Julianna Meneses ’25 
Major: Bachelor of Arts in music, minor in ethnic studies 
Hometown: Moraga, California
Extracurriculars: Kilusan Pilipino, Sigma Alpha Iota 
Favorite off-campus places: Little Manila Center, Filipino American National Historical Society Museum, Sam’s Cafe, MonTea Boba 

In the opening moments of her original composition “Meditation on a Homecoming,” Julianna Meneses ’25 looks directly into the crowd and asks, “Do you want to go swimming in the river?” 

Sharply and quickly, she draws her bow across the double bass strings. Then, Meneses responds, “Mommy, I don’t know how to swim!” 

Heedless of this concern, she dives back into the performance. A video Meneses shot in the Philippines is projected across her face, instrument and the back wall. At one point, she puts down her double bass so she can dance.  

Meneses, who is working toward a BA in music with a minor in ethnic studies, played “Meditation on a Homecoming” along with another original piece for her senior recital in University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music.   

She wrote the piece after receiving Pacific’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and spending two months in the Philippines, doing research, meeting scholars and producing a video of her experiences.  

“Studying at Pacific has been really good for my specific research interest, which is Tinggian music and dance in Abra, Philippines,” Meneses says. “What really helped me was the small class sizes, being able to talk with my professors one-on-one.” 

Meneses credits Professor Kumiko Uyeda with helping her grow ever since her first semester at Pacific. It was actually Uyeda’s class that convinced her to pursue the work she does now.  

Ethnomusicology

Meneses, who has been playing double bass since the sixth grade, says that researching the history and culture of music wasn’t originally her plan. She enrolled in Pacific as a music education major, intending to teach in the Oakland and Richmond area where she had cut her teeth in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra.  

But there was another interest that also drew her to Pacific.  

“I was also very interested in the Filipino community here,” Meneses says. “I really wanted to become involved or at least be around those communities because I grew up in an area where there were not that many people that looked like me. Coming here made me feel at home and helped me establish my own identity.” 

During her first semester, Meneses took “Music of the World’s People” with Uyeda, where she learned that she could combine these interests through the field of ethnomusicology.  

“It made me realize, ‘oh, I can study indigenous Filipino music and it can be seen as a legitimate scholarly thing.’ After that, there was no going back,” Meneses says.  

Even after that class, Uyeda has helped guide Meneses as she grows as a researcher and person.  

To focus her studies on ethnomusicology, Meneses switched majors to a Bachelor of Arts in music because it provides a lot of flexibility with electives. She rounded out that education with a minor in ethnic studies. Another pathway you could choose is a Bachelor of Music in music history.  

Pacific’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship

Leading up to the summer of 2024, Meneses applied for Pacific’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship supports faculty-mentored student research by providing a stipend, housing allowance and funds for research supplies.  

With the funding in hand, Meneses set off for a busy two months in the Philippines. While there, she did archival research and even attended an international academic conference focused on traditional performing arts.  

Most of her trip, around five or six weeks, was spent in the province of Abra. There, she learned more about local musical traditions through interviews and hands-on musical practice. 

“I played the gongs with people,” Meneses says. “I learned about bamboo musical instruments and different singing traditions. The technique is called ‘participant observation.’ That was a big help to learning what I know now.” 

While she was travelling, she also filmed what she saw: chickens in a coop, trees blowing in the wind, flowing rivers and similar scenes from nature. Then, she edited them into a video that became the basis for her piece “Meditation on a Homecoming,” writing music that mimicked its sounds and integrated folk melodies. 

“I called it ‘Meditation on a Homecoming.’ Because I’ve never been to Abra before, but that is where my mother is from,” Meneses says. “So, it was a strange feeling of, ‘I’m from here because my ancestors are from here.’ But culturally, socially, I’m an outsider. It was this weird duality that I was experiencing that I wanted to express musically.” 

Turning an interest into research

If you have a passion you want to turn into a field of study, Meneses says the most important thing is to build your connections, whether that’s with professors, students with similar interests or local organizations.  

Professors can recommend classes or books, while local organizations host events where you can observe or participate. As you deepen your understanding, you’ll start to find areas where you can contribute yourself.  

“Get comfortable with introducing yourself,” she says. “Because you’ll eventually make lots of connections with people that are interested in the same thing as you.” 

