Aura Alegra Eroy-Reveles, UCSC

Alegra Eroy-Reveles is a doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). Her association with UCSC began during high school when she spent two summers in chemistry research labs while participating in the NIH-sponsored Pre-College Enrichment (PREP) Program. This experience solidified her interest in chemistry, the field in which she earned her Bachelor's degree from Amherst College. While deciding on a graduate school to attend, she chose UCSC due to its smaller size and the quality of its alumni, many that she had met at Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conferences. Alegra was impressed by the close relationships among professors, students, and staff and felt like she would not just be another number. In addition, she felt that UCSC would help her attain the goal of becoming a faculty member, because UCSC has many Chemistry alumni that are faculty members in departments across the country. This is a tribute to the success of programs such as NIH-MBRS and NSF-AGEP, which help prepare underrepresented science graduate students for academic careers, as well as the dedication of professors who mentor and prepare their students for all aspects of scientific research and teaching.

Alegra conducts research in the bioinorganic chemistry laboratory of Dr. Pradip Mascharak. Her dissertation project involves the synthesis of metal nitrosyl complexes and materials that release nitric oxide upon exposure to visible light. These compounds can potentially be used for light controlled drug delivery in chemotherapy of cancer since nitric oxide is known to cause cell death. During her final year at UCSC, Alegra attended the UCSF AGEP Preparation for the Postdoc Colloquium. After graduation from UCSC this spring, she will be a Postdoctoral fellow at UC San Francisco and plans to work on projects involving the imaging and detection of cancer.