These are both highly coveted fellowships that give the recipients the opportunity to work as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State. Isabella Castro, a first-generation student at �鶹ԭ��, is the Rangel Graduate Fellow. Nourhan Nasser ’21, a recent graduate from �鶹ԭ�� and the first in her family to pursue a graduate degree, is the Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow.

These fellowships aim to attract and prepare outstanding young people for future careers in the U.S. Foreign Service. In a highly competitive process, both the Rangel Fellowship and the Pickering Fellowship award only 45 fellowships of up to $42,000 annually for a two-year period upon completion of a two-year master’s degree. The money covers tuition costs, room and board, books, mandatory fees, and provides an academic year stipend of $18,000.

Upon becoming U.S. Foreign Service officers, both Castro and Nasser will embark on one of the most demanding and rewarding careers in service to the country. They will have the chance to serve in one of more than 270 embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic mission representing U.S. interests around the globe, promoting peace and prosperity. These programs will provide them with extensive professional development opportunities, such as skills training, mentoring and internships.

Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship

Castro, from Miami, Florida, is a senior pursuing a bachelor’s in international and global studies at �鶹ԭ�� and has always aspired to become a foreign service officer. Her dream is to foster cross-cultural communication and contribute to developing strong U.S. diplomatic relationships across the globe.

“As a first-generation college student from an immigrant household, my dream of becoming a diplomat felt daunting and almost unreachable at times,” says Castro, whose background is Peruvian and Argentinian. “The support I’ve received from my mother, my friends and my family at �鶹ԭ�� has been instrumental in getting me to where I am today.”

The Rangel Fellowship will not only help fund her graduate education, but it also provides her with the mentorship and opportunities needed to help streamline her into the foreign service with the necessary experience in diplomacy and governmental affairs.

“I am absolutely honored and elated to have been awarded this competitive fellowship, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me,” Castro says.

Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship

Born and raised in Lebanon, Nasser moved to Orlando at the age of 13 with her family in 2012. She graduated with a bachelor’s in political science from �鶹ԭ�� in May 2021, concentrating in comparative politics and international relations.

Nasser is waiting to hear back from various international relations and public policy graduate programs. The fellowship means she won’t have to worry too much about paying for grad school. It will also give her the opportunity to intern in Washington D.C and gain hands-on experience working overseas during the  summer of 2024.

The Pickering Fellowship is funded by the U.S. Department of State and distributed by Howard University. The program aims to encourage members of minority groups underrepresented in the U.S. Foreign Service, women, and those with financial need to pursue Foreign Service careers.

Working three jobs while being a full-time undergraduate student at �鶹ԭ��, this fellowship means more than anything to Nasser.

“This fellowship was the only way I could have pursued graduate school,” she says. “I am the first person in my family to pursue graduate studies and not having to worry about financial security is going to allow me to fully commit to my studies and pursue my lifelong dream.”

Students interested in applying for the Rangel Graduate Fellowship or the Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship should contact Morgan Bauer in the Office of Prestigious Awards at opa@ucf.edu.”

Like the rest of the 1,700 participating graduates expected to attend this special commencement celebration, Park completed the requirements for her degree in 2020, but the Florida Board of Governors required all of Florida’s state universities last year to hold virtual commencement ceremonies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Honestly, I thought the university talked about a make-up ceremony last year because they didn’t have the heart to say ‘canceled,’ ” says Park, who earned a master’s degree in materials science and engineering.

Many graduates from the spring, summer and fall classes of 2020 shared her skepticism and went on with their lives and careers. Park moved to Baltimore to begin her doctoral research at Johns Hopkins. A year passed. Then an unexpected email hit her inbox announcing the opportunity for �鶹ԭ��’s 2020 graduates to reserve a spot in the arena for an in-person ceremony. Appropriately, it would be held on the Friday of Homecoming weekend.

“At first I had to think about leaving my research team at Johns Hopkins,” says Park, “but then I thought about my parents.”

Making the Most of an Opportunity

Every returning graduate has a personal reason for coming back to �鶹ԭ�� for that brief moment on stage.

