Quebrando Barreras in Chemistry

Session 1

Location: CNSI Auditorium

Session Chair: Christina Rivera, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA

1. Prof. Miguel Garcia-Garibay (UCLA)

   • Engineering Reactions, Understanding Mechanisms, and Designing Complex Functions with Organic Crystals

2. Prof. Sandra Encalada (Scripps Research)

   • Activation of Endolysosomal Neuronal Degradative Mechanisms to Ameliorate Prion Disease

3. Prof. Karina Carneiro (U of Toronto)

   • Tunable DNA hydrogels as Biomaterials for Bone Regeneration

4. Prof. Braulio Rodríguez-Molina (UNAM)

   • Cocrystals as rockets

Latina Futures Quebrando Barreras in STEM

Session 1

Location: Young Hall Auditorium, Rm 4222

Panel: Identity and Intersectionality in STEM

1. Prof. Natalia Gonzalez Pech (Wesleyan)

2. Prof. Laura Sanchez (UC Santa Cruz)

3. Prof. Crystal Reynaga (UC Riverside)

4. Denyz Melchor (UC Los Angeles)

Quebrando Barreras in Chemistry

Session 2

Location: CNSI Auditorium

Session Chair: Natalie Leon, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA

1. Prof. Joel Yuen-Zhou (UC San Diego)

   • Organic molecules as optical spin interfaces: from quantum sensing to photoredox catalysis

2. Prof. Joaquín Barroso-Flores (UNAM)

   • Bridging Electronic Structure Theory and Biological Energy Transfer

3. Prof. Steven Lopez (Northeastern)

   • Overcoming (activation) barriers in chemistry

Latina Futures Quebrando Barreras in STEM

Session 2

Location: Young Hall Auditorium, Rm 4222

Latina Futures Keynote Speakers

1. Dr. Krishna Foster (CSULA)

2. Dr. Monica Medina (UCLA)

Discipline Networking

Quebrando Barreras in Chemistry

Session 3

Location: CNSI Auditorium

Session Chair: Lupita Aguirre, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA

1. Prof. Claudia G. Lucero (CSU Sacramento)

   • Total Syntheses of Lorneic Acids and Potential Biological Evaluation

2. Prof. Elias Picazo (USC)

   • Iron Catalysis and Heterocyclic Rearrangements for New Functionality

3. Prof. Gerardo Andrés Cisneros (UT Dallas)

   • A Chilango in the Realm of the Ivory Towers; From an Organometallic Lab to a Physics Department Through Simulations

4. Prof. Nathan Ariel Romero (UC San Diego)

   • Synthesis, Reactivity, and Polymer Chemistry of Caged Frustrated Lewis Pairs

Latina Futures Quebrando Barreras in STEM

Session 3

Location: Young Hall Auditorium, Rm 4222

Panel: Building and Identifying Mentor Relationships

1. Prof. Sylvia Hurtado (UC Los Angeles)

2. Dr. Diana E. Azurdia (UC Los Angeles)

3. Prof. Loralee Larios (UC Riverside)

4. Dr. Estela Gavosto (UC Riverside)

Quebrando Barreras in Chemistry

Session 4

Location: CNSI Auditorium

Session Chair: Neyci Gutierrez, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA

1. Prof. Kelly N. Chacón (Reed College)

   • Science and Mentorship at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution: La Hermosa Realidad

2. Prof. Eusebio Juaristi (CINVESTAV)

   • Mechanochemistry as a Powerful Tool in Green Chemistry

3. Prof. José Villegas (UIC)

   • Highly Accurate Peptide Design for Potent Inhibition of Bacterial Quorum Sensing using BindCraft.

4. Prof. Hosea Nelson (Caltech)

   • Breaking Good, from community college to carbocations and crystals

Latina Futures Quebrando Barreras in STEM

Session 4

Location: Young Hall Room 4222

Panel: Navigating Graduate School as a Woman of Color in STEM

Moderator: Christina Rivera

1. Crystal Barajas Rivera (UCLA)

2. Shantée N. Ayala Rosario

3. Prof. Jazmin Aguilar Romero (UCLA)

4. Dr. Lupita S. Aguirre (UCLA)

5. Adriana Piña Páez (Caltech)

Quebrando Barreras in Chemistry

Session 1

Location: CNSI Auditorium

Session Chair: David Cagan, Chemistry, Scripps Research

1. Prof. Javier Read de Alaniz (UC Santa Barbara)

   • Chemistry, what’s it good for?

