Alumni

Some of our former leadership members!

Jennifer Patritti Cram, our chapter’s inaugural Presidentis a Ph.D. Candidate in the Neuroscience program at the University of Cincinnati. As an undergrad majoring in Neuroscience at Ohio State, she conducted research on the evolution of cell signaling networks under the guidance of Professor Helen Chamberlin, Department of Molecular Genetics. Jennifer used the nematodes C. elegans and C. briggsae as simple experimental systems to identify new tumor suppressor genes and to understand how they influence cell signaling and cell division. Jennifer’s ongoing dissertation research in Dr. Nancy Ratner’s Lab at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital focuses on studying the signaling mechanism of peripheral nerve tumor formation in Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) using in vitro and in vivo models. 

 

Jennifer was highlighted by Ohio’s Latino Affairs Commission here. 

Mónica M. Gaudier Díaz received her PhD in March 2017. Monica was a graduate student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Under the supervision of A. Courtney DeVries she studied the effect of social isolation in the neuroinflammatory response to ischemia. Her primary interest is to understand how the social environment can influence the brain microenvironment, ultimately altering physiology and behavior.

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Steven Villanueva Jr., a fourth year graduate student working with Dr. Scott Gaudi on the study of extrasolar planets around distant stars by monitoring the stars for transit events when the planets pass in front of their host stars. Steven also works with Dr. Richard Pogge on the construction of DEMONEXT, a robotic and automated 20″ telescope to observe planets, supernovae, and black holes in the centers of distant galaxies.

2023 UPDATE: Steven Villanueva Jr. graduated from OSU with a PhD in Astronomy in 2018 with a focus on detecting planets around other stars and the construction of the DEMONEXT robotic and automated telescope. Steven served two terms as the OSU SACNAS Chapter president and was one of the chapter’s founding members. Steven was a Pappalardo Fellow at MIT where he worked on the joint MIT-NASA TESS exoplanet mission. Steven continues his search for distant planets at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow.

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Liz Hoskins, “I am a 6th year PhD candidate in the department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology. I work in the Animal Behavior and Ecology Complex Systems Lab, lead by Dr. Ian Hamilton. Using experimental methods, I look at how social dominance and animal personality influences cognition in African cichlid fish. In addition, I use computer models to look at how information, such as a novel food source, moves throughout a group.”

 

If you are an alumni of SACNAS Chapter OSU and would like to give us an update and be featured on this page, please email us with a short bio and a recent photo at sacnaschapterosu@gmail.com!