I’m thinking engineering as a path of career because when I was younger my father used to give me some engineering problems to solve or he gave me some examples of what an engineer would do and he also told me stories of the engineers he worked with. My father knew this stuff because he was a machinist and worked very closely to some engineers. This inspired me and made interested in solving problems in an engineer's manner. From there on since I was young I’ve been exploring different engineering career paths. It wasn’t until middle school that I’ve found what path of engineering I was going to take. That path was in Chemical Engineering. I chose this path because I’ve always enjoyed science as my favorite subject and Chemistry was something that always interested me after taking a class in middle school. So from that I managed to learn about chemical engineering and was able to learn in engineering and chemistry which is something I love to do. My current career path is in chemical engineering but I would like to pursue a higher degree and obtain my Ph.D in Pharmaceutical Engineering or Biomedical Engineering. I say this because I’ve gained a huge interest since high school in drug delivery and the creation drugs. Since starting in my undergraduate career I was involved in 2 research projects, one in drug targeting for influenza done during the summer heading into my sophomore year at the University of Pittsburgh and the other being in drug treatment for neuroblastoma done during my sophomore year at New Mexico Tech my home institution. Both of these were done within my first twos of undergrad and I plan on continuing in my current research lab in drug treatment for neuroblastoma at my home institution. I’ve also got another research project I’m joining this summer at Virginia Commonwealth University. With the research I’ve been conducting, I gained a huge interest in drug delivery in cancer research. I say this because cancer is something so many people may have experienced or know someone who has and I want to be a part of making a treatment that can help combat these diseases. This is my main goal in my career and why I chose my path in engineering. My research I’ve done so far both fall under engineering. Both of these research projects and my upcoming research project are all hands on in the engineering field. For my research done at the University of Pittsburgh, it was hands-on research using computational methods as well as engineering methods such as creating the code, interaction network, and etc. I used the program called RStudio to create a Protein-Protein Interaction Network to find which proteins are best to target influenza using data from a research paper that had patient sample data of the genes. For my research done at New Mexico Tech my home institution it was hands-on in a wet lab setting meaning I was actually working with chemicals and drugs during my time in the lab. In lab I’ve done chemistry synthesis to create the drug and from there we used engineering aspects to create lipids using the drug so it can be packaged into liposomes for neuroblastoma treatment. In this lab I’ve use Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), UV-VIS, Thin Layer a Chromatography (TLC), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR).

I’m a first generation Native American student from my family coming from the Navajo Nation. Some experiences I’ve had with my culture were the opportunities provided to us and me. I’d say coming from a Native American background has helped me find success in finding and landing a spot in Research Undergraduate Experience (REU). I say this because there’s not much of my people especially where I am from who are continuing their education to the next level working towards a degree. On top of that not much of them are going for a degree in engineering and not much are also pursuing in research while in their undergraduate years. I like being a Native American in research because it brings culture in the labs and also brings diversity in labs, conferences, symposiums, and etc. Other opportunities I’ve had as a Native American were being able to apply to scholarships and also on of the scholarships had a volunteer requirement. For that requirement I went back home and volunteered at my local chapter house and helped with yard work while there. Other stuff I did at the chapter house were helping out with food drives and supply drives. For the supply drives this was done during the time of COVID and I helped the chapter house by handing out supplies such as tissue, wipes, masks, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, and water to the community. At the chapter house there the local senior citizen center and I also volunteered there as well for a couple hours every day. At the senior citizens center I helped prepare/cook the food being made that day for lunch. I’ve also helped with setting up the dinning hall and also cleaned up the dishes and dining hall after the senior citizens finished their lunches. While I was there I also helped serve the Senior Citizens by either taking their food to their table or packaging their food in a to go tray and bring it out to them in their vehicles. I also interacted with the seniors and talking with them. This chapter house and senior citizens were both of the Navajo Reservation. Some of my favorite cultural events would be family gatherings in the winter and doing string games and telling stories. I say this because winter is my favorite season and string games are fun as there so many ways of telling a story by using just strings. I also enjoyed some pow wows and listening to the music there. I say this because these help me remind me of my culture and also allow me to enjoy my time and take a step back from everything that’s happening in life.