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TRIO Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Eastern Washington University

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Dr. Andrea Castillo

18 EWU McNair Scholars Present at EWU Virtual Symposium

06/10/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

18 Scholars Present at 2020 Symposium

EWU McNair is proud to announce that 18 EWU McNair Scholars presented at this year’s Virtual Symposium. In the midst of regular reminders of the suffering from COVID-19, in particular its disproportionate effect on communities of color, as well as recent police murders, we hope that lifting up our scholars will continue to support their work and the ultimate goal of McNair – which is to increase diversity in academia. Every McNair Scholar at EWU has powerful story. It is our goal that scholars use their powerful knowledge, experiences, and voices to develop research and actions that contribute to shifts in systemic racism, economic inequality, and overall building a more just world. Read below to learn more about the research presented, including links to each student’s poster or oral presentation. A huge thank you to all of the mentors that helped make this possible. We’re so proud of all of our students’ hard work and look forward another summer research in just a few weeks!

Four of our new scholars presented posters with their research proposals for the summer of 2020. Alexandria Coronado presented, “Research Proposal: Housing and Food Insecurity Among College Students” with the mentorship of Dr. Lindsey Upton. Ashley Destin presented, “Size Scaling in the Skull of North American Felids as Adaptations for Prey Acquisition” with the mentorship of Dr. Judd Case. Aulane Mpouli presented, “Molecular Docking Study of ITPA protein substrate complex” with the mentorship of Dr. Yao Houndonougbo. Hope Sands presented, “Exploring the Archaeological and Geographical Past of Fort Spokane: A Proposal” with the mentorship of Dr. Brian Buchanan.

 

Meanwhile, four new McNair scholars Analisea Araya, Gloria Bravo, Alexis Guizar-Diaz, and Rachael Pentico presented on completed or ongoing research. Analisea presented, “An Analysis of Early Modern Philosopher Mary Astell and a Critique of the Western Canon” with the mentorship of Dr. Kevin Decker. Gloria presented, “Economic Sanctions Reproduce State Sponsored Repression, Human Rights Violations and Violence: A Case Study of Venezuela” with the mentorship of Dr. Majid Sharifi. Alexis presented on, “Machismo, Marianismo, and The Ethics of Care” with the mentorship of Dr. Mimi Marinucci. He will continue this research in the summer of 2020 with Dr. Edwin Elias. Rachael Pentico presented, “A Review of Plant-Soil Feedbacks and Their Importance For Palouse Prairie Restoration and Management” with the mentorship of Dr. Rebecca Brown. 

 

Four additional continuing McNair scholars presented on their research from their 2019 EWU McNair Summer Research Internship. Darlene Gilroy presented “Chemical Weathering of Deposits from the 1980 Mount St. Helens Eruption and its Effect on Stream Water Chemistry” in collaboration with Dr. Carmen Nezat. Theresa Lee presented “Understanding Prisoner Reentry: Public Perceptions of Reentry Barriers Among College Students” with the mentorship of Dr. Lindsey Upton. Both Darlene and Theresa have also presented this research at other conferences around the country this last school year. Malachi Chukwu presented “Projects of Economic and Social Development in the Global South: The 20th and 21st-century developmental trends and their impacts” with the mentorship of Dr. Majid Sharifi. And Wendolyn Martinez presented “Propaganda: USSR and US – Comparing Propaganda from the US and USSR Produced for the Advancement of Public Approval for Hydro-projects in the 1930s,” with the mentorship of Dr. Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted. Malachi and Wendolyn had hoped to present at a McNair conference in the early spring; however, the conference was cancelled due to COVID-19.

 

Also, four graduating McNair Scholars presented their current research at the Virtual Symposium. Abdulrazik Mohamed presented “Darfurians in the Diaspora: Perceptions of the Conflict in Darfur, Sudan’s Past and the Future of Darfur Under International Response” with the mentorship of Dr. Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted. Abdu has also presented additional research this school year at the Annual International Symposium on Women and Genocide in the 21st Century: The Case of Darfur and the Black Doctoral Network Conference in the fall of 2019. Angélica García-Macías presented “Eat the Poor” under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas Hawley. Last academic year, Angélica presented research from her work with EWU McNair Mentor Dr. Martín Meráz García at several conferences as well as her research with Dr. Charles Stewart III at MIT at an MIT symposium last summer. Madelyn Brown presented “Maintaining Our Land: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wildfire Prevention” with the mentorship of Dr. Christina Torres García and PhD candidate SimHayKin S. Jack. Rachel Silverthorn presented “Gender differences in confidence in jury decision making” under the mentorship of Dr. Kayleen Islam-Zwart. She also presented this research at the 31st Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention. Washington, D.C. in 2019. All four of these scholars will attend Masters or PhD programs in the fall of 2020!

