Highly competitive, scientific fellowship to support highly innovative research

For two years, I served as the Director of Outreach for the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) at the University of Michigan. Here, my role was to lead initiatives that would encourage children K-12 from socioeconomically disadvantaged groups to seek college and higher education in science. During my tenure, I spearheaded the establishment of connections between SACNAS at UofM and three different schools, while we previously limited ourselves to… Show more For two years, I served as the Director of Outreach for the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) at the University of Michigan. Here, my role was to lead initiatives that would encourage children K-12 from socioeconomically disadvantaged groups to seek college and higher education in science. During my tenure, I spearheaded the establishment of connections between SACNAS at UofM and three different schools, while we previously limited ourselves to collaborating with other groups on campus. I organized the activities and managed teams of volunteers to deliver educational content. In addition, we started a unique activity that would become one of our signature outreach events: Feria de Ciencia (“Science Fair in Spanish”), held completely in Spanish for Hispanic communities.In addition, I fundraised 2K for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and 1K for the earthquake disaster in Puerto Rico. Show less

For a full semester, to fulfill the experiential learning component of Project Management and Consulting course, my team and I worked with an Ann Arbor biotechnology startup company, where I leveraged my biomedical knowledge to perform primary research to find potential secondary and tertiary markets in the healthcare sector for the client's product.

In Dr. Peter Kalivas' lab we worked in defining the neuronal architecture, circuitry and function of Medium Spiny Neurons in the Nucleus Accumbens shell and core projecting to the Ventral Pallidum and Ventral Tegmental Area, as well as the role of this pathway in cocaine extinction. This work led to a first-author publication.

In Dr. Carmen Maldonado-Vlaar's lab and after receiving a fellowship from NeuroID, a NIH-ENDURE Blueprint Program, we assessed the role of the Endocannabinoid System within the Nucleus Accumbens shell in the modulation of anxiety. This work led to a first-author publication.

In Dr. Carmen Maldonado-Vlaar's lab and before receiving a fellowship from NeuroID, a NIH-ENDURE Blueprint Program, we worked on testing the effects of positive allosteric modulation of the Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor type 5 within the Nucleus Accumbens shell during environmental elicited cocaine conditioning.

Research intern in Dr. Irwin Lucki's lab, where we uncovered the behavioral effects of a novel kappa opiod receptor antagonist