Kayleigh Fick ’25 
Major: Political Science
Minor: History
Extracurriculars: Tiger Team admission ambassador; history research assistant; president of Phi Alpha Delta pre-law professional fraternity; member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority
Favorite places: Muir Grove and Miracle Mile

From the moment Kayleigh Fick ’25 set foot on Pacific’s campus; she was eager to dive into her political science studies. But what she didn’t expect was how one professor’s mentorship would shape her academic path in ways she never imagined. Through her connection with history Professor Laura D. Gutierrez, Kayleigh discovered that college isn’t just about gaining knowledge—it’s about finding the people who help you grow, challenge you, and inspire you along the way. 

Fick was already an active student in her sorority and in the Pacific Legal Advantage program. But after taking her first history course, Modern Latin America, with Gutierrez, she soon learned how intertwined history and politics are. The experience was so compelling that it led her to add history as a minor.  

“That class really challenged me to develop my writing and research skills,” Fick said. “We had never touched on Latin American history in high school, and I found it incredibly compelling.” 

She soon found that not only was Gutierrez a teacher she could learn a lot from but also a personal mentor who could lead her to law school.  

The role of a mentor 

“She’s definitely been a constant source of support and a mentor that really challenged me to grow,” Fick said. “She didn’t let me stay still in my growth. She challenged me to always improve, always be better.” 

Outside the classroom, Gutierrez helped Fick conduct research for her Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship project, which focused on the works of Argentina’s former first lady, Eva Perón. Fick chose Gutierrez specifically to mentor her through the fellowship. 

According to Fick, one of the most important things Gutierrez taught her during her research on this project was the need for accessibility. So, she translated all Perón’s speeches into English, which had previously not been made available before. Under Gutierrez’s guidance, Fick created a website containing all of Perón’s speeches as well as an interactive map that shows the user each location where Perón gave a speech. Because of Gutierrez’s influence and Fick’s dedication, more people can access the speeches and learn more about an important leader in Latin American history.  

A support system beyond academics 

The relationship between Fick and Gutierrez extended beyond academics. As a woman navigating the traditionally male-dominated field of history, Fick found inspiration in her Gutierrez’s resilience. 

“Dr. Gutierrez has paved her own way,” Fick said. “It’s been really nice to have somebody to talk to and a confidant that has been through it all and come out successfully.” 

Fick also invited Gutierrez to the faculty dinner at her sorority to show her appreciation for her mentorship.  

“I got to learn a lot about the work she does because she was an officer in her sorority, and I got to peek into an entirely different side of student life,” Gutierrez said. 

Their bond was strengthened further when Gutierrez had a baby during the summer research program. Despite the temporary absence, Fick felt empowered to continue her work independently.  

“She trusted me to take initiative, and that gave me confidence in my abilities,” Fick said. 

The lasting impact of mentorship 

Fick says Gutierrez’s guidance has left a significant mark on her confidence and career aspirations.  

“I used to be so anxious about professional and academic settings,” Fick said. “But now, as I prepare for law school, I feel assured in my ability to write, advocate for myself and navigate the professional world.” 

Fick has been accepted into Washington and Lee University School of Law but first she plans to take a gap year to work in government. She credits Gutierrez and the rest of her Pacific professors for supporting her ambitions and encouraging her to take the time she needs to refine her skills. 

Advice for future students 

For those hesitant to seek help from their professors, Fick offers simple advice: take the initiative.  

“Going to office hours can be intimidating, but professors at Pacific genuinely care about their students.” Fick said. “Developing relationships with faculty has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my college experience.” 

Fick says her experience is a testament to the power of mentorship at Pacific in shaping not just academic success but personal growth and professional confidence. Gutierrez’s guidance helped her find her voice, refine her skills and prepare for the challenges ahead. 

At University of the Pacific, undergraduate biology students participate in research aimed at predicting how human activity and climate change affect wildlife. Guided by biology professor Jane Khudyakov, students contribute to ongoing studies on elephant seals and other mammals, generating insights that could help protect vulnerable animal populations and support conservation efforts. 

“I’ve had students accompany me to tag seal pups at Point Reyes National Seashore, where I have a longstanding collaboration with the marine mammal biologists there.” Khudyakov said. “Undergraduate students have been involved in all aspects of our research, including the research that we do with elephant seals.” 

In the classroom, Khudyakov assigns her undergraduate students to work in teams on separate projects. They all use similar laboratory techniques but ask different research questions. Students choose their projects from the types available and work on them over two semesters.  

Maliysia Keo ’25 is researching the post-natal development of female elephant seals and their responses to stress. Using the milk samples Khudyakov collected with her team of undergrad and master’s students over the years, Keo has been able to analyze the proteins in each sample.  

