5,000+

Ismael Alicea Guevara is a graduate
student from the Chemistry Department at
UPR-Río Piedras (UPR-RP). His excellent
performance in graduate school has been
rewarded by various scholar and fellowship
programs such as the RISE program, A. P.
Sloan Foundation and the Louis Stokes
Alliance for Minority Participation Cohort V.
Ismael participated as an undergraduate student in the PR-
LSAMP program in UPR-Humacao, he graduated magna cum
laude with a B.S. in Industrial Chemistry in 2006. Ismael
recently submitted two papers one title “Structure of the
Escherichia coli Phosphonate Binding Protein” and “Rationally
Optimized Phosphonate Biosensors”, for the Journal of
Molecular Biology. He expects to earn a Ph.D. degree on May
2012.
Wilfredo Falcón earned his BS in Biology
with a major in Wildlife Management in 2004
from the University of Puerto Rico at
Humacao (UPRH). During his bachelor’s
studies at the UPRH, he had several
research experiences sponsored by PR-
LSAMP and the UPRH McNair Program. He
also had the opportunity to be an intern in
the US Antarctic Program as well as in the
University of Idaho CRISSP REU Program.
Currently, Wilfredo is working towards his Masters in Biology in
the Graduate Program of the University of Puerto Rico, Río
Piedras Campus, where he obtained the PR-LSAMP Bridge to
the Doctorate Fellowship Cohort VIII. His research focuses on the
biology of invasive orchids in Puerto Rico.
Amanda David obtained her BS in Chemistry
from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
in May 2009. She conducted undergraduate
research in the synthesis and preparation of
inorganic layered Nanomaterials for drug
delivery applications sponsored by the PR-
LSAMP program. Amanda had two summer
undergraduate internship experiences, one at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other at the
University of California -San Diego. These research experiences
encouraged her to pursued graduate studies in Inorganic
Chemistry at Texas A&M University under the mentoring of Dr.
Kim Dunbar, where she started in August 2009, and specializes
in the synthesis of new metal-based anti cancer drugs. Due to
her excellent academic record she received the Graduate
Diversity Fellowship and the Departmental Chemistry Fellowship
which funded her first two years in graduate school.
Pamela Vallejo graduated Magna Cum Laude
from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
(UPR-RP) with a BS in both Chemistry and
Physics in 2006. As an undergraduate she
participated of the PR-LSAMP program and
received PR-NASA Space Grant fellowships; both programs
sponsored her undergraduate research in Materials Sciences.
Her work on the use of photoluminiscent silicon nanoparticles as
biomarkers was presented at several conferences. She is
currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at the UPR-
RP and is an NSF GK-12 Fellow. She received the PR-LSAMP
Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship Cohort IV in 2006. As a fellow
Pamela was able to participate in national and international
conferences and present her work on the chemical and physical
characterization of the African dust into the Caribbean.
202
Francheska Ruiz Canino completed her
B.S. from the University of Puerto Rico in
Humacao (UPR-H) in the field of Biology
with a concentration in Wildlife
Management in 2006. She was awarded a
PR-LSAMP fellowship Cohort IV to pursue
graduate studies in the field of Ecology at
UPR Rio Piedras. She has also been awarded the PR-AGEP
Fellowship. She completed her MS in 2011 specializing in
Populations Dynamics and Plasticity of a small Caribbean frog
Eleutherodactylus antillensis. Currently she is an Assistant
Biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service refuge in Vieques, PR
and plans to finish her PhD in Environmental Science and
Conservation Biology in the future.
Gilmarie Santos-Figueroa received her BS
degree in Chemistry from the University of Puerto
Rico, Rio Piedras Campus (UPR-RP) in may
2009. As an undergraduate student she
conducted research sponsored by the PR-
LSAMP and received the Research Initiative for
Scientific Enhancement (RISE) scholarship. She
presented her research at several conferences including the
Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students
(ABRCMS) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and
participated in the PR-LSAMP activities such as the Puerto Rico
Interdisciplinary Science Meeting and the Best Practices
Conference. In 2009 she began her Ph.D. studies in Atmospheric
Chemistry at the UPR-RP and was one of the 12 students to be
awarded with the Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship, Cohort VII.
Gilmarie already presented her scientific work in national and
international conferences.
Jesuan Betancourt earned his BS in Physics
from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras
(UPR-RP) in 2006. As an undergraduate he
participated in the PR-LSAMP program and the
PR-NASA Space Grant (PR-SG) and received
several opportunities to conduct undergraduate
research in Materials Science. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D.
in Chemical Physics at the UPR-RP and is a PR-SG Fellow. As a
graduate student he has received the PR-LSAMP Bridge to the
Doctorate Fellowship Cohort IV, with which he was able to present
his work at the 9th International Workshop on Beam Injection
Assessment of Microstructures in Semiconductors in Toledo,
Spain. He has also served as a teaching assistant for the Physics
Department, participated of several other international and
national conferences, including the American Physics Society
meeting, and participated of the Materials Research Science and
Engineering Center (MRSEC) summer program at the University
of Nebraska.
Edgardo M. Colón graduated Magna Cum
Laude in 2010 from the University of Puerto
Rico at Aguadilla with a BS in Biology with
another major in Biomedical Science. During his
bachelors he enrolled in the PR-LSAMP
program under the mentorship of Dr. José
Cardé, professor of Molecular Biology. He is
currently a second-year molecular biology Ph.D. student in the
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus under the
mentorship of Dr. Carlos González. His thesis topic is on posttranslational
modifications on proteins and the effect of these
modifications on post-transcriptional regulation. In 2010 he was
awarded with the PR-LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship
Cohort VIII. In 2011 he became a proud member of the Golden
Key International Honor Society and he is currently working on
one manuscript for publication.