Text Box: San Jose State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CSU-LSAMP)

 CSU-LSAMP Scholars

         CSU-LSAMP has implemented a Student Scholar’s Program designed to increase the number of CSU-LSAMP students that enter graduate STEM programs by supporting undergraduate CSU-LSAMP students who have declared this interest in pursuing graduate study in STEM fields.  In addition the program provides:

 

1. Travel Funds for the student to visit U.S. graduate degree granting institutions and/or to attend a professional meeting appropriate to the student's development.

2. Funds for other related activities, such as student membership in professional organizations and subscriptions to journals, research stipend, graduate school application and test fees, GRE preparation, and minor research materials costs.

 

          Applications for these awards are due in early February.  Visit Dr. Singmaster in DH 16 for more information.

 

2008-09 SJSU CSU-LSAMP Scholars

 

 

 

 

                       John Degnan

 

                            Chemistry

 

Mentor:

Dr. Cleber Ouverney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Biography

I was fortunate to grow up in an upper class family and was afforded a good early childhood. At the age of nine, this all ended abruptly when parents divorced.  From then on I grew up identifying with my mother’s Hispanic culture. My mother sacrificed greatly to have me sent to private schools so we struggled monetarily. Because of this I had to get a job as soon as I was able to work. Despite the financial hardship, I always held a strong passion for science, which I demonstrated by constructing a large Tesla coil for my high school science fair, and was featured on a television program called Tech Now. I was accepted to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach and planned to attend, however I joined the military out of a desire to help people and serve my country. I realized midway through military training that there were better ways of accomplishing that goal that did not involve taking other’s lives. I realized that the best way to serve my country and to help others was to use my abilities and pursue a career in science to further technology. Since then I have been highly motivated, and have been working constantly to support myself and continue my education. I am grateful to the LSAMP Scholars program because through LSAMP I was able to secure a paid research position in Dr. Cleber Ouverney’s lab. I have a strong interest in obtaining a PhD/MD or a PhD. I would also like to increase my research experience to make myself a more eligible candidate for admission into a graduate program by spending a summer are top university doing research either this summer or next summer. Ultimately it is my dream to one day have my own research lab, either in academia or in the private sector.

 

 

“Gracias Mamá por todo tu apoyo”

 

      Christian J. Espinoza Santos

                  Materials Engineering

 

                                Mentor:

Dr. Guna Selvaduray

 

Mechanical, Thermal, Chemical, and Morphological Characterization of the Coconut Fiber

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 Biography

As a Peruvian immigrant and first generation to attend college, education has become the key to achieving Christian’s American Dream.  He immigrated to the USA when he was sixteen and his passion for Materials Engineering has allowed him to overcome many obstacles.  In the past five years he has been involved with seven research projects with Owens Corning, FiberLite, NASA, McNair, Boeing and Tyco Electronics. His enthusiasm for research was fed by NASA where he has designed and conducted independent research.  Christian developed a process reducing the density of heat-shield materials used in the Galileo-Jupiter and Pioneer-Venus missions and published his research on Chop Molded Carbon Phenolic Ablators as first author in the NASA journals and as third author in the AIAA. He shares a patent for the Densification Process of the Surface of Phenolic-Impregnated Carbon Ablators and a technical disclosure for the Silica and Carbon Graded-Ablator.  His last research project and the catalyst to pursue a Ph.D. was with CSU-LSAMP and the McNair Scholars Programs, where he has designed and conducted research on the characterization of the coconut fibers under the supervision of Dr. Guna Selvaduray.  Christian is expected to graduate from San José State University in May of 2009.  He has recently applied to fourteen Ph.D. programs in Materials Engineering and has received an invitation for a Ph.D. in Materials from his dream school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is planning to start early on his research on Advanced Composite Ceramics through the Summer Pre-Doctoral Institute (SPI-UIUC) under the mentorship of Dr. Trudy Kriven.  He also received invitations for a Ph.D. from UC Davis, UC Merced, Virginia Tech and Ohio State.  Lastly, Christian is very thankful to all the professors at SJSU that believed in his potential and to the STEM and research programs at SJSU (CSU-LSAMP and McNair) that supported him in the many stages of his personal and professional life.