2. Prof. Ana Bahamonde (UC Riverside)

   • Photochemical Means Open Up New Pathways for Nickel Catalysis

3. Prof. Erik Romero (UC San Diego)

   • Breaking Reactivity Barriers Through Mechanism-Guided Design

4. Prof. Laura Sanchez (UC Santa Cruz)

   • Natural products: The good, the bad, the future

Latina Futures Quebrando Barreras in STEM

Session 1

Location: Young Hall Auditorium, Rm 4222

Panel: STEM Careers in Industry and Academia

Moderator: Christina Rivera, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA

1. Dr. Daisy Rosas Vargas (SoilWise)

2. Prof. Adriana Galván (UCLA)

3. Prof.  Elsy Buitrago Delgado (UC San Diego)

4. Jocelyn Argueta (NASA JPL)

Quebrando Barreras in Chemistry

Session 2

Location: CNSI Auditorium

Session Chair: Kevin E. Rivera Cruz, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA

1. Prof. Natalia Gonzalez Pech (Wesleyan)

   • Effects of nanoparticle matter in air pollution on a sentinel species: House sparrows as the canary in the coalmine

2. Prof. Jose Oscar Carlos Jimenez Halla (U of Guanajuato)

   • Transition-Metal-Free Catalysis and Polymerization: Insights from DFT into FLPs and Ylides

3. Prof. Alberto Vázquez-Salazar (CINVESTAV)

   • Evolutionary Biochemistry: Reconstructing the Origins of Enzymes and Metabolic Pathways

4. Prof. Marino J E Resendiz (CU Denver)

   • Structural impact and altered RNA-protein / RNA-metabolite interactions arising from the presence of 8-oxoG within RNA

Latina Futures Quebrando Barreras in STEM

Session 2

Location: Young Hall Auditorium, Rm 4222

Panel: Challenges and Strategies for Success in the STEM Pipeline

Moderator: Neyci Gutiérrez Valencia, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA

1. Prof. Stephanie Correa (UCLA)

2. Prof. Glenda M. Flores (UCI)

3. Prof. Valerie Tornini (UCLA)

4. Christina Rivera (UCLA)

5. Brianna Wright (UCLA)

Quebrando Barreras in Chemistry

Session 3

Location: CNSI Auditorium

Session Chair: Pablo Alvarez, Microbiology Immunology & Molecular Genetics, UCLA

1. Prof. Nicole M. Martinez (Stanford)

   • Regulatory features driving pseudouridine synthase activityActivation of Endolysosomal Neuronal Degradative Mechanisms to Ameliorate Prion Disease

2. Prof. Andrew Pun (UC San Diego)

   • Chemical Design of Novel Triplet-Triplet Annihilation Upconversion Annihilators

3. Prof. Joseph Badillo (Seton Hall)

   • Photoacid-Catalyzed Functionalization of Carbonyls

4. Prof. Jesús Armando Luján (CINVESTAV)

   • From Mechanistic Insight to Molecular Precision: Regio- and Stereocontrol in a Sustainability-Driven Era

Latina Futures Quebrando Barreras in STEM

Session 3

Location: Young Hall Auditorium, Rm 4222

Panel: Mental Health and Well-Being

Moderator: Marianne Gutierrez, Nursing, UCLA

1. Prof. Selene Bobadilla (UCR)

2. Prof. Alyssa Rodriguez

3. Prof. Denise A. Chavira (UCLA)

Quebrando Barreras in Chemistry

Session 4

Location: CNSI Auditorium

Session Chair: Angel Renteria, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA

1. Prof. Alicia O. Hernandez-Castillo (Harvey Mudd College)

   • Mapping DMSO–Water Interactions One Cluster at a Time: A CP-FTMW Study

2. Prof. Raúl Hernández Sánchez (Rice)

   • Design of cluster compounds establishing d-d and d-f metal-metal interactions

3. Prof. Jesus Cordova (CSU San Marcos)

   • Total Synthesis of Corniculatolide B and Derivatives.

4. Prof. Jose Rodriguez (UCLA)

   • Seeing the unseen, a path to molecular structure determination

Latina Futures Quebrando Barreras in STEM

Session 4

Location: Young Hall Auditorium, Rm 4222

Panel: Networking and Professional Opportunities in STEM

Moderator: Austin Betancourt, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA

1. Dr. Gaby Barrios (UCLA)

2. Prof. Rosario Jaime-Lara (UCLA)

3. Prof. Adilene Bernal Sánchez (Pomona College)

4. Gabriela Soriana (UCR)

5. Ana Garcia-Vedrenne (UCI)