Park and her younger sister, Yuri, grew up in Apopka. Park remembers her mother not being at the breakfast table on most mornings. After school she and Yuri would go directly to their father’s dojang, where he taught taekwondo. Park would complete her homework in the dojang, train with her dad and ride home with him. It became her daily routine.

“I didn’t completely understand why my mom was gone for so many hours every day,” says Park.

She also wondered why her mother stressed academics so much.

“Mom helped with my schoolwork as much as she could after dinner. I could tell our education meant a lot to her.”

Park’s prowess in math and science grew so rapidly that eventually her mother could only offer encouragement, while her dad instilled the focus and discipline of taekwondo. Park used every bit of it to excel. She was accepted into �鶹ԭ��’s mechanical engineering program and earned a spot in the McNair Scholars Program, which provided a path toward post-graduate work.

In addition to learning about formulas and equations, Park developed an ability to think critically during her undergraduate education, and she began to finally realize something about her parents. She’d known the basic facts: that her mom and dad immigrated from South Korea in the early 1990s, as Park says, “for the reason any immigrant does, because they saw the U.S. as the land of opportunity.” With a changed perspective at �鶹ԭ��, she also appreciated what they’d left.

“They sacrificed everything they’d known in Korea: their jobs. Their relationships. Their language,” she says. “They literally had to start over when they came to the U.S.”

In the past 20 years, South Korea has rapidly developed both socially and economically. But when Hyun and Mi Young Park lived there, they faced limitations. They grew up in impoverished communities and had limited access to higher education. At that time, just one in three high school graduates in Korea went to college. As recently as 2009, 50% of the women in the country were employed, and 6% had either enrolled in, or completed, graduate school.

This explained why Mi Young pulled such long hours at a beauty-supply store and why Park and her sister spent so much time in the dojang. The land of opportunity wasn’t just for mom and dad.

“They wanted to make sure my sister and I could have what they never had growing up — the best education possible,” Park says. “Now I realize that’s all they thought about.”

Worth the Wait

Park received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at a �鶹ԭ�� graduation ceremony in 2019. She knew it would be emotional for Hyun and Mi Young to see their daughter walk across the stage — representing the concept of opportunity being transformed into reality.

“I wanted that moment so badly for them,” Park says.

In the days leading up to commencement, though, her grandmother became severely ill. Hyun, Mi Young, and Yuri had to fly to South Korea. Park walked alone at graduation before joining the family for her grandmother’s final weeks.

“That was a very emotional time for reasons we didn’t anticipate,” she says.

For the next 18 months, she poured her focus and discipline into master’s studies in materials science and engineering. She became the first in her family’s lineage to earn a postgraduate degree, while also earning �鶹ԭ��’s Order of Pegasus — the most prestigious and significant award a student can attain at the university — which would reserve her a seat in the first row at the August 2020 graduation ceremony.

“That part of graduation was going to be a surprise for my parents.”

The surprise turned to another disappointment when COVID-19 forced the ceremony to be postponed with no guarantee of when a make-up ceremony would be scheduled. A few weeks later, Park left to begin her research on materials used to build aircraft and spacecraft at Johns Hopkins.

“It’s better than I thought it would be,” she says. “I’m working in a lab with scientists who are motivating me to be a better researcher and a better person.”

In fact, when she briefly contemplated whether to return to �鶹ԭ�� for graduation, her research team insisted that she go. They don’t even know Park’s whole family story.

“The ceremony is for mom and dad. I want them to know in my moment on stage that I’m saying, ‘I realize everything you did for Yuri and me. Now look. Your sacrifices were all worth it.’ ”

“I’m grateful to �鶹ԭ�� for following through on a promise,” she says. “For me, I’m looking forward to my mom’s galbi-jjim [braised beef]. But the ceremony itself …” she pauses for a few seconds. “The ceremony is for mom and dad.

“I want them to know in my moment on stage that I’m saying, ‘I realize everything you did for Yuri and me. Now look. Your sacrifices were all worth it.’ ”

“�鶹ԭ�� gave me the ability to learn how to learn and taught me how to be more empathetic.”
— Bryan Medina ’21

The computer science major who earned his bachelor’s from �鶹ԭ�� this semester was born and raised in Miami, where music and dancing play a huge role in the community.

