Why are you passionate about women's health, besides the obvious fact that you are a female? Since when have you decided to pursue your research interest?

My passion for women’s health started when I was in high school. Long story short, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and around the same time I went through a whole ordeal to find out I was born with two uteruses. It was a low-key traumatic part of my life, but through it I discovered my passion for women’s health and medicine. I almost failed high school because I was going through all of this and didn’t have the right support, but I made it through (barely) and used my community college experience to turn a new leaf and explore my passion for science, medicine, and engineering.

What did you do as a research intern at Stanford University School of Medicine through Canada College, before you transferred to UCSD? Were you able to apply the skills you developed there to your current research projects?

While at community college in the bay area, I had 2 internships at Stanford. The first was with a postdoc at the VA, where I used wet lab techniques to explore immune cell differentiation and extravasation within endothelial cells. I learned so much in such a short time, including cell culture techniques, immunohistochemistry, mouse husbandry, organ preservation, slicing, and imaging, PCR, RT-PCR, ELISA assays, and probably a lot more that has totally slipped my mind. It was an amazing opportunity, but it was unpaid and eventually I had to move forward and seek a paid opportunity.

That led me to my second internship, which was a Stanford collaboration with my community college. A group of Cañada College students were selected to work with the Bogyo lab and look at the effects of non nutritive sweeteners on common gut bacteria.

This position helped me learn about teamwork, bacteria growth, and it gave me my first taste of the realm of biological data analysis. My current research projects are purely dry lab, and I focus largely on big data and data science techniques to look at physiological time series data. While I haven't’ used any wet lab skills from the first internship, I am still constantly using my critical thinking skills, and knowledge of lab culture to succeed in my research and lab manager position. Like I mentioned before, the second internship introduced me to biological data analysis, which I use on a daily basis. I work mainly with python libraries like pandas, matplotlib, and scipy, but occasionally work with R and MATLAB as well.

How does your research experience at UCSD differ from that at Stanford? Was it smooth to find what you want to do and become part of the research team? (How can your experience in joining a research group be improved?)

When I first got to UCSD, I felt overwhelmed at how many different research opportunities there were. I also couldn’t quite find one that I was excited to explore. I searched website and papers for an entire year, until one day I was in BENG 1 hearing a guest lecture on time series analyses. I was enthralled by the professor’s work so I emailed him right after class, and he accepted me as his student! In reality, it was a longer process of meeting with him and discussing his papers and what I wanted to get out of my research, but it all worked out in the end and I couldn’t be happier that I waited for the right opportunity. My current research is a 180 from what I was doing at Stanford, since it’s purely data driven, but I love it. I am so excited to see where the physiological data science space will take me next.

Did you experience any obstacle transferring to UCSD? Is there any information/resources that could better aid you in the process, but weren't known to you?

Acclimating to UCSD as a transfer student was really hard. I didn't get involved in many student orgs because I was worried I wouldn't have time for my academics. In the end, I ended up alienating myself and feeling very lonely and out of place. Thankfully, I was able to get more involved in Engineering World Health (EWH) and take the Transfer Year Experience course and that really helped connect me with resources on campus. After getting to know more of the campus and visiting places like the Raza Resource Centro and The Zone (they had free back and neck massages pre-pandemic no lie), I began to feel like I belonged here. I encourage anyone new to UCSD to get out of their comfort zone and try out different clubs and spaces on campus to see what communities feel special to them!

Apart from research, you also actively contribute to multiple student organizations (Engineering World Health and the Big BENG). How did you balance work and life?

First of all, finding the balance is hard. Every quarter, I have to find a new balance depending on what my schedule looks like, what my family needs from me, and what research I’m working on. Sometimes I mess up. Just this quarter, I totally underestimated the amount of time an assignment was going to take and did really poorly on it. My go-to time management strategies are using google calendar *religiously,* scheduling time aside for mental health breaks and date days, and warding off procrastination by switching up where I study. I try to stay away from coffee, but every now and then it’s just what I need to get that lab report done. It also just takes knowing yourself and what your bad habits are and trying to work around them. For example, I know that if I’m overwhelmed with how much stuff I have to do, I tend to shut down and binge Netflix. To avoid this, I break my assignments down into super small steps and reward myself after each one. 1) Open google docs. *eats a skittle* 2) Write the heading. *eats a snickers* 3) Look up one research article and spend 15 mins digesting it. *drinks a hot chocolate* etc.

You are a Triton Research and Experiential Learning Scholar (TRELS) and received grants for Fall 20 and Win21 quarters. What is TRELS and what projects were your grants for?

I was lucky enough to be a TRELS scholar for 3 quarters during the 2010-21 school year! They funded my research within the Smarr Lab, focussing on differences in student achievement between majors and gender. Previous research shows that women, on average, have higher GPAs than men when you look at all majors. However, when you look deeper into the data, the same trend does not hold for STEM majors. I’m currently exploring the role of circadian rhythms in this GPA gap, as well as the effect of having low percentages of women in STEM classes.

Anything else you wanna share, be it tips in school/social lives, stories in women's health, or fun facts about you.

Fun fact: I’m married! I always get shocked looks when I tell people this, but I was honestly just really lucky to find an amazing partner early in life. He’s a software engineer, a great cook, and super shy but also the silliest person you’ve ever met.

Academic Tip: Find a mentor that’s in the career you want to be in-- ask them if they’re happy, what they would have done differently, and what resources they recommend to help you get there. You can find a mentor through a student org, LinkedIn (yes, you can cold message/email!), professional organizations, or grad students on campus!