PSU BUILD EXITO celebrates scholars, holds summer research academy
By Arjun Viray
EXITO End of Year Celebration
On June 9, the Portland State University BUILD EXITO community came together for the annual End of Year Celebration. This year, 31 EXITO Cohort 6 scholars and seven U-RISE Cohort 1 scholars completed their programs!
The celebration included a stoling ceremony and attendees heard from program leads who highlighted the great work these students completed, despite the COVID pandemic impacting their time in BUILD EXITO and U-RISE.
Seven finished from the first U-RISE cohort: James Vo, Ana Martinez-Torres, Ismael Bastida de Jesus, Chibuike Eke, Grace Parra, Nhi Dinh and Joy Jimenez-Lopez.
Cohort 6 BUILD EXITO and Cohort 1 U-RISE scholars attended the annual End of Year Celebration.
Thirty-one Cohort 6 scholars completed BUILD EXITO: Sebastian Benitez, Ashis Ramtel, Citlaly Vazquez, Cynthia Villanueva-Vargas, Gabriela Hernandez Garcia, John Chloel, Delos Reyes, Juliana Villanueva, Tiffany Pham, Xuan Dinh, Habiba Ibrahim, Sarelia Mora-Torres, Suha Quadri, Karon Rowe, Aaron Tongpoon, Marcell Richard, Cielo Hernandez Sanchez, Bradley Marxmiller, Natalie Partipilo, Donna Mae Delos Reyes, Libby Romolor, Wileen Mongami, Kathleen Loise Lacanilao, Anya DeCarlo, Jenni Tran, Faiza Abdi, Madeline Amezcua Montano, Jesus Nava Valencia, Marilyn Rios Bello, Helena Sai and Alex Vazquez-Cortes.
EXITO hosts 250 students in a three-day long research academy
Undergraduate panelists at the Summer Research Academy 2023. (Left to right: moderator Carlos Quatela and panelists Arden Goldberg, Cynthia Villanueva Vargas, Meaghan Creech, Marisa Gonzalez, Adrian Jimenez and Makenna Stone).
From June 22 to 24, the EXITO staff hosted the Summer Research Academy (SRA). In previous years, this academy served as an orientation for BUILD EXITO scholars.
As BUILD EXITO pivots into the new Center for Internship, Mentoring, and Research (CIMR), the academy has changed.
This is the second year that SRA has welcomed all students from various backgrounds to join a three-day long event to learn more about research and research opportunities at Portland State University and the Oregon Health Science University.
Students were recruited from PSU as well as partner institutions that BUILD EXITO worked with, including Portland Community College, Clackamas Community College, Clark College, American Samoa Community College and the Northern Marianas College. Thanks to funding from the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, all student attendees received $300 for their time.
The main highlight of this event was a research tabling fair where students were able to meet with representatives from 20 research-related programs and opportunities. The goal of the tabling fair was for students to learn more about the different programs, ask questions, and get on their mailing lists so they will be notified about application deadlines.
During the three-day event, three different panels showcased undergraduate researchers, graduate and professional school students, and faculty and industry researchers. Students were able to hear from and ask questions to these researchers at different levels of their professional tract.
Students also got to hear from keynote speakers who shared about their journey into research.
One such speaker was BUILD EXITO Cohort 1 alumna Mona Hosseini, who shared her journey from BUILD EXITO to her current position as a PhD candidate in molecular and cellular biology working in the lab of Anupriya Agarwal, PhD, at the Knight Cancer Institute of OHSU.
Additional sessions covered informational interviewing, and developing science identities as well as research questions. There were also poster and oral research presentations.
Thanks to the eight previous SRA events, this year’s SRA saw a great turnout with 250 students interested in research who learned more about what it means to be a researcher, which programs are available to them, and more. Learn more about the 2023 SRA.
The Center for Internship, Mentoring, and Research (CIMR) hosted the Summer Research Academy from June 22 to 24
EXITO onboards new students under the BUILD EXITO umbrella
On July 11, PSU BUILD EXITO staff started the onboarding process for new students being served under the EXITO umbrella.
U-RISE, PROA or DREAM students enjoyed a game of bowling
Students from the list of programs below meet twice a week for “Induction,” which is one program element from BUILD EXITO. Induction is a type of orientation that new scholars take part in to start their undergraduate research journeys. Some learning outcomes include learning how to do an elevator pitch, read research articles and identify different career pathways.
Programs participating in Induction include:
- U-RISE: A two-year research program funded by NIH that’s intended for students interested in pursuing PhDs
- DREAM: A one-year research program funded by PSU that supports undocumented students at the university
- PROA: A one-year research program funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) grant that supports students from Northern Marianas College who transfer to PSU and are supported by EXITO/CIMR programming
CSULB BUILD celebrates grads with commencement
By Nicole Streicker
Students, their families and loved ones, research mentors and BUILD team members gathered on May 5 in the Engineering and Computer Science building for California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) BUILD’s commencement ceremony.
This year, CSULB President Jane Close Conoley, PhD, delivered a moving speech to graduates. Remarks were also given by BUILD PI Jesse Dillon, PhD; BUILD Training Directors Virginia Gray, PhD, and Young-Hee Cho, PhD; and BUILD Graduate Mentors Kayleigh Hart and Isabella Di Lauro.
The event also featured BUILD student speakers nominated by their cohorts: Emily Aniya and Anayeli Hernandez represented the BUILD Fellows who started BUILD in their senior year, and Adeline Rosales represented the BUILD Scholars who started BUILD as juniors.
Each gave moving and encouraging talks, sharing their own stories and conveying those of their peers.
Group photo of the BUILD Trainees, Graduate Mentors, Training Directors, Staff, and PIs at Commencement
The ceremony culminated with the certificate and sash ceremony. View photos of the event taken by Vishnuvardhan Subbaiah Chappidi.
BUILD Team! (L to R, back row) Nicole Streicker, Young-Hee Cho, Isabella Di Lauro, Taityana Lopez, Araceli Gonzalez, Kayleigh Hart, Virginia Gray, Jesse Dillon. (L to R, front row) Sarah Velasco, Panadda Marayong, Marie Reed, Ashley Colbern, Chi-Ah Chun
Congratulations to the 2022-23 Fellows who completed the One-Year BUILD Program: Emily Aniya, Anayeli Hernandez, Kimberly Izarraras, Emily Montes, Tammy Nguyen, Samantha Perez, Jason Phan, Isabel Ramirez-Flores, Amber Simonpietri, Khanh Ngoc Tran, Isabel Villafuerte, David Quiroz, Annie Tong.
Congratulations to the 2021-23 Scholars who completed the Two-Year BUILD Program: Antonio Arreguin, Marc Barcelos, Ana Garcia, Emma Rosas, Diana Than, Meleia Vyrak, Gabriela Pena Carmona, Adeline Rosales.
Graduate Mentors
An imperative element of the BUILD community is the ongoing support of near-peer mentoring provided by CSULB graduate students, so the BUILD team honors them each year. On May 9, the BUILD Team celebrated each of the BUILD Graduate Mentors (GMs) by giving them a thank you gift and saying goodbye to those who graduated.
Congratulations to two of our GMs who graduated: Isabella Di Lauro and Kayleigh Hart.
The Diversity Program Consortium Coordination and Evaluation Center at UCLA is supported by Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health / National Institutes of General Medical Sciences under award number U54GM119024.
Grow Together.