“I noticed that music kind of supports or brings back memories of those times,” he says. “Music also helps me remember not only the good times, but some of the bad times, and a wide range of experiences. I wondered, what is it about music, or at least sounds in general, that give rise to this ability to remember or be nostalgic about past experiences?”

This question fuels his current research at the Laboratory for Computational Audition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He will pursue a Ph.D. in brain and cognitive sciences at the Cambridge school beginning this fall, as both a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and MIT’s Dean of Science Fellow. Medina has spent the past year working remotely at the lab under MIT Associate Professor Josh McDermott, using artificial intelligence to better understand how humans process sounds.

“Bryan is an excellent student, and so came in with strong quantitative training and professional work habits,” McDermott says. “He completed one of the most successful undergraduate summer projects we’ve had and was able to give a very clear presentation at the end of the summer on his work. … Less than a year after I met him, he is now quite fluent in cutting-edge research in our field, which is impressive.”

Transformational Moments

While Medina’s future in neuroscience has recently become more cemented, it certainly isn’t what he predicted he’d be doing even a few years ago.

Through his junior year in high school, he planned to pursue music. He plays both the saxophone and the guitar, and played in his school band and took lessons at the University of Miami. Then his senior year, he signed up for two courses — one in computer science and one in robotics — that would alter the course of his life. Through those classes, he discovered a love of programming and figuring out how to make things work.

Growing up in what he describes as a financially insecure environment, Medina also figured a career in the computer science industry would mean more security for him and his family.

“That’s the main reason why I pursued computer science at �鶹ԭ��,” he says. “I wasn’t thinking about neuroscience at that point in time. I was just making a conscious decision for my future.”

The next big shift would come during his junior year at �鶹ԭ��, when he was doing an internship at Carnegie Mellon and discovered a love of neuroscience that would prompt him to add a minor and take an extra year to graduate.

“That was my first exposure ever to neuroscience,” Medina says. “At the end of that experience, I realized that neuroscience was for me, but I needed a little bit more time to sort of learn neuroscience and be competitive for graduate programs. As a result of pushing my graduation by a year, I was able to do so many things, including working at MIT.”

Finding a Community at �鶹ԭ��

Medina admits that though his family is supportive of him, they still don’t fully understand the work he’s doing now.

His parents immigrated to the United States before Medina was born, and while both had attended college, they both also had to drop out to move to Florida — his mom from the Dominican Republic and his dad from Nicaragua. Medina is the youngest of three children and his parents were too busy raising them and trying to make ends meet to ever go back to school. This semester, he became the first in his family to earn a bachelor’s degree, and he’s aware of the sacrifices his family has made to get him here and how proud they are of him.

“My family has definitely been supportive, even though they don’t understand completely what I’m doing,” he says. “They have always supported me, regardless of the endeavor, all throughout my life. When I knew I wanted to do music, they were the ones that took me to University of Miami to take lessons every Saturday and dropped me off at the train station on Mondays to go to band rehearsals. I’m indebted to them.”

Medina is quick to realize that though the accomplishments are his own, he wouldn’t be where he is today without the support of and guidance from so many people along the way, beginning with his family.

“At �鶹ԭ��, there’s a huge laundry list of people who I am forever indebted to,” he says.

There’s Associate Professor of Mathematics Brian Moore, who taught two of the math courses Medina took early on at �鶹ԭ��. The two still catch up every other week over coffee. There’s Melissa Dagley ’09EdD, executive director of and the that he participated in, and the entire Academic Advancement team, including Director Michael Aldarondo-Jeffries and Assistant Director Natalia Toro ’17EdD, who oversees the that he’s also part of. “They really pushed me to pursue higher education and showed me how and what is needed in order to apply and be successful,” he says. There’s Assistant Professor of Philosophy Luis Favela, who is the advisor of the Cognitive Sciences club that Medina co-founded, and Katherine Rahill, now a senior scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center, who Medina met while she was completing her postdoc work at �鶹ԭ�� and who wrote him a letter of recommendation.

