Edward Tran was born and raised in San Gabriel, California, and is currently attending Gabrielino High School. During his summer with Impact, Edward worked with Dr. Gopalakrishna in researching how green tea can play a role in cancer and stroke prevention. He believes his summer experience has strengthened his passion for science academia. At Gabrielino, Edward is a leader of numerous extracurriculars such as HOSA, Red Cross, and Key Club. His drive to change the world also pushed Tran to start a GoFundMe campaign raising money for the lives of the working poor in Cambodia (https://www.gofundme.com/angcambodia).
Abraham Niu is a rising senior at Arcadia High School. He applied to Impact Internships out of a desire to better explore his interest in science and how academia conducts research. During his summer working in the Gopalakrishna lab he found himself inspired by the hardworking and dedication he found in his mentor. Research in an academic setting was an enriching experience toward understanding the real-life implication of what he learned in the classroom. Beyond science, he has a passion for playing tenor drums and is a member of Arcadia’s World Percussion ensemble.
Isabella Lau is a rising senior at Gabrielino High School. She partakes in engineering and coding related clubs and is most passionate about her robotics club which participates in the FIRST robotics competition. Even though Isabella has had a passion for Computer Science she applied to this internship because she hoped to break out of the typical science classroom setting and gain experience in a research science academic setting.
Bianca Lee lives in San Gabriel, California, and is a rising senior at Gabrielino High School. She works with Dr. Jashashvili on using radiology to research human biomechanics and function morphology, running CT scans to analyze bones and doing ultrasounds on mice. She is on her school’s Speech and Debate team and has been playing Varsity Golf since her freshman year. Lee also has been playing the piano for 13 years. She is grateful for gaining a better understanding of the science field through Impact Internships.
Veronica Yu will be a rising senior at Arcadia High School. At Arcadia she is the president for American Sign Language club and is passionate about helping people communicate. Veronica currently works in Dr. Gopalakrishna’s lab. Over the past weeks Veronica has practiced lab skills such as pipetting pipetting, shadowing undergraduates, and learned how to read scientific articles. She applied to this internship to learn lab skills and learn what science research is actually like. So far Veronica has had that opportunity this summer and is thankful for how interactive Dr. Gopalakrishna makes his research.
Alyssa Liu is an incoming senior at Gabrielino High School. She works for Dr. Gopalakrishna on searching cancer prevention methods by studying the compounds in green tea. She is passionate in helping others as she is a member of Key Club and Interact, and is also the vice president of the STEM Club. She enjoys travelling with her family when she has the time and hopes to make them proud in the future. Liu is grateful for Impact Internships as she realizes her passion for helping others can be used in the science field.
Ashley Lin goes to Morrison Academy International School in Taiwan. She works with Dr. Gopalakrishna on cancer prevention research with compounds in green tea. She is passionate about hiking as she used to hike a lot when she used to live in San Gabriel. Her passion drew her to start a hiking club at Morrison, allowing others to relieve stress through the activity. Lin also worked with tribes in the Philippines and hopes to publish a book about them to preserve their history. Ashley is grateful that Collaborative for Impact Internship exposes her to many different medical fields of study.
Celine Chung is an incoming senior at Alhambra High School. She works with Dr. Carlson where she studies fossils and gain a better understanding of how the human anatomy develops overtime. She is a member of her school’s speech and debate team and is a tutor for biology. Chung enjoys expressing her creative side through drawing on her free time. She hopes to study Biology or BioChem at her dream college and thanks Impact Internships for starting early on her passions.
Lauren Reny is a rising senior at Village Christian School. At school she is part of the varsity track team where she has developed a passion for running. She applied to CII because she wanted to gain experience in science academia.
Ahkil Paladugu is a rising senior at Arcadia High School. He helps Dr. Gopalakrishna with his research on cancer prevention through the compounds in green tea. Paladugu is a member of his school’s Speech and Debate team as well as the Boy’s Volleyball team. He volunteers weekly at the City of Hope in hopes of gaining more experience in the medical field. Akhil hopes to study Microbiology in college and graduate from medical school in the future. He appreciates the opportunity to be a part of Impact Internships as it motivates him to pursue a career in the medical field.
Sara Muang will be an incoming senior. She has many leadership roles in various clubs at Arcadia High School from president of NHS to VP of Key club and much more but overall Sara’s goal is to help people. Sara currently works with Dr. Carlson to use x-rays files to check the density of the images that will be used to eventually create a 3D imagine. This information will be used to see how action of primates effects the density of bones. Sara has learned a lot over the past few weeks and appreciates the opportunity to work within a graduate environment.