification system that uses MnOx nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. She enjoys competitive swimming and was a part of the Varsity Swimming Team. Paola would like to obtain a PhD in Chemical Engineering to pursue a career that combines engineering principles in safe energy storage devices.

I am Indian-American born and brought up in Atlanta, Georgia. I am a senior at Georgia State University, currently finishing up my BS in psychology. For graduate school, I want to receive my PsyD degree. I am interested in the field of neuropsychology, and want to work in a hospital or clinical setting. I want to research and understand the in depth connections within the body and brain and see how they relate to mental health disorders, development, and general health issues.

My name is Masiel, but everyone calls me Masi. I was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, but left the island when I was four months old. I was raised in Kissimmee, Florida. I did my undergrad at the University of South Florida in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Applying to Neuroscience programs this cycle. In my free time I love watching soccer, working out, and playing pool.

¡Hola! My name is Pura I. Arroyo Morales, and I’m thrilled to embark on the Ph.D. application journey. I grew up in the beautiful coastal town of Cabo Rojo on the west side of Puerto Rico. Since I can remember, I have been fascinated by learning and science. Recently, I get super excited when I learn and read about Neuroscience, Developmental Biology, and Molecular Biology. While in graduate school, I aspire to become a Puerto Rican scientist and to participate in scientific outreach initiatives.

I completed my Bachelor's of Science in Microbiology at UCSD in 2022. Following my graduation, I joined the Gibbons Lab at the Institute for Systems Biology, where I am able to do research on the topic I am passionate about, the human gut microbiome! I am seeking PhD programs in both Computational Biology and Microbiology, where I hope to combine my computational and laboratory skills to bring about new discoveries regarding the gut microbiome's effects on the host.

Dante Rogers is a McNair, PReP, and MINDS Scholar with a BS in Psychology and minors in Neuroscience and Communication from the University of Minnesota. His interests are studying genetic, neurological, and neuropsychological correlates associated with neurodevelopmental disorders to enhance early identification, stratify clinically homogenous groups, and improve developmental outcomes. He is applying to Clinical Psychology PhD programs this cycle with a focus in pediatric neuropsychology.

Alejandra Rosario Crespo is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico Cayey, pursuing a bachelor's degree in biology. Her goal is to obtain a Ph.D. in biology with a research focus on cancer immunology. She is interested in understanding the mechanisms cancer cells use to bypass certain challenges in the body to develop new therapeutic targets. She aims to contribute to cancer research as a faculty member with a research laboratory and increase representation in STEM through outreach.

I graduated from Stony Brook University in 2019 with a Bachelors' of Science in Physics & Mathematics. In 2022, I conducted astrophysical research at the Universidad de Concepción as a Fulbright U.S. Student Scholar. My research interests include high energy plasma astrophysics, as well as stellar & galactic dynamics. My aspiration in graduate school is to apply plasma theory to the study of accretion flows around compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars.

Lucia Serrano Marin is a Spanish-Colombian Senior Research Technician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She studied her bachelor's degree at Edinburgh Napier University in Microbiology & Biotechnology. Additionally, she completed her Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering at Universite de Paris. Her main interests for her doctoral studies are immunology, cancer biology and tissue/organ regeneration after injury.

I hold a BSc in Microbiology with a minor in Physics and an MSc in Biological Sciences from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. I am currently based in Bogotá, where I work at a genetics company in the Computational Biology area. My goal is to pursue Ph.D. research in Biotechnology, Synthetic Biology, and/or Systems Biology, focused on plant microbiomes. In the future, I aspire to apply all of my knowledge to improve agricultural practices in my country and Latin America.

Karla Soriano wants to understand the early development of the cerebral cortex, for this purpose she uses in vitro techniques as well as in vivo models to study the role of ion channels involved in the early development of the brain. Importantly, Karla wants to understand how specific variants or mutations in these genes cause cerebral malformations and encephalopathies, such as polymicrogyria and early infantile epileptic encephalopathies.

Aurora Trejo is a Chicana scientist from Los Angeles, CA interested in applying population genomics to wildlife conservation. Her interests in conservation biology cultivated her interest in molecular ecology by being able to combine conservation and population genetics. She is excited to integrate other disciplines with population genomics such as spatial ecology, bioinformatics, and evolutionary ecology to study how populations respond to change like habitat fragmentation or climate change.

Hannah Valencia wants to better understand the mechanistic basis for immunotherapies utilizing oncolytic viruses. By genetically engineering oncolytic viruses to have select genes deleted and immunomodulatory transgenes inserted, she aims to enhance the anti-tumor efficacy of oncolytic viruses and improve their safety as an immunotherapy. Hannah hopes to contribute to the new frontier of using cancer-selective viruses as potential immunotherapies.

Angelica is a post-bacc scholar in the MINDS program at the University of Minnesota and has a B.A. from New College of Florida in Biopsychology and Neuroscience. Her curiosity is piqued by plasticity and its connection with the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. By ablating NMDA receptors in the mouse mPFC followed by a complex cognitive task her project aims to understand cognitive symptoms of Schizophrenia. Keep an eye out for her application in Neuroscience PhD programs this upcoming cycle.

Jorge Villanueva is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Cell and Molecular Biology at San Diego State University. As an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Dwayne Roach’s lab, he is working on the isolation of novel bacteriophages to treat multi-drug resistant bacteria. Following his graduation from San Diego State University, he intends to pursue a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences.

Omaris Vélez Acevedo is a Cellular-Molecular Biology undergraduate who works on elucidating the role of associative learning on intrinsic conductances in midbrain dopaminergic neurons during drug administration. Her research interests focus on exploring the mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders and how drug actions can modulate neuronal states. She aspires to join a doctoral program where through fundamental research, her work could lead to a better understanding of such disorders.

Judith Weng Zhu graduated from Swarthmore College in Engineering with a minor in Philosophy. She is interested in the development of novel medical imaging methods to achieve a deeper understanding of the brain. Her goal is to innovate efficient and accessible imaging technologies that can discover, diagnose and treat brain diseases faster.

Jessica Williams is a senior computer science and math student at Texas A&M. They are passionate about quantum computing and developing algorithms for nonabelian problems. With experience in developing and validating embedded software, she is also interested in the interface between quantum hardware and software and creating abstractions for cross-platform compatibility. They plan to pursue a PhD in quantum computing or theoretical computer science.

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