“We know that the stress hormones in elephant seals are passed along from the mother to the pup. So now we’re trying to figure out which specific proteins are being transferred from the mother to the pup, during lactation and in fasting,” said Keo. 

Using the biology department’s state-of-the-art mass spectrometer system, Keo has been able to break down and purify proteins in each sample to analyze and compare them to other samples that may show an increase of stress or other developmental factors.  

“This is a really useful technique in animals that have not been well studied and don’t have very well characterized genomes,” said Khudyakov. 

The students analyze the data they generate, which they then present at conferences such as Pacific’s Research and Creativity Showcase and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting. Khudyakov then publishes the data in manuscripts with undergraduate student coauthors. 

“We’re hoping to use the undergraduate data together with graduate student data to publish a stronger and more comprehensive paper. I integrate undergraduate student researchers into all aspects of our work,” said Khudyakov. 

This research will create a broader understanding of elephant seals and their offspring’s development. By examining the transfer of stress hormones, Khudyakov and her students hope to understand the long-term consequences of environmental stressors on both mothers and their young. The findings will help predict the impacts of climate change and other human activities on wildlife populations and inform the average person on conservation strategies that can deepen our knowledge of maternal health in mammals. 

Elisabeth Garner ’25 
Major: Biochemistry 
Hometown: Atwater, California 
Extracurriculars: 2023 Women’s Cross Country 

Biochemistry major, Elisabeth Garner ’25, has been conducting fungal research since her first year at Pacific. While the major is often viewed as an intensive subject to study, Elisabeth enjoys the challenge, because of strong mentorship and her passion for using chemistry to study how microbes help plants resist drought.   

“I wasn’t able to take a really intense chemistry class until I came to Pacific,” she said. “I absolutely fell in love with it. It’s given me the opportunity to delve more into learning about plant science and all the chemical processes that go behind that.” 

Elisabeth’s experience began in high school on the agronomy team as part of her school’s Future Farmers of America program, where she studied plant science. Now three years into her journey at Pacific, she conducts chemistry research alongside chemistry professor Skylar Carlson. 

“I feel so blessed to have been able to work with Dr. Carlson. She is an amazing professor and research adviser,” Elisabeth said. “I actually started doing research with her my freshman year, which usually isn’t the norm, but she accepted me into her lab anyway, and she’s taught me pretty much all that I know about conducting chemistry research.” 

Last summer they worked together to determine the impact of media types on small molecule production from various aquatic fungi. These metabolites could lead to anti-fungal, antibacterial and anticancer medicines. 

“I really saw Elizabeth develop as a scientist during this time, and I really got to see her note taking and her observations develop and to see her starting to connect the dots of the individual observations into a broader picture of the discovery,” Carlson said. 

This summer, Elisabeth is working with Carlson and  biology Professor Paul Orwin to see if a bacteria called Variovorax sp. can enhance the root growth of grapevines and help with drought tolerance. In practice, this could increase the overall fruit output and quality from the vines. According to Elisabeth, her experience would not have been possible without the Stauffer Charitable Trust Challenge Grant.  

“Without the Stauffer grant, I wouldn’t have been able to do the summer research at all. It’s been able to help me with my housing and my food during the summer,” she said. “So, the grant has been able to financially help me participate in research.”  

The Stauffer fellowship pays for units and a stipend for students to conduct full time research for 10 weeks over the summer. The fellowship is designed for students who hope to attend graduate school, but it is also open to pharmacy and dentistry students who want to expand their skills before professional school.  

Fellowship applicants have often dedicated semesters or even years to their projects before they receive the Stauffer grant. Elisabeth has taken full advantage of the grant to further her plant chemistry experience with Carlson.  

“Elisabeth has built her own project around these rhizosphere bacteria and the cheminformatics that she’s using to interpret the communication between the bacteria and the root. We’re hoping to give her the best chance at that and giving her the most opportunities possible,” Carlson said.  

Elisabeth’s advice for students seeking the Stauffer grant is to focus on their writing skills and finding a professor like Carlson they could work with for a few months. As far as research focus goes, Elisabeth says, “Choose something that you absolutely love, something that you can be passionate about to work on for almost two, three months at a time over the summer.”  

Elisabeth plans to continue her research with Carlson under the Stauffer grant and to apply to graduate school to get her master’s degree in plant biology starting next fall. 

Learn more about biochemistry

Biochemistry

Senior Devin Thompson’s passion for psychological research has flourished under the mentorship of Pacific faculty. With the help of Professor Carla Strickland-Hughes of the psychology department, Devin has navigated the launch of his research project and gained valuable professional connections along the way. 