“Everyone who I’ve mentioned has in some way either supported me or given me a chance to succeed in some major way, and I feel forever grateful for that,” he says. “�鶹ԭ�� gave me the ability to learn how to learn and taught me how to be more empathetic — how to really talk to people, understand where they’re coming from, and how to relate to people.”

All of these the transformational moments and influences in his life are perhaps one reason why Medina is curious about the inner workings of our brain — and by helping others.

“I think being able to really understand the human experience — how is it that we understand the world around us and experience and form these memories? — in and of itself, is also worth investigating, even if it never led to any clinical advances,” he says. “But ultimately, after earning my PhD, I want to work in industry and implement artificial intelligence models in the real world, so that they’re available to whoever may need them. The idea of helping to improve the world in real-time is something I want to continue to pursue.”

“Once I put my mind to something, I’ll do whatever it takes to master it,” he says.

And that explains how he came to �鶹ԭ�� as a first-generation university student, how he discovered something once-mysterious to him called research and has become so enamored with it that he’s worked alongside Ivy Leaguers and world-respected scientists en route to a degree in molecular microbiology. This fall, he’ll start work on his doctorate at Stanford.

“Once I put my mind to something, I’ll do whatever it takes to master it.” — George Walters-Marrah ’20

This is the same young man who didn’t even know what a GPA was until his senior year of high school.

“My mother and grandmother stressed the importance of college,” says Walters-Marrah, who grew up with an older sister, Rachel, and younger brother, Aaron, in Miami. “My mom just wasn’t sure where she’d get the resources to send us all to college.”

Walters-Marrah had a scholarship offer to play soccer in the Northeast, but he didn’t sense a good fit. Then a PE teacher pointed out his GPA, explained what it meant, and said, “You have opportunities, George.”

That was all he needed to hear. Completing a four-year degree with limited debt became his new obsession.

One Day in a Dark Room

Walters-Marrah can’t tell you why he kept bothering his mother, Althea, for a microscope and telescope as a child. Despite limited finances, she gave in.

“Do what interests you,” she would say.

Although young Walters-Marrah couldn’t see living cells or distant planets with the toy scopes, they did open his imagination. He also heard of these people called scientists.

“I didn’t know where they worked or if they were even real. To me, scientists were myths.” He might never have known the truth had he not visited �鶹ԭ�� with a high-school friend. Walters-Marrah liked what he saw and heard.

“When he gets to that point there’s no denying him,” says his mother. Some of Walters-Marrah’s drive comes from his mother, who grew up on a farm in Jamaica, became a track star, and was the first member of her family to move to the United States. She put her own college aspirations aside while raising three kids, but would not let them put theirs aside (Rachel earned an associate degree from Miami Dade College and Aaron is currently enrolled there).

“Mom said I could go to �鶹ԭ��, but I’d have to find ways to fund it,” Walters-Marrah says.

That’s all she had to say. First, Walters-Marrah earned a Silver Pegasus Scholarship as an incoming freshman. He had to grind through his first few weeks at �鶹ԭ��, listening intently to lectures and making note cards after class, whatever it took to keep his grades up. Then he walked into a lab for the first time. There, in the dark, he saw an object glowing and crawling under a microscope. Bacteria. He looked around and thought:

This is research. These are scientists. They aren’t myths. They’re real.

“I decided right then, ‘This is what I want to do,’ ” he says.

“From my first interactions with George, it was clear that he had ambitious goals.” – Kyle Rohde, �鶹ԭ�� associate professor

He didn’t have to wait long to discover research opportunities, thanks to mentors such as Kimberly Schneider, director of . “George applied for programs, scholarships and internships that eventually built out an incredible resume,” says Schneider. “He became a role model.”

The Learning Environment and Academic Research Network provided him exposure to research projects. He participated in the , summer work studies, and mentored other students from underserved communities. He heard about Associate Professor Kyle Rohde’s research on bacteria and diseases, so he emailed and called to ask if he could be a part of it.

“From my first interactions with George, it was clear that he had ambitious goals,” says Rohde. “Rather than passively hoping his dreams would come true, he used initiative and grit to take full advantage of opportunities.”

