When an autistic high-school student meets an autistic science mentor, a whole new world of possibilities opens. When a shy high-school student is encouraged to embrace curiosity and ask questions, their path to college gets easier to navigate. And when an underrepresented high-school student is given a scholarship to attend a microbiology STEM camp, it can change their world.
This past summer, Ph.D. student Savanah Leidholt set out to create a summer “bootcamp” for area high school students to draw more students from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, low-income and other diverse backgrounds to the study of microbiology.
When honors student Sahana Shah ran for the student House of Representatives, she won the election with the most votes of any candidate. One of her main platforms? Helping establish a disability cultural center to better adapt the campus to the needs of neurodiverse students. She is now joining forces with other student groups to bring the idea to life.
Oregon State's College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) made all the difference in engaging microbiology major Bruno Salas Garcia in his college experience. A first-generation student, he is on track to dental school and plans to serve rural communities similar to where he grew up.
Gabriela Cortes Cortes is proud not to have let any obstacle, including a pandemic or the challenges of a first-generation student, hold her back from earning a four-year degree in the College of Science.
As a member of the Yakama Nation, Microbiology Ph.D. student Corbin Schuster is interested in the study of human diseases that have a higher incidence among Native peoples, such as toxoplasmosis (a parasitic infection), as well as diseases of salmon, which are central to the food, culture and religion of the Yakama people. He is thankful to not have to separate his culture from his career.
Román D. Hernández (’92), an alumnus of the College of Science, received the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Alumni Legacy Award on the occasion of the 39th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on Monday, January 18, 2021 at Oregon State University.
Recent microbiology master’s program graduate Elizanette ‘Nette’ Lopez was selected to participate in the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellowship program.
In her role as a Health Innovators Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Kuy developed a Covid-19 Preparation Tool to help healthcare facilities, businesses and communities rapidly gauge their preparedness for the outbreak, identify areas of weakness and strategically target resources for their greatest impact.
