I am currently a PhD candidate at UMass Amherst and study how marine ectotherms adapt to climate change by combining experimental physiology, fieldwork, and genetics to distinguish plasticity from adaptation and predict population persistence. I chose to volunteer as a CL mentor to pay forward the supportive mentorship and opportunities that helped me belong and grow in STEM.

I am a bilingual pediatric psychology fellow at the University of Colorado Anschutz/Children’s Hospital of Colorado, where I work with children and families across medical and behavioral health settings. My interests include child development, behavioral health, and culturally responsive care. As a Puerto Rican, I volunteered as a CL-GSMI mentor to support Latinx students navigating academic and professional spaces, share my experiences, and help foster the next generation of Latinx scientists.

I am a postdoctoral researcher at University College London, where I'm studying how behavioral state changes circuit communication in cortical circuits using new photonic probes. I received my PhD from UC Berkeley, where I used optogenetics to investigate visual coding. Many great mentors have helped me through the years, and I hope to give back and increase the diversity of the next generation of scientists through being a CL-GSMI mentor.

I am a 5th year PhD candidate at Northwestern University where I study the formation and dynamics of giant exoplanets through directly imaged observations of their orbits. I contribute to the data reduction pipeline for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument and I am interested in the development of high contrast imaging techniques. I was part of the 2021 GSMI cohort and benefited greatly from the program, so I am excited to be back as a CL-Mentor.

I am a PhD candidate at the University of Oregon, where I study how the greatest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, APOE4, impacts the blood vessels in the brain and how this can lead to learning and memory deficits. I wouldn't be where I am today without the fantastic mentors that have guided me thus far. I want to pay forward the mentorship I received to the CL-GSMI mentees to foster a research environment where ideas can be shared and discussed in a comfortable and exciting manner.

I am part of the UC Davis' Graduate Group in Immunology. I joined the Rothenburg lab in 2023 where I study the interactions and coevolution of poxviruses and their hosts. In my free time, I like to do different activities with people like hanging out with friends, volunteering for different events, organizing dinners, etc. I've also been recently obsessed with playing card games and journaling!

I am a PhD candidate at Brown University in the Pathobiology Program, where I'm studying idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). I am using in-vitro and in-vivo models to study the cell-specific contribution of lactate transport to fibrotic remodeling. I feel a strong drive to mentor and help others. I wish to support the next generation of scientists by being a CL-GSMI mentor to help them gather information more easily, find great senior mentors, and navigate graduate school with confidence.

Isabela is a third year PhD candidate in Stanford's Cancer Biology program. Interested in the similarities between regenerative processes and cancer, she is currently studying secreted signals that regulate alveolar stem cell behavior and lung cancer initiation. She is grateful to all the mentors who have guided her throughout her career and is excited to help her own mentees navigate their first year of graduate school.

I am a third-year PhD student in the Georgia Tech–Emory Biomedical Engineering program, where I study cardiovascular tissue engineering and cardiac regeneration. As a first-generation student, mentorship has played an important role in helping me navigate research and graduate school. I volunteered as a CL-GSMI mentor to give back, support students navigating similar paths, and help make STEM and graduate education feel more accessible.

I am currently a PhD candidate at UC San Diego. I am studying how host proteins from different species have evolved to interact with viral proteases and am working to understand the consequences of those interactions. I have had many great supportive mentors at several stages of my career that have helped guide me through new challenges so I wanted to have a chance to be that person for someone else.

I am a third-year Ph.D. student at UTD researching software accessibility. I did my undergrad at UPR-RP in Computational Mathematics and Statistics, with a second major in Computer Science and minors in Cybersecurity and Human Rights. During my student journey, I’ve been fortunate to have amazing mentors who have supported me and shown me the importance of having someone in your corner. As a CL Academy Mentor, I hope to give back and be that support for the next generation of scientists.

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Cleveland Clinic studying microbiota-immune system interactions and intestinal wound repair. I received my PhD from Emory University, where I studied how dietary fiber shapes T cell development. As a first-gen scientist, I know firsthand how transformative it is to have mentors who believe in you and are invested in your success. I believe science is stronger when everyone has the opportunity to contribute, and I hope to help others find their place in it.

I am a Computational and Molecular Biology PhD student at Brown University, where my research pairs Drosophila neurobiology with high-resolution spatial transcriptomics to study the molecular and circuit mechanisms of memory, reward, and addiction. Prior to Brown, I was a bioinformatician at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. I received my BS Mathematics and BA Biology from the University of Rhode Island. As a CL-Academy mentor, I hope to support and empower diverse young scientists.

I am a third-year PhD student at Baylor College of Medicine, where I study the NS1/2 protein of caliciviruses and how its viroporin activity contributes to viral replication and host cell metabolic reprogramming. Throughout my academic journey, I have received immense support from the Cientifico Latino programs and from numerous mentors who have encouraged me to pursue a career in science. Now, I hope to give back by supporting and encouraging the next generation of scientists.