This is why Meneses believes studying music at Pacific is so special. Not only does our smaller community make it easier to connect with people, but there are so many opportunities, organizations and student groups where you can join in.  

These relationships even helped Meneses turn bring “Meditation on a Homecoming” to life. Professor Kathryn Schulmeister taught her improvisation techniques for the piece and connected Meneses with another musician, Joanna Mattrey, to develop its narrative. 

As she nears graduation, Meneses plans to continue promoting indigenous performance.  

“I plan on joining Parangal Dance Company in San Francisco,” she says. “They focus on promoting and uplifting indigenous music and dance from the Philippines. They also perform some of the more Spanish-influenced dances as well as dances associated with national Filipino identity.” 

Her path to ethnomusicology hasn’t totally changed her original plans, though. Meneses still wants to give back to where she came from, working with Oakland and Richmond’s school districts.  

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.” 

Josephine Kinlan is a member of the prestigious Powell Scholar program at University of the Pacific. The health and exercise sciences and Media X double major made the long trip from The Bronx in New York City to Stockton in large part due to the opportunities the program offers. The mentorship, funding to pursue interests and fellowship piqued Josephine’s interest.   

Pacific’s Powell Scholars program awards high achieving high school seniors with a large financial aid package and provides mentorship as well as a variety of research and cultural opportunities. 

“From the instant our scholars enroll at Pacific to the moment they graduate and beyond, the Powell Scholars program cultivates and encourages an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to continuous learning, intellectual curiosity, and creative problem solving,” explained interim director of the Powell Scholars program, Professor Jeffrey Hole. 

Josephine reflected on the Powell Scholars program, the application process and how it ultimately affected her first year of college at University of the Pacific.  

Choosing the Powell Scholars program

Financial aid was the main reason Josephine applied for the program. The Powell Scholarship is the largest merit-based scholarship at Pacific. Scholars receive an annual merit scholarship of $45,000 and an additional $5,000 for independent research projects as well as $2,500 for study abroad expenses.  

Josephine applied for the scholarship at the same time she applied for admission. She was selected as a finalist and invited to campus to interview with the Powell Scholars selection committee, composed of a current Powell Scholar, the head of the Powell Scholars program and another administrator. The following month Josephine was notified of her selection, and she joined her cohort of 14 incoming first-year students last fall. 

Powell Scholars mentorship

Josephine meets with the head of the Powell Scholars program several times each semester to talk about their classes and life.  

“It was more mentorship than I anticipated coming into college, but the amount of individual attention they gave each of us was really nice and encouraging,” Josephine said. 

As the former head of Pacific’s Humanities Scholars, Professor Jeffrey Hole brings great experience to the honors program. 

“As the director, I feel it is my mission to serve as an adviser to and champion for the scholars,” Professor Hole said. “I meet with all the first-year scholars one-on-one for coffee or lunch at some point in the first weeks of the semester. This allows me to get to know them better and curate an educational experience that shapes and fulfills their interests, aspirations and ambitions.” 

Study abroad and independent research funds

Another great benefit of being a Powell Scholar is receiving funding for study abroad expenses and independent research projects. Scholars are encouraged to use their funds to “go big” and pursue projects that would otherwise be difficult to conduct without extra funding.  

Costs and expenses can prevent students from studying abroad, so the Powell Scholars program alleviates that stress. Josephine says she would love to take advantage of the study abroad fund, like her fellow Powell Scholar, Devin Thompson, who interned in the Dominican Republic. One of her top choices is South Korea as it’s her mother’s home country. 

Addressing real-world issues

One of the most valuable aspects of the program during Josephine’s first year was being able to engage in academic discussions with her cohort on topics she feels passionate about. 

During their first semester of college, the head of the Powell Scholar program led discussions and journaling on various topics in Callison Hall, the designated Powell study lounge. Their theme for the semester was leadership, and one of the activities included writing a letter to a current leader about an issue they were passionate about. Josephine wrote to President Biden about climate change. 

“Everyone in my cohort was willing to participate and engage during our sessions, which I really valued since this was not always the case during regular classes,” she said. 

Other opportunities she took advantage of as a first-year scholar were presentations by notable speakers and field trips like going to San Francisco to watch “The Nutcracker.”  

Research as a Powell Scholar

Josephine has already started her portfolio assignment, which is a mandatory project that Powells present during their senior year. 