Persistence Pays Off

There was this time when a scientist from MIT came to speak at �鶹ԭ��. She asked how many students in the room knew the cell cycle. How about what transcribes DNA? Walters-Marrah raised his hand to both questions.

“Who knows how to code?” she asked.

Walters-Marrah didn’t know coding. So he went back to his apartment and started teaching it to himself. Shortly after mastering it, he earned a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. He used some of the money to do research at Cornell University, not for credit but simply to join a bacteria research project. During the research, he used his new coding knowledge to help his team analyze data more efficiently. The researchers at Cornell were impressed.

During his four years at �鶹ԭ��, he’s also conducted research at the University of Pennsylvania and, through the National Science Foundation, at the University of Chicago. The 40-hour weeks in the lab didn’t seem like work, so he went in on weekends, too.

“I couldn’t get enough of it,” he says.

“I want to help underserved students learn about the accessibility of higher education.” – George Walters-Marrah ’20

His mom always told him: Do what you love. And so his research isn’t going to end any time soon. In September, he’ll turn a new page at Stanford University, diving deep into the tricky relationship between bacteria and immune systems — with barely any debt. After that he might become a research professor or do industry-based research.

“One thing is for sure,” he says, “I want to help underserved students learn about the accessibility of higher education.”

Michael Aldarondo-Jeffries, director of the McNair Scholars Program, has watched Walters-Marrah almost from Day 1. “Since his arrival at �鶹ԭ��,” says Aldarondo-Jeffries, “George has made it his mission to make a difference for others. I cannot think of another student who better embodies �鶹ԭ�� and its creed.”

The incoming freshman who thought science resided next to fiction is leaving as a scientist. His message: If you want it badly enough, you can master anything. Even those concepts you might think are myths.

The NSF program recognizes outstanding students who have demonstrated significant achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The students are either in their senior year of college and plan to continue their education or already in their first year of graduate school.

The NSF awarded only 2,076 fellowships nationwide. Recipients get funding that covers their college tuition and fees for three years in addition to a monthly stipend. The idea is that with most costs covered, students can focus on their innovative research as they complete their advanced degrees. For �鶹ԭ�� students this year, it represents more than $2 million in funding.

“Research is a vital part of preparing our students,” says Elizabeth Klonoff, vice president for the at �鶹ԭ��. “I’ve been an NSF reviewer for these fellowships. I know how tough the competition is and to have so many of our students selected speaks to the quality of our students and our research mentoring.”

The recipients have until May 7 to decide where they will go to graduate school. But for Leary, there was no question she would continue at �鶹ԭ��.

“Once a Knight, always a Knight,” she says proudly. She credits the faculty for her decision to complete her doctoral work at �鶹ԭ��.

They have challenged her in her academic pursuits and fueled her passion to dismantle stigmas and increase the presence of people with disability/chronic illnesses in graduate programs, she says.

Leary was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her senior year of high school. Since then she has been working with organizations to advocate for students with disabilities.

Her passion for improving lives is also a theme in her doctoral research.

Leary uses the in the , which the Substance Use Research Group at �鶹ԭ�� uses to develop and test brief motivation interventions to increase healthy behaviors.

Leary has also investigated the use of social identity theory, known as deviance regulation theory, to promote safe drinking among college students. She is currently extending this research in order to test a brief online intervention to see if it can encourage better adoption of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NSF Fellowship will allow her to leverage this same approach to increase healthy eating and physical activity. The 23-year-old also plans to explore whether identity change is the driving force toward sustained behavioral change. She suspects interventions that only target behavior change results in short-term outcomes, while others that drive identity change have much more long-term results. Her research will determine if her hypothesis is true and if so, it could significantly impact efforts to help people change harmful behavior.

“Her research has the potential for very a broad impact,” says Robert Dvorak, psychology associate professor and Leary’s advisor and mentor. “I am grateful that I will be able to help guide her on her scientific path. She is definitely a rising star in the field of brief interventions for behavior change.”

