Bryan Rangel Alvarez (second from left) and Cristhian Gutierrez Huerta (second from right) were among the 5 UC Merced CAMP awardees. Cristhian and Bryan both interned at the JGI in 2015. Watch them talk about their experiences at http://bit.ly/JGI15summerinternsvids.
As part of the ongoing partnership between DOE JGI and UC Merced to promote diversity and inclusion in science and research, two undergraduate students from UC Merced recently had summer internships in Walnut Creek. These interns included Cristhian Gutierrez Huerta and Bryan Rangel Alvarez, both California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) students at UC Merced. CAMP is a statewide initiative funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and supports underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
At the 2016 CAMP Statewide Undergraduate Research Symposium, held February 6 at the University of California, Irvine, Cristhian and Bryan were among 5 UC Merced CAMP students who earned outstanding research awards. From the 99 students who attended, representing 9 UC campuses, 10 special merit posters/presenters and 10 honorable mentions were recognized.
The 5 UC Merced awardees were:
Special Merit Awards
- Cristhian Gutierrez-Huerta (Major: Applied Math; Faculty Mentor: Dr. Zhong Wang)
- Victoria Arias (Major: Applied Math; Faculty Mentor: Dr. Roummel Marcia)
Honorable Mentions
- Bryan Rangel (Major: Biological Sciences; Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tanja Woyke)
- Kyle Kabasares (Major: Physics; Faculty Mentor: Dr. Linda Hirst)
- Christian Montes (Major: Applied Math; Faculty Mentor: Dr. Arnold Kim)
“It is a beautiful thing, that our young campus earned 25% of the research awards,” said Jesús Cisneros, director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center at UC Merced. “This is a true testament of the hard work and caliber of our first-generation students and the amazing mentorship they receive from our faculty.”
Cristhian and Bryan interned with Zhong Wang and Tanja Woyke, respectively. Both of their mentors hold adjunct positions at UC Merced. Cristhian and Bryan both spoke briefly about their internship experiences at the DOE JGI – revisit their videos at http://bit.ly/JGI15summerinternsvids. Additionally, Bryan was featuring in a video about the importance of mentoring with Tanja Woyke and her research group – watch that video here.