 

Finally, two EWU McNair Alumni, current EWU graduate students, also presented their current research. Christina Ramelow presented “Oral Farnesol Administration Protects Against Inflammatory Demyelination,” research done with mentorship from Dr. Javier Ochoa-Reparaz and in collaboration with multiple other graduate students and faculty. Veronica Albrecht presented “Characterizing Two cagPAI Located Small RNAs in Helicobacter pylori” in collaboration with Dr. Andrea Castillo and “Gene Expression Regulation of sRNA Hpnc2525 in the Clinically Relevant Helicobacter pylori cagPAI Genomic Region” in collaboration with EWU McNair STEM GSA and fellow graduate student Brandon Flatgard, under the mentorship of Dr. Andrea Castillo. Christina and Veronica will both attend fully funded PhD programs in the fall of 2020.

 

To learn more about our new and continuing scholars and all the other amazing work and presentations they have done, check out our Spring Gathering page celebrating scholars, mentors, and alumni. EWU McNair is incredibly proud of the hard work of all of our scholars and we look forward to seeing their research impact higher education and the wider world.

Filed Under: 2015-2016 Cohort, 2016-2017 Cohort, 2017-2018 Cohort, 2018-2019 Cohort, 2019-2020 Cohort, 2020-21 Presentations, AbdulrazikMohamed, Alexandria Coronado, Alexis Guizar-Diaz, Alumni, Analisea Araya, AngelicaGarciaMacias, Ashley Destin, Aulane Mpouli, ChristinaRamelow, Darlene Gilroy, Gloria Bravo, Hope Sands, Madelyn Brown, Malachi Chukwu, McNair Mentors, Mentor, Rachael Pentico, RachelSilverthorn, Research, Scholars, Theresa Lee, Veronica Albrecht, Wendolyn Martinez Tagged With: Dr. Andrea Castillo, Dr. Brian Buchanan, Dr. Carmen Nezat, Dr. Charles Stewart III, Dr. Christina Torres García, Dr. Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted, Dr. Edwin Elias, Dr. Javier Ochoa-Reparaz, Dr. Judd Case, Dr. Kayleen Islam-Zwart, Dr. Lindsey Upton, Dr. Majid Sharifi, Dr. Martín Meráz García, Dr. Thomas Hawley, Dr. Yao Houndonougbo, MIT, SimHayKin S. Jack

EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro Accepted into Two Additional PhD Programs

03/19/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Photo of Marcos Monteiro next to red confetti background with text congratulating him on acceptance into two PhD programs.
Photo of Marcos Monteiro next to red confetti background with text congratulating him on acceptance into two PhD programs.

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro! Marcos has been accepted into the Molecular BioSciences PhD Program at Montana State University and the PhD Program in Immunology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, both with full funding. This is in addition to four other PhD acceptances! Marcos is a senior at Eastern Washington University majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. To prepare for graduate school Marcos completed two summers of research internships, one here with the EWU McNair Scholars Program and mentor Dr. Andrea Castillo, and the other last summer at Fred Hutchinson in Seattle. He is also the recipient of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, one of the most competitive STEM scholarships in the country. To read more about Marcos and his research, check out his page on the EWU McNair website.

 

We are so proud of Marcos and excited for his next steps towards obtaining his PhD!