�鶹ԭ�� has a strong research program for undergraduates, giving students a multitude of opportunities to get hands-on experience. For example, �鶹ԭ�� hosts an annual Student Research Week at which undergraduate and graduate students showcase their work. �鶹ԭ�� has also had a history of strong representation at the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference, the nation’s largest multi-disciplinary research conference for undergraduates. Graduate students have access to some funding to help them publish their work and travel to conferences to present. For the past few years, the students have also had the opportunity to compete in the 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) competition.

Many of this year’s recipients of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships are students or are part of the (McNair) or (RAMP) at �鶹ԭ��.  They are:

• Carla Garcia – College of Sciences, Honors, McNair
• Samuel Greaves – College of Sciences
• Debraliz Isaac-Aragones – College of Engineering and Computer Science alumna, McNair
• Angelina Leary – College of Sciences, Honors
• Lindsay Martin – College of Medicine, Honors
• Victor Rodriguez – College of Engineering and Computer Science alumnus, McNair
• Alex Ruiz – College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Adam Searles – College of Sciences, Honors, RAMP
• Chelsea Shoben – College of Medicine alumna
• Leslie Simms – College of Engineering and Computer Science alumna
• Irene Tanner – College of Engineering and Computer Science, Honors
• Angie Torres-Beltran – College of Sciences alumna
• Milton Valdiviezo – College of Sciences, Honors
• Bridget Vincent – College of Sciences alumna, Honors, RAMP
• George Walters-Marrah – College of Medicine, McNair

“The NSF supports our brightest minds as they embark on careers that will change the landscape of our world. We are proud of the presence of so many Scholars among the winners this and previous years, and it serves as a tribute to the exemplary standard of excellence among our students,” says Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de Piñeres, dean of the Honors College. “Many of these recipients were also provided assistance through the application process from �鶹ԭ��’s Office of Prestigious Awards, an office housed within BHC but which serves all �鶹ԭ�� students. The meticulous care that offices like OPA put into guiding and advising students through every step of the application process helps propel our students toward success and ensures they can benefit from incredible opportunities such as NSF.”

Students interested in finding out more about applying for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship or other major national awards should contact the Office of Prestigious Awards, at opa@ucf.edu.

Because VR isn’t widely used beyond the entertainment industry, Morales decided to research ways it could be used to help open opportunities to underrepresented groups such as low-income and first-generation students that often struggle to get access.

A VR headset could make all the difference, he says.

Morales is a fourth-year student finishing his undergraduate studies in digital media with a minor in computer science. He is also a McNair Scholar. To complete his research, entitled Project VictoRy, he collects footage from universities and colleges to build an immersive experience. He has already developed a virtual tour of the Michigan State University grounds. Overall, the hope is to encourage underrepresented groups to envision themselves in a higher education atmosphere.

Morales’ cutting-edge research is in the field of human-computer interaction, which is ever-evolving. VR is typically used in video games or museum experiences; what is less studied is its potential use in physical therapy and in aiding those with visual disabilities.

As of yet, there is very little empirical research regarding the cognitive effects of virtual reality, he says.  Morales showcases his work at conferences and networking events because he believes his research can help shape the uses of VR tools beyond video games.

He says his work has helped him appreciate the synergy between research and art because the mental hurdles to be overcome are the same.

“Art in and of itself requires repetition to present a perfected final outcome,” Morales says. “Only in figuring out how best to depict something can a great final product come about.” In research the mental faculties and processes are identical. Repetition is key to secure useful answers to questions. Both researchers and artists seek to present new discoveries and one’s own hard work.

Morales is applying to doctoral programs in human-computer interaction and intends to continue researching virtual reality tools. He will present his research during March 30-April 3.

Parenti, who graduated from �鶹ԭ�� in 2011 with a degree in political science and a minor in Spanish, is a graduate student in the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. In September, she will begin training to become a foreign-service officer, a public servant who promotes peace and helps Americans abroad.

Her interest in public diplomacy first began after the events of September 11, 2001, when Parenti was 12.

“The Islamic phobia that grew in the world after 9/11 piqued my interest,” said Parenti. “My stepfather at the time was an Israeli pilot who lived in New York. We couldn’t get a hold of him, and that scared my mother and me.”

