Student Profile in Synthetic Chemistry
Adriana P. Claudio Vázquez
Organic Chemistry Graduate Program
Mentor:
Undergraduate Degree: Chemistry
Undergraduate Institution: University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Hometown: Carolina, Puerto Rico
Awards/Fellowships: NSF – Graduate Research Fellowship Program (2022-Present); NIH – Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Fellowship (2019-2022); Chemistry Poster Presentation Winner at Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (Nov 2019); Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Fellowship (2018-2019)
How did you become interested in science and/or research?
As a child, I was always interested in science as a whole. I grew up watching my mother's resilience while she battled different medical conditions, and when I was a teenager she got diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. No treatment was working for her, and as a curious student and daughter, I looked for as much information as possible and noticed I did not have the needed resources to learn, understand, and help my mother in any way I could. When I took my chemistry course in high school, I learned how chemistry is a fundamental science that could help me further understand other natural sciences. I was passionate about what I was learning and decided to study chemistry to one day contribute to research and find the answer to those questions that people with my background cannot answer due to a lack of resources and proper education
Please describe your research.
Why did you choose UT Southwestern?
When deciding on a graduate school, I was looking for an organic chemistry program with high research impact and where I could obtain an interdisciplinary education to contribute to the biomedical field. As a medical center, I believed that UTSW complied with my needs. UTSW is highly impactful in research and education. Here I'm able to take biology and drug discovery courses combined with chemistry classes that give me an interdisciplinary look into chemistry. These help me further understand how molecules that I synthesize can interact with different targets.
What do you think makes the Organic Chemistry Program one of the best?
The Organic Chemistry program at UTSW has a diverse faculty that are experts in their fields. The program is small compared to others providing students with the opportunity to interact with them and helping obtain a more specific education with an almost 1-to-1 approach inside and outside the classroom. Students present their Work in Progress seminar once a year, allowing them to not only present their research but also discuss it with colleagues and further develop presentation skills. Lastly, UTSW has great facilities and instrumentation available from day one as rotation students. Overall, the Organic Chemistry program at UTSW has all the key features to train well-rounded scientists that could further move on to a professional career.
What do you love about the Organic Chemistry Program?
Other than a great education, research, and facilities, I love the Organic Chemistry program at UTSW because the small program gives a feeling of community. The faculty is excited and interested in training well-rounded scientists. The students are always there to help fellow students reach their goals. It's a top-tier research institution that provides students with everything needed to grow personally and professionally where I feel accepted and safe to be whom I am while exploring my full potential as a scientist.
- Adriana P. Claudio Vázquez