Sparking an idea: Expanding on existing ageism research

“I started working with Professor Strickland-Hughes my freshman year. I’ve been in her lab ever since,” Devin said. “Sometime during that first project, I heard about the opportunity for psych majors to get a psychology honors degree. To accomplish that, you must conduct your own study and then present it at a conference, so I brought up this idea to Professor Strickland-Hughes and we started working together.” 

Devin’s project explores psychological reactions of people who face ageism and expands on research completed originally by social psychologist Alison Chasteen of the University of Toronto—a professional connection of Strickland-Hughes’s. 

In order to begin the research project, Devin had to present his thesis to a self-assembled committee of researchers. “I invited Dr. Strickland-Hughes, Dr. McDaniel from the speech-language pathology department and Dr. Alison Chasteen, who actually Zoomed in from Canada for my thesis defense.” 

Despite initially feeling nervous to present to Chasteen, Devin said that her feedback was valuable and helped him launch the project with confidence.  

“I was like, ‘What if I read her work wrong or something?’ But it went really well,” he said. “She was super supportive, and I still email her if I have any questions in the process. So, she’s been a great connection to have and I’m really grateful.” 

Gaining momentum through financial and professional support

“Devin’s work is possible only because he has support from all across campus,” Strickland-Hughes said.  

From financial aid to professional mentorship, Devin’s support system continues to push him toward success. In addition to benefiting from the Powell Scholars program, which provides funding for his research, Devin has grown professionally as a member of Pacific’s First-Year Honors program. Within the psychology department, Devin receives impactful support from his lab colleagues, who gather regularly to discuss their independent projects, and Strickland-Hughes. 

“Working with Dr. Stickland-Hughes, she’s been a great mentor,” Devin said. “She’s guiding me along the way and she’s giving me freedom to make my own mistakes and learn, which has been beneficial. It’s going to help me not only as I prepare for graduate school but for the rest of my career.” 

Devin is one of four students participating in Strickland-Hughes’s research lab. The others include Emma Garber, Jessica Lacap and Megan Carmichael. Megan plans to present her own research, also a study of ageism, at the 2024 meeting of the American Psychological Association. 

Paving the way for graduate opportunities

Devin’s goals after graduation involve furthering his academic career. He is preparing to apply for master’s and doctoral programs.  

“Being at Pacific, I’ve been exposed to a lot of different elements of psychology and all that entails, and I realized I have a big passion for research.” Devin said. “Looking back, I’m really glad I chose this major.” 

One of Pacific’s greatest assets is its people. Over the past three years, I have been lucky to have met so many incredible individuals through Pacific, whether that’s faculty, alumni, students or community members. It was one of the reasons I decided to move across the Pacific Ocean for college.  

I am a third-year marketing major from Honolulu. I knew that I wanted to study business, and I wanted a career that would be creative and fun. So, I chose marketing. This proved to be one of my best decisions, as it connected me with Professor Cecilia Ruvalcaba. Professor Ruvalcaba was my Introduction to Marketing Management professor. What exactly is marketing? And what can I do with a marketing degree? She helped me answer these questions and more.  

Professor Ruvalcaba’s cheerful spirit and welcoming smile was exactly what my sophomore-self needed at 8 a.m. Despite how early my Tuesday and Thursday mornings were, I looked forward to her interactive lectures and inspiring daily quotes. I knew our discussions would be lively, and I was eager to learn more. Luckily, I had her again for Consumer Behavior and International Marketing. 

Professor Ruvalcaba has all the qualities of a student’s favorite teacher. She is fun, passionate, fair and genuinely cares about her students in and out of the classroom. With a full mug of coffee in hand, she will ask us about our extracurricular activities with interest and excitement. She gives us opportunities in class to promote our athletic games or club events occurring that week. Professor Ruvalcaba will even go out of her way to attend them. With how invested she is in her students’ lives; it is no surprise that she considers her greatest accomplishment as a professor seeing her students on graduation day.   

Professor Ruvalcaba connected me with alumni and wrote me a letter of recommendation for graduate school. She is someone who I can look up to for mentorship and depend on for support. Whether it is questions related to marketing or just reassurance that everyone’s career paths are different, and I will be OK, I know I can turn to Professor Ruvalcaba.  

Here are some quick facts and favorites of Professor Ruvalcaba: 

• Born and raised in LA and received her PhD from UC Irvine! 
• Loves Stockton’s diverse food scene, but if she had to choose a favorite: Tepa Taqueria.  
• Avid coffee-drinker who drinks a lot of Trail Coffee (the owner is a Pacific-alum!) 
• Enjoys running and has completed two marathons!
• Loves the psychology behind marketing and how the field is constantly changing and evolving. 

Professor Ruvalcaba is just one of the many amazing professors who call Pacific home. Watch the video at the top of this story to learn more about Professor Ruvalcaba and how she has impacted my experience at Pacific. 