After recognizing some Americans’ shift in attitude toward foreigners, Parenti developed an interest in why Americans responded negatively to specific groups of people.

As an undergraduate student at �鶹ԭ��, Parenti was part of the Burnett Honors College, where she completed her Honors in the Major thesis on neocolonialism as well as a separate research project about how ideas affect history. She also participated in the McNair Scholars Program for first-generation college students, which allowed her to attend a month-long research exchange trip to Croatia.

“The McNair program largely emphasized the importance of research,” said Parenti. “My research trip to Croatia through the program totally switched my focus.”

Parenti was also awarded the Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship, supports her continuing education. In her graduate career, she’s specializing in Eastern European foreign policy, international security and international organizations.

Recently, Parenti published an op-ed in The Globalized World Post, an international-relations blog, which discussed alignment politics in the former Soviet Union. At Seton Hall, she has worked with the Seton Hall radio station’s Global Current radio program as an analysis writer and has served as an associate editor for the student-run scholarly journal, The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations.

In the future, Parenti hopes to write for news outlets and obtain her Ph.D. so that she can inspire other students as they pursue research and international opportunities.

“Because of the amazing support of the �鶹ԭ�� administrative and campus community we have been able to go above and beyond to accomplish our program goals,” said Michael Aldarondo-Jeffries, director of �鶹ԭ��’s McNair program.

The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, named in honor of fallen Challenger astronaut Ronald McNair, is a highly competitive program that prepares juniors and seniors who are low-income, first generation, or members of underrepresented groups for doctoral education.

The McNair program at �鶹ԭ�� is one of about 135 programs in the nation and one of just four in Florida, along with the University of Florida, Florida International University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

McNair scholars receive fellowships to conduct research with the assistance of faculty mentors and are encouraged to present their findings at professional conferences and publish their results. At �鶹ԭ��, the program serves 28 students. 

“All 11 scholars in our 2012 graduating cohort were accepted to graduate school,” Aldarondo-Jeffries said. “Ninety percent received funding for graduate school.”

At �鶹ԭ��, McNair has served 124 students since 2003. Currently, 88 percent are enrolled or have graduated from a graduate or professional school.

“Since 2007, an unprecedented nine �鶹ԭ�� McNair scholars have won the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship,” Aldarondo-Jeffries said.

NSF Graduate Fellowships are worth $121,500. Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $30,000 along with a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees.

Scholars have participated in various summer research programs around the country, including Yale, Stanford, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, University of California Irvine and others.

In collaboration with University Marketing, the �鶹ԭ�� McNair Scholars Program created a national McNair website where program staff can post resources, success stories, news and general information about their programs. The site also provides information on McNair conferences, funding opportunities and graduate school visitation programs for scholars, and resources for McNair staff.

Garavaglia has been a forensic pathologist for more than 23 years. She has testified in several high-profile court cases. Garavaglia also serves as a clinical associate professor for the Florida State University College of Medicine.

The medical examiner will speak about her educational and career journey as part of �鶹ԭ��’s First Generation Speaker Series. The series presents inspirational leaders and scholars who have excelled in their academic and professional fields while also engaging with and giving back to their community. Speakers discuss their career paths, scholarly endeavors, personal philosophies and philanthropic endeavors.

Though the speakers will inspire and provide insight to all �鶹ԭ�� community members, the series was developed to create role models and mentors for first-generation college students – those who are on track to be the first in their families to earn bachelor’s degrees.

MASS’ First Generation Program and PRIME STEM Project Student Support Services developed the speaker series. Sponsors of this month’s talk include the �鶹ԭ�� Parent and Family Fund, Student Development and Enrollment Services, Career Services, the McNair Scholars Program, RAMP, the Office of Undergraduate Research, EXCEL, L.E.A.R.N and Pre-Med AMSA.

A graduate of the St. Louis University School of Medicine, Garavaglia was a medical examiner at the Bexar County Forensic Science Center in San Antonio for 10 years before she moved to Florida. During her tenure, she served as a clinical assistant professor for the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She also has worked as a medical examiner in Jacksonville and the metropolitan Atlanta area.