“My friend and fellow Powell Scholar, Daniela Ceballos, and I are conducting a research study involving lowering the temperatures of classrooms to use less heating and electricity and students’ reaction to the change,” she explained. “We’re both passionate about the environment and sustainability, so I’m really excited!”  

Josephine is looking forward to her upcoming years at Pacific as a Powell Scholar. In addition to the many opportunities the program offers, she says she has also made lifelong friends. She and her cohort grew close during their first year, and Josephine believes they will only grow closer as they continue their journey here to “find and follow [their] passions,” the vision of the program’s creators, Bob and Jeannette Powell.  

If you are interested in the Powell Scholars Program, here are the qualifications to apply: 

• Cumulative high school GPA of 3.7 or higher (unweighted)
• Undertaken a rigorous academic curriculum – Honors, AP and/or IB courses 
• Demonstrated leadership skills or leadership potential in two or more areas, including but not restricted to student government, community service, cultural groups, research or creative activities or sports

You can apply for the scholarship at the same time as admission, like Josephine, or if you’ve already applied for admission, you can access the scholarship application online. Your username and password are the same as your application portal. 

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.”  

What can you do with a humanities degree? Ask Brooke Tran ’23, who is “reimagining the liberal arts” at Pacific. An English major with a passion for education equity, Brooke added minors in data science, film studies and sociology to expand her skillset and personalize her academic experience. 

With her humanities background, support from faculty mentors, and valuable experiential learning opportunities, Brooke is graduating from Pacific with a strong foundation for her future career as a researcher and policy maker.

Personalizing her Pacific experience

Brooke grew up in what she describes as an “ethnic enclave of Vietnamese American immigrants and refugees” in Westminster, California. When she arrived at Pacific, she discovered the opportunity discrepancies in her community. Her interest in educational policy bloomed, and Pacific enabled her to acquire skills and connect with mentors to feed this growing passion.

One critical source of support for Brooke was the Pacific Humanities Scholars Program, which mentors students and provides them with the opportunity to experience the humanities both in and outside of the classroom. 

“As a first-generation college student, I really valued the mentorship and peer-support I gained from this program,” Brooke said.

Professor Jeffrey Hole, former Humanities Scholars Program director, encouraged Brooke and her classmates to push themselves past the point of comfort and immerse themselves in a variety of different subjects and worlds. 

“We urge our students to build their skill set and explore a multitude of different fields,” Hole explained. “Brooke took the advice and ran with it.”

By expanding her academic focus to encompass a unique blend of English, data science, sociology and film studies, Brooke now has the skills to tell stories with data and new perspectives on how to analyze situations.

Researching and finding success

Brooke’s professors quickly saw her potential and encouraged her to pursue her interests in education equity and policy. Instead of summer internships, she sought research opportunities, starting with a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in 2020 through Pacific’s Office of Undergrad Research for her project, “The Humanization of Asian Americans: Dispelling the Model Minority Myth in Relation to Higher Education.”

The next summer, Brooke worked at the University of Iowa with Professor Nicholas A. Bowman who created an index based on meal swipes that could predict graduation rates: “Predicting International College Students’ Success Through Meal Plan Swipes.” 

“From there, I helped write our research article, ‘International Students’ Social Networks with International and Domestic Students as Predictors of College Success,’ and we submitted it to The Journal of Higher Education,” she said. “If accepted, I will be a published author, which is an important achievement in the world of academia.”

After gaining experience in the classroom and through summer research fellowships, Brooke was prepared to research what inspired her to start in the first place: her community. 

“With the support of my research adviser, Professor Marcia Hernandez of the sociology department, I created an Institutional Review Board-approved study to work with members of my community,” she explained. “My research addresses the wrongful stereotypes and assumptions of the Model Minority Myth and unravels claims that inherent racial and ethnic qualities determine educational outcomes. My mixed methods research is a means of understanding community needs through acknowledging lived experiences. I will present my findings at two conferences later this year.”

Continuing to make a difference in education

After graduating this spring, Brooke will pursue a Master of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at University of Michigan. She was selected as a Rackham Merit Fellow and will receive full coverage of tuition and fees and a yearly stipend. 

