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Grad Student Awards

Almaris N. Alonso

Almaris N. Alonso, a University of Massachusetts Amherst microbiology Ph.D. student and NEAGEP member, was one of the speakers at the Biofilms II Conference held in Leipzig, Germany in March 2006. The title of her presentation was “Biofilm Formation and Cellulose Degradation by the Thermophilic and Cellulolytic Actinomycete Thermobifida fusca.” Publication of the presentation abstract is forthcoming in Biofilms Journal.

Additionally, Alonso was selected to participate in the American Physiological Society Professional Skills Course. The course concentrated on writing and reviewing for scientific journals, and was held at Disney's Coronado Spring Resort in Orlando, Florida, in January.

Alonso is a member of the board of directors of SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Latinos and Native Americans in Science), and was elected treasurer of the Microbiology Graduate Student Group and American Society of Microbiology (ASM) branch at UMASS Microbiology Department. She has been recognized by the American Society of Microbiology for outstanding service as a charter online mentor of the ASM Minority Mentoring Program in 2006.

IRIS L. PRICE

Iris L. Price presented a poster to the International Conference on Infant Studies which was held June 19-23 in Kyoto, Japan. Price is a University of Massachusetts Amherst Ph.D. student in Neuroscience; Behavior and a NEAGEP member. She is the first author on the poster entitled “The Effect of Attention-to-Action on Visuospatial Reasoning.” The poster describes a study Price conducted with nine-month-olds, which was based upon a previous study but yielded unique results.

Price was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts and attended Mount Holyoke College for her undergraduate degree in biological sciences. She was the first in her family to do so. Her success has encouraged her older brother and her mother to pursue further education, and they currently attend Western New England College and UMass Amherst, respectively. Price expects to finish her degree by August 2007.

KATE FAGAN-SOLIS

Kate Fagan-Solis, a University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate student and NEAGEP member, has been selected as one of 27 to present a poster at the Gordon Research Conference held at Bryant University in Smithfield , Rhode Island. The conference has also approved her application for the Carl Storm Minority Fellowship. The fellowship is for minorities attending their first Gordon Conference.

Fagin-Solis received her degree in biological chemistry and molecular biology from SUNY Albany in 2004 before beginning her graduate work at UMass. She attended the Gordon Research Conference July 2-7.

ERICK ROMAN AWARDED NIH GRANT TO CONTINUE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH

Outside the molecular and cellular laboratory, signs display the warnings “Biohazard” and “Radioactive.” Inside, University of Massachusetts Ph.D. candidate and NEAGEP member Erick Roman is studying the molecular pathways that cause breast cancer.

The National Institutes of Health see promise in Roman's work—he has recently been awarded a three-year grant by the NIH to study the prophylactic effect pregnancy hormones seem to have on the incidence of breast cancer. The grant will cover Roman's salary in addition to laboratory materials and supplies used in his study. The grant is a supplement to the NIH grant of Dr. Joseph Jerry, who is the laboratory's Principal Investigator (PI) and Roman's dissertation director.

Roman also does work with soy extracts, because women with diets rich in soy tend to have fewer occurrences of breast cancer. Roman's research has yielded useful data thus far, and he plans to begin writing up his findings soon.

Roman completed his master's degree at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus before coming to UMass for his doctoral research. He has been at UMass for three years, working on these projects for a year and a half. He plans on completing his Ph.D. in another two years.

ALMARIS ALONSO: A WOMAN WHO IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Almaris Alonso will soon receive the first annual “Women Who Make a Difference” award. Hind Mari, the Interim Director of The Women of Color Leadership Network, wanted to publicly honor women who are successful in their field and have worked closely with Women of Color."Mentoring and support play important roles in success, and I felt it is very important to recognize women who have been doing wonderful job and supporting other women,"Hind Mari said.

Alonso's involvement and commitment to serving the community is impressive. Her personal goal is to have more underrepresented students within the sciences, specifically at the University of Massachusetts . She is the founder and current president of the UMASS chapter of Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. Ms. Alonso mentors two students at UMASS, and in addition to that, she is a member of the American Society of Microbiology Minority Mentoring Program.

Professor Pomposiello nominated Ms. Alonso, and spoke highly of her.

“Almaris cares. She has a radiant optimism combined with immense compassion, and a truly amazing empathic capacity. The nomination letter wrote itself.”

Ms. Alonso was shocked when she received the award, and was thankful that her professors took the time to nominate her.

“This is something that takes time, especially for faculty. All of them are busy. And to just step out of their duties and sit and spend time writing a letter for someone they think deserves the award is priceless.”

Ms. Alonso will receive the award with four other recipients on May 10 th , 2007. (Rachel Jessica Daniel)

CARYL BECERRA, A THIRD YEAR PH.D CANDIDATE IN MICROBIOLOGY, HAS RECENTLY BEEN AWARDED A FORD FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP

The Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship is awarded to graduate students whose goal is to join the American professoriate and who have a personal engagement with communities that are underrepresented in the academy. Sixty pre-doctoral fellowships are given annually. Ms. Becerra will receive funding for three years in order to continue her research.

A very modest Ms. Becerra isn't exactly sure why the Ford Foundation selected her as one of this year's recipients. However, her commitment to increase diversity within science reflects in all aspects of her career. Ms. Becerra is the co-chair of the Graduate Education and Career Development Initiative, an organization designed to create programs that will help graduate students. She is also the President of the Microbiology Graduate Student Group, and started a mentoring program for first year graduate students. Ms. Becerra is the Vice President of the UMASS chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans, as well as a Minority Mentor with the American Society of Microbiology. In all of these activities, Ms. Becerra's goal is to increase diversity within the sciences through an active mentorship.

Future goals for Ms. Becerra include continuing her work as a scholar and as an educator, as well as actively working towards a more diverse professoriate. (Rachel Jessica Daniel)

Ticora Jones

Ticora V. Jones earned her Ph.D. in Polymer Science & Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2006 and her BS in Materials Science & Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. Ticora was both a NIH fellowship recipient and a Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellow during her graduate career. Her dissertation research was on the synthesis and characterization of small molecules to investigate the role of external stimuli on the folding of molecules, which can be linked to biological phenomena such as protein folding. Prior to her graduate work, Ticora spent a year working for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, first as a middle school teaching fellow for a science and mathematics standards program in DC Public Schools, and then building infrastructure and creating content for the Minority Scientists Network, an online portal for Sciencecareers.org.

Upon completing her doctorate, Ticora worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where her research was focused on creating and characterizing metal nanoparticles for catalysis applications and merging them with polymer nanocomposites to create functional materials.

While in graduate school, Ticora co-founded and chaired the Graduate Education and Career Development Initiative, an organization dedicated to providing new student orientation, seminars, and workshops for graduate students. In addition to this organization, she has also been involved in a number of outreach and educational programs designed to bring accessible scientific and technical role models to young students. It is these influences she credits with her own interest in the scientific enterprise- as a high school student Ticora began doing research in chemistry as a part of the American Chemical Society's Project SEED program.

Ticora is looking forward to the opportunity presented by the Materials Societies Congressional Fellowship to engage in the legislative process. She is interested in developing policies related to the funding of the scientific and technological enterprise, especially surrounding issues related to alternative energy, sustainability, and science education.

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