2022-2023 Research Scholars
We are extremely proud of each of our LSAMP Research Scholars, and would like to share their success! LSAMP Research Scholars have distinguished themselves in many ways: through their academic achievements, research experiences, service to their campuses and communities, and through their compelling personal stories.
Annabelle Recinos
Annabelle is a senior undergraduate Civil Engineering major at California State University Fullerton. Her academic goal is to get a Ph.D. in civil engineering, which is a milestone toward her career goal of becoming an independent researcher in the field of transportation to improve infrastructure materials. She has been pursuing this goal since community college. While at community college, she received the national Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship twice. Since transferring to CSUF, she has been conducting research with Dr. Pratanu Ghosh of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at CSUF. Her research aims to develop a robust service life model for reinforced concrete structures. This research will improve current service life models by implementing probabilistic modeling and including many durable and sustainable cementitious materials.
Ashleigh Quiroz
Quiroz is in her senior year of earning a B.S. in Geology from Cal State Fullerton, and in her first year as an LSAMP Scholar. She works with Dr. Vali Memeti for her undergraduate research, studying the spatial and compositional evolution of magma plumbing systems. Quiroz’s focus is examining the volcanic and plutonic connection of the Jackass Lakes Pluton by constructing a more thorough geochronologic and petrologic study of the pluton and local volcanic rocks that are possibly related. The LSAMP research scholar program allows Quiroz to spend more time on her research, including traveling to the Arizona LaserChron center to perform her geochronology analysis. Quiroz’s next step in her education career is pursuing a Master of Science in Geology with a focus on geochronologic research.
Erica Therese Esteban
Erica Therese Esteban is a senior majoring in Biochemistry at California State University, Fullerton. This will be her second year in LSAMP. She is currently under the guidance of Dr. Cooley as an LSAMP Research Scholar and has been in the lab for one year. Erica's project involves synthesizing negative thermal expansion (NTE) compounds and observing their properties that contribute to their phenomenon. This research is important to Erica because NTE properties can significantly play a role in maintaining the dimensions of dental fillings. Ultimately, she wants to study the mechanisms of NTE that will provide a better understanding of tooth fillings and aid in creating future innovations to enhance dental care. Erica's career goals are to attend a doctor of dental medicine program to become a general dentist, and to continue doing research while linking the oral cavity to the body's many systems to develop new biomaterials and promote overall health.
Gildardo Limon
Gildardo Limon is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Biology at California State University, Fullerton. This will be his first year as a LSAMP scholar. Gildardo is working in Dr. Danielle Zacherl’s lab as part of the Coastal Restoration Internship. Gildardo’s research involves living shorelines and the species used in them. Living shorelines are a new approach that seeks to incorporate as many natural elements in protecting shorelines from erosion. This new approach has shown to be a viable alternative than older methods such as seawalls. Gildardo’s focus involves the relationship between eelgrass and filter feeders when used together for living shoreline projects. He hopes this internship will give him a better understanding on whether to pursue a career in terrestrial or marine ecology. Gildardo’s current career goal involves obtaining a Ph.D. in Biology and advancing the field of ecology.
Jennifer Rodriguez
Jennifer Rodriguez is a senior pursuing a biology major with a concentration in Molecular biology and Biotechnology at California State University Fullerton. She has been part of LSAMP as a participant for 1 year now and this is her first time being an LSAMP Research Scholar. She is currently involved in Dr. Johnson’s lab and has been part of her lab since 2020. Jennifer’s research focuses on understanding manganese oxidation in Cyanobacteria. She is investigating a photosystem II mutant of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. This mutant is unable to oxidize water by photosynthesis but may be able to use manganese as an electron donor to grow. These studies will help us understand the evolution of photosystem II, which led to the Great Oxidation Event, the greatest change in the history of life on Earth. Spectrophotometry is used to measure growth and growth curves are constructed to compare different conditions. This research will also be used to better understanding the biogeochemical cycle of manganese and other elements on our planet. By being given this opportunity to be an LSAMP Research Scholar, Jennifer will be able to further her study and obtain more data. At the same time being part of a great program that will help her further her academic studies such as graduate school and many more opportunities. Her career goals include obtaining a Ph.D. to further her passion for laboratory research.
Kim Yumul
Kim is a senior biology major with a concentration in marine biology. She's in the Zacherl Lab, where she studies the effects of non-native Watersipora spp. on the recruitment and settlement of native Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida), the only native oyster on the U.S. West Coast. Her research will inform better restoration techniques when dealing with non-native marine fauna and maximize coastal conservation outcomes. The LSAMP funding will help her present her research at different conferences and support her graduate school applications this fall. Kim plans to pursue graduate school studying tropical ecology for graduate school, with the ultimate goal of conducting research in the Philippines someday.
Melissa Fernandez
Melissa Fernandez is currently a Senior at Cal State Fullerton and is majoring in Biological Science, with a concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She has been a dedicated member of Dr. Shahrestani's Evolutionary and Genomics Research (EAGR) Lab since 2020. She is on the Antibiotic Resistance team in her lab where she works with the rest of her peers to establish Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism for the antibiotic resistance pathogen, Acinetobacter baumannii. Recently, her lab’s focus is to study the relationship between longevity, gut microbiota, and immunity in short- and long-lived populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Melissa is planning on pursing a Master’s in Biology at CSUF to refine her laboratory skills for her career. She hopes of becoming a Clinical Lab Scientist and potentially pursue medical school. She has already presented her research at the SACNAS STEM Symposium and the SURe-A Conference, and plans on present at SCCUR and CSUPERB in the near future.
Monte Davityan
Monte Davityan is a Computer Science and Mathematics (concentration in Probability/ Statistics) major, in his senior year, at California State University, Fullerton. This is his first year in the LSAMP program. Over the summer he participated in a UC Irvine Data Science program where he worked in a team to analyze symptom burden of patients with Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) cancer, with an assigned diet change. Following that trend, he is currently working with Dr. Valerie Poynor in a survival analysis study to determine if ethnicity plays a role in survival rates among cancer patients. His plans after graduation are to continue his studies into graduate school for Applied Statistics.
Samantha Hubbard
Samantha Hubbard is a senior undergraduate student at California State University, Fullerton, and is majoring in biology with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology. This year is her first year with LSAMP. Currently, Samantha is working under Dr. William Hoese to analyze how other animals utilize tortoise burrows in Boyd Deep Canyon, California. This is her first semester working on this project, and she mostly assists with maintaining the research site and tracking tortoises. Specifically, this entails tracking the tortoises through radio telemetry, maintaining the cameras that collect data on tortoise burrows, and sorting aforementioned videos based on time and animal. She works alongside one other member in the lab to maintain the field and collect her data. Samantha will use LSAMP funds to install new, better cameras in the field to more accurately detect tortoises and other animals. After obtaining her bachelors degree in biology, Samantha hopes to continue pursuing research before obtaining her PhD and becoming an independent researcher.
Yulia Potyrina
Yulia Potyrina is a math major at California State University, Fullerton. This is her first year participating in the LSAMP program. She is conducting research under the mentorship of Dr. Lyons and is investigating the correlation of change of contour lines in a scalar field over the movement under the force of a vector field. She is passionate about connecting her research with visual interpretation based on physics and natural science. After graduation she plans to attend a graduate school.
