Year Four (2020-2021)
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BIOL 317: Plant Classification and Identification
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BIOL 355: Molecular Cell Biology
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COM 200: Intro to Communications
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HONORS 394: Public Activism
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BIOL 315: Climate Change Biology
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BIOL 350: Physiology
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GENOME 371: Intro Genetics
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HONORS 210: Mestizx Consciousness
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HONORS 397: Peer Educator Prep
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HONORS 221: DNA and Evolution
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BIOL 302: MCD Lab Techniques
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BIOL 459: Developmental Neurobio
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BIOL 497: Comparative Immunology
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BIOST310: Biostatistics
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HONORS 496: Integration of Honors
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BIOL 497: Uncommon Leaders
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BBIO 370: Microbiology
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BBIO 352: Anatomy and Physiology
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BIOL 485: To Heal or Regenerate?
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BIOL 492: Teaching Biology
Summer Quarter 2020
HONORS 394: Public Activism
Taking place in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, HONORS 394: Public Activism lent a new perspective on actvism and what it means to be an activist. Focusing primarily on issues such as climate, environmental, and animal issues, each student had the chance to pick an activism topic and present about it. I enjoy skincare and makeup, and chose to research the use of "cruelty-free" in product marketing. As it turns out, the term "cruelty-free" is largely unregulated, and takes thorough prior research to truly determine if a product is "cruelty-free
Autumn Quarter 2020
One of my favorite parts of Honors 210: Mestizx Consciousness was the tight-knit nature of our class. With only five students and our professor, Dr. Villegas, it was so much easier to facilitate real connections than it has been with some of my larger online (and in-person before the pandemic) classes. Even cooler, Dr. Villegas actually wrote and edited as a member of our class too, and it was awesome to be able to closely work with a professor to edit, write, and discuss areas of Mestizx Consciousness. Outside writing and reading texts, one of the largest components of our class was editing (a sample Google Doc comment I made on my Book Review is shown in the image on the left after the class had discussed edits for my writing). Having a full-group editing, or public writing, experience was nothing short of terrifying the first time we did it. However, as time went on and we all got more and more practice helping each other with edits, I felt much more comfortable with the public writing process and I felt like my writing skills improved as a direct result. I started writing as if I had a real audience in mind, which I did, and I looked forward to getting to share everyone's work and discuss edits in a kind a helpful way. Honors 210 challenged me in new ways that I had not encountered in other writing classes, and I really enjoyed getting the chance to be exposed to so many different and important areas of Mestizx culture and border-crossing (the borderlands).
HONORS 210: Mestizx Consciousness
BIOL 350: Foundations of Physiology
While being very rigorous in nature, BIOL 350: Foundations in Physiology introduced me to an entirely new way to look at anatomy and biological processes. Dr. Mary Pat Wenderoth, our professor, conducted lectures using a whiteboard and drawings. Starting out with cells drawn in the shape of boxes to livers drawn in squiggly ovals, Dr. Wenderoth emphasized keeping the anatomical components of organs simplistic and focusing more on the microscopic cellular mechanisms happening in membranes and extracellular spaces. BIOL 350 introduced me to new learning/studying practices, such as utilizing "summary sheets" (photo on right) to consolidate each week's information to make studying for larger exams quicker and more efficient.
Winter Quarter 2021
BIOL 302: Laboratory Techniques in Molecular Cellular Biology
BIOL 302 has been one of my favorite classes in college! Taught by Doc Linda and our amazing TA Carlos, BIOL 302 was the first class I have had on-campus since the COVID-19 pandemic moved classes online. Working in a hybrid format, with one class meeting a week in-person in the lab and the second class meeting online to discuss data and COVID-19 disparities, BIOL 302 was an amazing way to get experience working with various molecular biology techniques such as conducting PCR reactions, isolating DNA, site-directed mutagenesis, streaking plates, gel electrophoresis, and protein gels. Finally being able to learn biology lab techniques helped consolidate all the material I've learned in my molecular biology courses! Our BIOL302 Section F is super tight-knit and it was amazing to have the chance to build a community in-person while being able to learn hands-on biology laboratory techniques.
Spring Quarter 2021
BBIO 370: Microbiology Lecture/Lab
Taking my first microbiology class has been super fun and informative! Rather than going in-person for all labs, all but one lab was held at home. At the start of the quarter, all students in the class picked up a lab kit that includes lyophilized E. coli, a set of metabolism tubes, reagents to prepare environmental sample dilutions, and a bunch of agar plates. Over the first seven weeks of the quarter, we learned how to streak bacteria and environmental samples at home, placing our bacteria agar plates in warm areas for them to grow like the laundry room. After isolating and purifying two environment samples, I got to go into lab in-person to gram-stain our isolates and look at them under a microscope. My bacteria isolate from a sample of garden soil is pictured on the left!
BIOL 497: Uncommon Leaders
BIOL 497 "Uncommon Leaders" with Dr. Swalla has been one of my favorite courses in college and in the Biology department! Throughout the class, each of student spent time picking out an "Uncommon Leader." An Uncommon Leader is a woman or BIPOC in science; throughout both Wikipedia and the larger world of science, women and BIPOCs are regularly underrepresented and left out. The main goal of the course was to choose a leader and create a Wikipedia for them to showcase their amazing work! I chose to write a Wikipedia page for Dr. Benjamin Danielson (page pictured to the left), an incredible pediatrician who resigned from his position as medical director of the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic at Seattle Children's Hospital in protest of prevalent racism present among staff and administrators of the hospital. Learning about the amazing work Dr. Danielson has done was so inspiring and fun, and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to bring more attention to this great work through my Wikipedia page.