Megan Nishimura

Megan Nishimura is a fourth-year marketing major from Honolulu, Hawai’i. You can find her in Burns Tower as Enrollment Marketing’s student copywriter, in the stands as an athletics event staff worker or on the court as a member of Pacific’s Division 1 volleyball team.

Jianhua Ren, co-chair of Pacific’s chemistry department and adviser to the Stauffer Undergraduate Summer Research Program in Chemistry and Biochemistry, is beloved by the Pacific community for her dedication to mentoring countless undergraduate students. But she didn’t always want to be a teacher.  

“I was always thinking that I wanted to do research. That’s my happy place,” said Ren during a virtual discussion sponsored by the Pacific Alumni Association. “Teaching came along the way. I don’t think I really prepared for teaching to be a part of my career, but somehow, there were always opportunities that came to me.”  

Discovering a love for teaching 

Ren grew up in China, where she completed her undergraduate studies at Beijing Normal University. From there, she decided to study abroad and earned her master’s degree at Auburn University in Alabama, where she focused on her research in organic chemistry. She then entered a PhD program at Purdue University where she continued her research, focusing on gas-phase ion chemistry.  

“That time shaped my research, what my goals were and what I wanted to do,” said Ren.  

Ren’s graduate studies were also her introduction to teaching. When she was at Auburn University, she received a teaching assistantship to cover her tuition, which meant she would need to teach a lab course. However, because English is her second language, Ren said she struggled to engage with her students.  

“That was quite a challenge,” said Ren. “I could talk to the students fine, but I could not understand what they communicated with me.”  

Ren persevered by finding creative ways to communicate with her students, like having them write their questions on paper so she could understand what they needed. But the challenges made her reluctant to pursue teaching in the future.  

Ren decided instead to pursue a research role, leading her to a post-doctoral scholar position at Stanford University. While Stanford allowed her to focus on her research full-time, she also got to know the graduate students in her lab, mentoring and collaborating with them on an individual level.  

“I loved this environment,” said Ren. “It planted a seed in my mind that maybe I should give teaching another try.”  

Coming to Pacific 

After completing her time at Stanford, Ren began to look for jobs in research and teaching. Her search led her to University of the Pacific, where she would get to do both.  

When Ren arrived on Pacific’s Stockton campus for the first time, she says it was love at first sight. 

“Once I drove into the campus, oh, I loved it. I thought, ‘It’s so green! It’s so beautiful and peaceful,’” said Ren.  

As soon as she met her future colleagues in the chemistry department and the pharmacy school, Ren was convinced that Pacific was the right place for her.  

“It gave me the feeling that I could do something really meaningful,” said Ren. “It was a strong feeling.” 

Flash forward 20 years, and Professor Ren has undoubtedly left her mark on Pacific. In addition to teaching chemistry to thousands of students, Ren has made invaluable contributions to Pacific’s research programs.  

Creating chemistry research opportunities for undergraduates 

Since the beginning of her career at Pacific in 2002, Ren has prioritized bringing in undergraduate students to participate in hands-on research. Ren says the opportunity to do research early on is unique to Pacific and extremely valuable. 

“Most research universities only have graduate students working on research projects with undergraduate students mainly supporting and hardly getting the chance to do research,” said Ren. “Students should definitely take the chance to do research as an undergrad, because that training will help you think outside the box and gain a deeper understanding.” 

Because many of her students are on pre-health pathways, Ren centers her research program around biochemistry, looking at peptides to help scientists understand age-related illnesses. Over the years, Ren’s students, including undergraduates, have made valuable contributions to the lab. Ren recalled one student, John Tan, who created an automated synthesizer for chemical reactions.  

“John really shaped this research,” said Ren. “He worked on two publications in leading chemistry journals and was the co-author on those papers as an undergraduate student.”  

Stauffer Undergraduate Summer Research Program in Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Ren also serves as an adviser to the Stauffer Undergraduate Summer Research Program, which was created in 2017 to further expand opportunities for student research in chemistry and biochemistry.  

The $2 million John Stauffer Undergraduate Summer Research Endowment funds students participating in a 10-week research program over the summer, where they are paid a stipend and work with a faculty member to design, develop and conduct research projects.  

In addition to gaining hands-on research skills, Ren said the program also helps students discern their future career paths.  

“It’s so exciting. They discover hidden talents and interests that they didn’t know they had before,” said Ren. “After they finish the Stauffer Program, quite a number of students realize they want to do research and get into graduate programs.”  

Sharing the joy of research and learning 

Ren says that while teaching students is the biggest challenge she’s faced in her career, it is also the most rewarding.  

“My interest has shifted to working with undergraduate students and giving them training. It’s a joy,” said Ren. “I learn so much from them because they are always growing. It’s like starting with a blank paper and painting a beautiful picture.”