Text Box:

The 2009-10 CSU-LSAMP Scholars from SJSU are:  Hansel Corsa (Civil Eng.), Bryce Lloyd (Civil Eng.), Raquel Ortiz (Math) and Luis Funes (Civil Eng.).
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Cindy Bats 01.jpg

 

         Cindy Bick

 Biology     

 

Mentor:

Dr. Leslee Parr

 

 

 

 

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 Biography

Cindy Bick is a senior majoring in Biology with a concentration in Conservation and Organismal Biology with an emphasis in Zoology.  Her research project at San Jose State University aims to identify shrimp (Neotrypaea californiensis) source populations of the larvae and adults based on their genetic characterization along the coast of Washington and Oregon.  During the summer of 2008, she participated in Duke University’s Native American and Pacific Islander Research Experience (NAPIRE) for Tropical Biology in Costa Rica.  Cindy worked under the guidance of Dr. Heather York investigating the relationships of guild affiliation and morphometrics in Costa Rican bat species.  Currently, she is working on genetic characterization of microsatellite markers of the spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus couchii) and the Great Plains toad (Bufo cognatus).  In the summer of 2009, she will be working as a Teaching Assistant for the NAPIRE program for Tropical Biology in Costa Rica.  She plans to graduate in the spring of 2010 with a B.S. in Biology and then continue on to a Ph.D. program in Ecology, Evolution or Conservation Biology.

 

 

 

 

              Alex Dunlap

 

 

            Electrical Engineering

 

Mentor:

Dr. Gilles Muller

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Biography

Currently I am an electrical engineering major at San Jose State University and I graduate in May 2009.  I became interested in the interface between medicine and engineering two years ago so I have also completed course work in Biology and a minor in Chemistry.  Because of my desire to continue to an advanced degree I started doing research.  I currently work with Dr. Gilles Muller in the Chemistry Department at SJSU. For the last year I have been research active at SJSU.  I am currently working with Professor Gilles Muller on the photophysical and chiroptical properties of racemic lanthanide(III) complexes with a pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid derivative.  I was able to present my work at the ABRCMS Meeting in Orlando in November of 2008.  I was also able to spend summers doing research in engineering at UC San Diego in 2007 and Georgia Tech in 2008.  In the summer of 2007 I participated the in the Global Technology Initiative Program offered by the College of Engineering.  I spent two weeks in China with faculty and classmates learning about technology and engineering in China.

My career goals are to obtain an MD/PhD.  I am currently searching for paid post-baccalaureate research positions through the National Institutes of Health so that I can be better prepared for shifting my focus to the interface between engineering and medicine and so as to take time to get ready for the MCAT test required for admission into MD/PhD programs.

 

 

 

                      Monica A. Kapil

 

           Mechanical Engineering

 

Mentor:

Dr. Sang-Joon (John) Lee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Biography

For the past three years I have been conducting research at San Jose State University’s MEMS (Micro-elctro-mechanical-systems) laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Sang Joon John Lee.  I work with the Planar Capillary Electrokinetic Chromatography (PCEC) group where I conduct research in microfluidics using the polymer polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) for biological and chemical separation processes.  In lab, I have tested microfabrication process development and electromechanical properties of PMHS.  I also investigated new ways to enhance seal integrity at port interfaces on PMHS chips as well as designing, fabricating, and testing different microfluidic microbead (cell) separation mechanisms using pneumatic actuation.  I recently presented my findings at the 21st Annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium.  In addition, I am currently working on a publication on the Effects of Wall Compliance on Combined Electroosmotic and Pressure-Driven Flow in Polymer Microchannels and will be presenting this at the 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition.  This research experience has given me both practical experience and the ability to develop my own ideas and work independently.

             Being part of the undergraduate research community at SJSU, I discovered other opportunities in bioMEMS (bio-Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems).   This summer I conducted research at IBM Almaden Research Center, which was sponsored by NSF’s Center for Polymeric Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies (CPIMA) - Stanford University.  At IBM, I worked with Dr. Robert D. Miller in the Advanced Organic Materials Department, where I studied the engineering of platforms for the slow and controlled delivery of hydrophobic therapeutics within the body.  I learned the “layer-by-layer” (LBL) self-assembly process of the three dimensional, hyperbranched, star-polymers, and quickly grasped the chemistry and complicated background of nano-thin film surface coatings. With this experience, I found that I actually enjoyed the steep learning curve experienced at the beginning of assignment and was excited to quickly learn new topics and produce a valuable end product.  I was fortunate to successfully present my results to the CPIMA Annual Technical Forum and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS).

             After attaining my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in May 2009, I will be continuing my education in a PhD. Program focusing on biomedical applications of MEMS devices.  I was recently admitted into the graduate program in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley and I was selected for a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.