“I am excited to build upon my knowledge and research of education equity from my time at Pacific,” Brooke said. “At Ford, I plan to obtain a certificate in Southeast Asian Studies and conduct social policy research at the intersection of poverty, immigration and education.”

Brooke describes the benefits of Pacific’s Humanities Scholars program.

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.

Before becoming chair of the history department at Pacific, Professor Jennifer Helgren was a grad student struggling to find a dissertation topic (relatable). She was passionate about United States history and women’s rights but wasn’t sure where to start researching.  

Then, an unexpected blast from her past presented unlikely inspiration.

“I came across some of my old Camp Fire stuff in the process of moving from one apartment to another,” Helgren said. “Having been a Camp Fire Girl in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the organization was quite influential in my own experience. But of course, as a child, I wasn’t thinking about, ‘How feminist is this organization? How did they define race and whiteness and the middle class?’”

Researching Camp Fire’s origins

The more Helgren dug into the Camp Fire Girls as a potential research focus, the more material she found to explore the cultural shifts happening throughout United States history—and to contextualize her own association with the group.

“It started to make sense, what my own youthful experiences with Camp Fire’s origins were,” said Professor Helgren. “You have to write and research about stuff that you’re passionate about, but it also has to matter beyond it being something interesting in your own life. Youth organizations are really significant spaces for how we identify and understand citizenship roles and how they are gendered and raced.”

Gender Studies Colloquium book talk

Professor Helgren has continued to research youth organizations in the U.S. throughout her career, most recently in a book released in December 2022 titled, “The Camp Fire Girls: Gender, Race and American Girlhood, 1910-1980.” She shared insights from her book earlier this semester at the biannual Gender Studies Colloquium, a research series from Pacific’s Gender Studies Program.  

At the event, Helgren discussed Camp Fire Girls’ complicated legacy: Camp Fire’s founders were progressive educators who invited girls of all backgrounds to join, but also created what Helgren calls a “false sense of cultural universality” by centering experiences of white American girlhood.

“What the book ends up doing is tracing how complicated that concept of essential feminism is through the years. It’s not the same kind of intersectional feminism that we think about today,” explained Helgren during the conversation. “It didn’t center the voices and experiences of overlapping and concurrent forms of oppression.”  

Exploring youth organizations in the classroom

In sharing her scholarship at Pacific, Helgren says it’s been interesting to observe how students respond to the history of youth organizations and start forming their own lines of inquiry.

“The most common response is, ‘Huh, I never really thought about these organizations as shaping our gender expectations or our gender roles, at least not to the extent that they do,’” Helgren said. “I had a student who was an Eagle Scout a few years back who got interested in analyzing the way leadership is taught through Scouts. That was an interesting paper.” 

Professor Helgren says that in many ways, her students teach her as well. She encourages students to bring their own experiences to her classes and be part of the discussion.

“Because of the topics that students want to talk about and the current events coming up, sometimes I have to sit back and say, ‘Tell me a bit more about that,’” said Helgren.

Why take gender studies and history courses?

While gender studies and history courses can be challenging and out of students’ comfort zones, Professor Helgren encourages students of all majors to broaden their academic horizons and try taking a class.

“If we don’t understand the diversity of our own world, we’re not well equipped to connect with people and to act as responsible citizens as we get older,” said Helgren. “But I also think that these classes help us understand ourselves and help us understand how we relate to others in the world.”

University of the Pacific offers a minor in gender studies for students interested in how gender intersects with definitions of nationality, race, ethnicity and class. Learn more about the Gender Studies Program.

Lauris Dang ’24 moved from Vietnam to Stockton only six years ago. When she came to Pacific to major in biochemistry, she discovered her passion for laboratory research. This summer, thanks to Pacific’s Stauffer Charitable Trust Challenge Grant, she has been able to work full time in Professor Georgios Pantouris’s lab at Pacific researching ways to fight cancer.

Why I applied for Pacific’s Stauffer Charitable Trust Challenge Grant

Before I got into the program, I worked as a pharmacy associate to support my college expenses, especially my tuition. The Stauffer Grant allowed me to focus on my lab research full time while I’m still able to support myself financially.

To get into the program you need to have a professor’s recommendation and my professor, Georgios Pantouris, recommended that I should apply for the grant. You also have to write an abstract about how the grant is going to help you as a student. A good GPA is also important because the internship is not only selective about your skills in research but also your academic achievements.

