ASU student uses transfer pathway program to stay on track

MAPP MyPath2ASU program from Mesa Community College helps student on her educational journey


April 13, 2021

Arizona State University transfer student Elizabeth Figueroa always knew that she wanted to go to college — her parents inspired her, as they both had bachelor's degrees. 

As an international student, she first chose to go to Mesa Community College to save money, knowing that she would be able to transfer many of her credits to ASU. She participated in the MAPP MyPath2ASU program from Mesa Community College and is now studying neuroscience with a minor in psychology from The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Elizabeth Figueroa Elizabeth Figueroa Download Full Image

But Figueroa doesn't want to stop there. She plans to eventually pursue her PhD to go into research and possibly to become a professor at a university.

Here we talk to Figueroa about her educational journey, and what research she hopes to conduct in the future.

Question: What inspired you to pursue higher education?

Answer: I always knew I wanted to go to college and pursue my PhD, eventually to go into research and maybe become a professor at a university. What it inspired me the most was my passion for understanding and helping people with brain health issues as these conditions are very stigmatized and hard to diagnose sometimes.

Q: Why did you choose your major?

A: I chose my major because I knew I wanted to do science, specifically the brain. So biosciences (neurobiology) with the School of Life Sciences was the perfect choice and I got to choose many courses that focused on neuroscience. 

Q: Why did you choose ASU?

A: Because of its research opportunities, their big international community, the fact that there are so many opportunities within the school and how they helped their students and the community as well.

Q: How did the MAPP MyPath2ASU or MyPath2ASU transfer experience help you?

A: It helped stay on track of my courses and to make sure I would be able to transfer those courses so I would not waste money and time!

Q: Were you involved in any clubs or organizations at your community college?

A: Only the International Students Club and International Student Come and Chat. I was mainly involved working as a student worker on campus; I had many jobs during my education at MCC. I worked at the Disability Resources Services as a student assistant helping students with disabilities succeed in their classes, I also worked at the Community Outreach Center where I helped many high school students enroll at a community college to start pursuing higher education. Then I worked at the New Student Welcome Room; here I had the opportunity to work even more with all different kinds of students and helped them enroll into classes, did some advising for their first year and had orientations for first time students enrolling at MCC.

Q: Are you involved in any clubs, organizations, research or internships at ASU?

A: Yes. I belong to a few, the CIS (Coalition of International Students), Women in STEM, Neurodevils, SteamUP. I am also working as a research aide with Dr. (Heewon) Kim on healthy and unhealthy habits and behaviors in the Hispanic community, and working as a Transfer Student Ambassador team lead.

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give to a new ASU transfer student?

A: Know the resources ASU has to offer — tutoring, SAILS, libraries, ASU Sync resources like borrowed laptops, hot spots — they pretty much have everything we need and if they don't, they'll do their best to help us. And join clubs and organizations to get involved. I found it to be extremely helpful on finding research, internship and student worker opportunities!

 
Renee Beauchamp

Director, transfer operations, Office of the University Provost, Academic Alliances

ASU Graduate College recognizes research at 2021 Knowledge Mobilization Awards


April 13, 2021

The ASU Graduate College has announced the awardees of the fifth annual Graduate College Knowledge Mobilization Awards. The daylong virtual event featured four graduate student and postdoctoral scholar finalist sessions, a faculty panel and the awards presentation, which featured a keynote address by Ronald Beghetto of ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

The Knowledge Mobilization Awards are an annual event celebrating the innovation and ingenuity of Arizona State University's graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Sponsored by the Knowledge Mobilization Initiative at the Graduate College, the initiative helps researchers move academic knowledge beyond the university to put it into use — in current practice, informing policy change and collaborating with industry and/or community-based organizations. Graduate College Knowledge Mobilization Awards Pictured clockwise: Awardees Anais Roque, Amanda Trakas, Shawna Andrea Foo, Barbara Quimby and Noa Bruhis. Download Full Image

The 2021 pool of applications was historically large, including 116 applications from 23 academic units and over 70 programs. Applications were evaluated by an interdisciplinary review panel using the following criteria: 

  • Clearly poses a research question or hypothesis in plain and persuasive language.

  • Identifies the broader social impact of the research, including whom it may benefit and how it can tangibly impact that community (for example, through a change in practice or creation of new policy).

  • An example knowledge mobilization product, or an artifact (presentation, poster, article, white paper, art exhibit, etc.) that demonstrates how this research engages with relevant stakeholders.

For this year’s virtual event, finalists showcased their research projects in small, informal round table sessions, discussing their experiences as early career researchers and answering questions from the audience. Six awardees were selected from the 18 finalists.

2021 Knowledge Mobilization Award winners

  • Amanda Trakas, The Design School, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
    Master’s Research in Progress ($500.00): “KIDSS: Considering Kids in Design of Safe Streets.”