Filed Under: 2017-2018 Cohort, 2019-2020 Grad School Acceptances, Acceptances/Awards, Biology, Chemistry, MarcosMonteiro, McNair Mentors, Mentor, News Tagged With: Accepted, Dr. Andrea Castillo, EWU McNair Program, EWU McNair Scholar, Graduate School, Marcos Monteiro, Mentors, STEM

EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro Accepted into Multiple PhD Programs

02/27/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Photo of Marcos Monteiro next to text congratulating him on acceptances into 3 PhD programs
Photo of Marcos Monteiro next to text congratulating him on acceptances into 3 PhD programs

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro! Marcos has been accepted into the Biological and Biomedical Sciences PhD program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the Microbiology PhD program at Indiana University, Bloomington, and the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics PhD program at Emory University, all with full funding! This is in addition to an acceptance into the Indiana BioMedical Gateway (IBMG) program at the Indiana University School of Medicine, also with full funding. Marcos is a senior at Eastern Washington University majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. To prepare for graduate school Marcos completed two summers of research internships, one here with the EWU McNair Scholars Program and mentor Dr. Andrea Castillo, and the other last summer at Fred Hutchinson in Seattle. He is also the recipient of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, one of the most competitive STEM scholarships in the country. To read more about Marcos and his research, check out his page on the EWU McNair website.

 

We are so proud of Marcos and excited for his next steps towards obtaining his PhD!

Filed Under: 2017-2018 Cohort, 2019-2020 Grad School Acceptances, Acceptances/Awards, Biology, Chemistry, MarcosMonteiro, McNair Mentors, Mentor, News Tagged With: Accepted, Dr. Andrea Castillo, EWU McNair Program, EWU McNair Scholar, Graduate School, Marcos Monteiro, Mentors, STEM

EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro Accepted into Indiana University School of Medicine

02/05/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro has been accepted into the BioMedical Gateway program at the Indiana University School of Medicine
EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro has been accepted into the BioMedical Gateway program at the Indiana University School of Medicine

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro! Marcos has been accepted into the Indiana BioMedical Gateway (IBMG) program at the Indiana University School of Medicine with full funding! Marcos is a senior at Eastern Washington University majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. To prepare for graduate school Marcos completed two summers of research internships, one here with the EWU McNair Scholars Program and mentor Dr. Andrea Castillo, and the other last summer at the Fred Hutchinson in Seattle. He is also the recipient of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, one of the most competitive STEM scholarships in the country. To read more about Marcos and his research, check out his page on the EWU McNair website.

 

We are so proud of Marcos and excited for his next steps towards attaining his PhD!

Filed Under: 2017-2018 Cohort, 2019-2020 Grad School Acceptances, Acceptances/Awards, Biology, Chemistry, MarcosMonteiro, McNair Mentors, Mentor, News Tagged With: Accepted, Dr. Andrea Castillo, EWU McNair Scholar, Graduate School, Marcos Monteiro, STEM

McNair Scholars Publish Article with Mentor in the Journal of Applied Microbiology

01/14/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Scholars Marcos Monteiro and Laurisa Ankley are published with Mentor Dr. Andrea Castillo in the Journal of Applied Microbiology

Congratulations to current EWU McNair Scholar Marcos Monteiro, former EWU McNair Scholar Laurisa Ankley and McNair Faculty Mentor Dr. Andrea Castillo, along with fellow student Katherine Camp and Dr. Robin O'Quinn, for the publication of their article "Manuka honey chelates iron and impacts iron regulation in key bacterial pathogens" in the Journal of Applied Microbiology! Mentoring and research experience like this not only prepare McNair Scholars to be successful graduate students, it also helps them get accepted into universities! Laurisa, who graduated in 2018 from EWU with a BS in biology, went directly from undergrad at EWU to Michigan State University's PhD program in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and received full funding! Marcos is a senior at EWU majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. He is currently applying to Masters and PhD programs in Molecular Biology/Microbiology. The EWU McNair Scholar's program is so proud of our students and deeply greatly to the faculty mentors who make this possible. Keep your eyes out in the coming months as our seniors receive acceptances from university's around the country!

Filed Under: 2016-2017 Cohort, 2017-2018 Cohort, 2020-21 Publications, Alumni, Biology, Chemistry, LaurisaAnkley, MarcosMonteiro, McNair Mentors, Mentor, News, Research, Scholars Tagged With: Biology, Dr. Andrea Castillo, EWU McNair Scholar, Journal of Applied Microbiology, Mentors, Microbiology

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