My research

I’m investigating a protein called D-dopachrome tautomerase (D-DT) which is an immunomodulatory cytokine with an established negative contribution on tumor survival, proliferation and metastasis. In Dr. Pantouris’s lab, we are trying to understand better the functionality of D-DT in cancer which could help to develop anti-cancer therapeutics in the future.

What I do in the lab

In the lab, we all work independently on our own projects. My duties vary depending on the stage of my project and what my focus of the day is. For instance, I may have to express, purify, characterize or crystallize various proteins, prepare reagents for an upcoming experiment and assist with lab-related assignments.

How I collaborate with professors and fellow students

I am working closely with my graduate student Andrew Parkins and I discuss my project with Dr. Pantouris on a regular basis. Also, we have lab meetings every week. That’s when I have the opportunity to share my thoughts, project concerns and achievements with my lab mates.

The skills I’m learning

For each project, the Pantouris lab employs a multidisciplinary approach at the interface of chemistry and biology. Although I am not an expert in any of the techniques, I was fortunate to learn a lot. For instance, I learned how to express, purify, and crystallize a protein, characterize it biochemically using steady-state kinetics, and synthesize small molecule inhibitors. I also had the opportunity to get an idea of mammalian cell culture. I was also able to solidify my pipetting techniques.

Besides that, I grew confident in my problem-solving skills as I tackled new obstacles. Self-doubt is a scary but magnificent tool. Doubting yourself is what makes a good scientist. You have to doubt your assumptions and hypothesis until you prove your doubts wrong with empirical evidence. For example, when the results come out well, you cannot think “I didn’t do it right. It just came out like this by accident.” I think confidence is really important. 

The next steps for my research

Ultimate goal is to produce a research paper. I will continue working on this project until we publish our work. Besides publication, I would also like to attend a national science conference. Discussing my research with other scientists would provide an unbiased evaluation of my work and help me to improve its quality. My lab really supports this idea, so I am looking forward to this opportunity.

My advice for students who are interested in studying science

Learn to be sure of yourself. It will come from experience. If you’re passionate enough, you will be noticed eventually and if you have a chance to work in a lab, accept it because you will have one-on-one interactions with more experienced graduate students. In a real lab, you can learn a lot of practical skills, like pipetting, that can be used in other science laboratory courses. More than that, you can also learn about life from your lab mates, graduate students and professors. Ultimately, if you are interested in science, continue delving into it no matter how intimidating it might be at first. With enough time and practice, you will learn more than you ever expected.

School of Engineering and Computer Science student Mark Castaneda ’25 is living out his dream internship this summer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as a research assistant.

Below, he tells us what a typical day interning at NASA looks like for him, how he made his resume stand out (hint: it involves a cool Pacific engineering physics project), and his advice to students for persevering through hardship.  

What I do at my internship

I am currently a junior research assistant under Dr. Martin Cordiner in the Astrochemistry/Planetary Sciences Department.

A normal day for me is spent manipulating and analyzing data obtained from the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) Radio Observatory. Right now, I am observing Venus’s atmosphere, using radio spectroscopy to identify chemicals, temperatures and wind speeds.

When I was first offered the position, my mentor told me to be prepared for a challenging summer. He wasn’t kidding! This has been one of the most academically challenging experiences of my life, and equally rewarding.

How I got this opportunity

I got the internship through a contact I made as an NCAS student (NASA Community College Aerospace Scholar).

Last semester at Pacific, I started working with Professor Hetrick and Professor Hutter building a radio telescope on the roof of the physics building. This definitely made my resume stand out.

What I’ve learned through this experience

My favorite part of this internship is learning from the most brilliant people on the planet. The first half of my internship was in person at the NASA facility, so it was really exciting to meet some of the minds behind the amazing things NASA has been doing.

Technically speaking, I’ve learned about chemical processes in atmospheres of planets in our solar system, radio astronomy, spectroscopy, how to analyze spectral frequencies, and a few useful programming techniques. And I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.

My advice for future interns

Network! Meet as many people as you can. More often than not people are happy to share about what they are working on, and new working relationships are worth stepping out of your comfort zone for a moment.

And no matter the hardship, no matter the mistakes, no matter what, never give up hope!

Want to learn more about what Pacific students are up to this summer? Keep an eye on People of Pacific this summer for more internship diaries!