  • Cameo Flores, School of Music, Dance and Theatre, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
    Master’s Completed Research ($500.00): “Weaponizing the Mariachi 2015–Today: Mexicanidad and the Trump Administration.”

  • Noa Bruhis, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures. 
    Doctoral Research in Progress ($750.00): “Helium rising: A case study on envisioning futures for underground resource extraction.”

  • Anais Roque, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
    Doctoral Completed Research ($750.00): “Water Sharing as Disaster Response in Puerto Rico: Coping with Water Insecurity in the Aftermath of Hurricane María.”

  • Barbara Quimby, Morrison Institute of Public Policy.
    Postdoctoral Research in Progress ($1,000.00): “Water for Agriculture: Stakeholder Engagement in the Verde Valley, Arizona.”

  • Shawna Andrea Foo, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science.
    Postdoctoral Completed Research: ($1,000.00): “Drivers of fish populations in Hawaii Island.”

“We are incredibly pleased to see that students and postdocs from so many academic programs participated in this year’s Knowledge Mobilization Awards,” said Elizabeth Wentz, vice provost and dean of the Graduate College. "Knowledge mobilization is a research framework that calls for the discovery of public value through use-inspired research in order to transform society. It speaks directly to the ASU Charter and design principles. The fact that so many members of our research community see its value means that ASU will be well-prepared for the future of research.”

The beautiful risk of action-forward research

A panel of faculty experts discussed their professional experiences conducting applied and socially impactful research, as well as the need to use knowledge mobilization as a framework for graduate research that is action-forward. The panel included Gustavo Fischman from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College; Flavio Marsiglia and Laurie Mook from the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions; Vice Provost and Dean Elizabeth Wentz and Associate Dean Enrique Vivoni of the Graduate College.

The event concluded with a keynote address from Ronald Beghetto of ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. In a talk titled “The Beautiful Risk of Action-Forward Research,” Beghetto discussed the benefits of approaching research creatively, working through uncertainty, and finding opportunities to continually reflect and learn

Following his address, the six awardees were announced.

The full list of awardees and finalists for each category are:  

Master's Research in Progress

  • Winner: Amanda Trakas, The Design School, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
    "KIDSS: Considering Kids in Design of Safe Streets."

  • Alli St. John, School of Music, Dance and Theatre, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
    "Consent and Staged Intimacy in High School Theatre Programs."

  • Jeff Tabet, School of Justice and Human Rights, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. 
    "Choose Awareness."

Master's Completed Research 

  • Winner: Cameo Flores, School of Music, Dance and Theatre, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
    "Weaponizing the Mariachi 2015–Today: Mexicanidad and the Trump Administration."

  • Akshay Kumar Dileep, School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision System Engineering, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
    "Early Detection of At-Risk Students in a Calculus Course."

  • Tareq Al-Ahdal, College of Health Solutions. 
    "The impact of climate change on diarrheal diseases in Jordan in the period between 2004–2018."

Doctoral Research in Progress 

  • Winner: Noa Bruhis, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures. 
    "Helium rising: A case study on envisioning futures for underground resource extraction."

  • Lushanya Echeverria, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. 
    "Dialogical Narrative Analysis as a Responsive Approach to Compassion Fatigue Reduction in Teachers."

  • Man Luo, School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
    "Semantic Information Retrieval in Biomedical Domain."

Doctoral Completed Research

  • Winner: Anais Roque, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
    "Water Sharing as Disaster Response in Puerto Rico: Coping with Water Insecurity in the Aftermath of Hurricane María."

  • Gabrielle Lout, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures.
    "Descent work in the Caribbean: Sub-regional assessment of the shrimp and groundfish fisheries in Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago."

  • Marzieh Bitaab, School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
    "Detecting Scam Websites at Scale."

Postdoctoral Research in Progress

  • Winner: Barbara Quimby, Kyl Center for Water Policy, Morris Institute. 
    "Water for Agriculture: Stakeholder Engagement in the Verde Valley, Arizona."

  • Lauren van Huisstede, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.
    "Developing a Graduate Student Workshop Series in Data Management Best Practices."

  • Stefania Kapsetaki, Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society.
    "Disease in spacetime: 1460 species approaching the T(r)opic of Cancer at the top of the food pyramid."

Postdoctoral Completed Research 

  • Winner: Shawna Andrea Foo, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science.
    "Drivers of fish populations in Hawaii Island."

  • Emily Springer, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.
    "Dumb Numbers: How international development evaluation undermines gender justice."

  • Annabelle Atkin, T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics.
    "Understanding Familial Support of Multiracial Youths' Experiences."

Tracy Viselli

Director of Communications and Marketing, Graduate College

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