Ivette is a doctoral student in the biopsychology program, currently researching how social housing conditions have an effect on motivation for methamphetamine. Last month Ivette attended the Winter Conference on Brain Research (WCBR) in Snowmass, Colorado.

The mission of the Winter Conference on Brain Research (WCBR) is to provide a forum for the dissemination of all aspects of neuroscience at an annual meeting that offers cutting-edge science informal sessions within a relaxed networking environment amenable to all. To achieve this mission, the WCBR focuses on the following three sub goals: 

• To exchange neuroscience research between a broad and diverse audience of neuroscientists through panels, short courses, and posters on basic, clinical, and translational findings at all levels from molecular to behavioral.

• To increase diversity in neuroscience including, but not limited to, the provision of financial support for junior investigators.

• To provide education in neuroscience to physicians and other healthcare professionals through continuing medical education, and to lay audiences through outreach activities.

During the conference Ivette had the opportunily to network with other graduate students and professors that specialize in neuroscience. She was also able to try skiing for the first time and it was one of her favorite parts of the conference.

The project that Ivette shared at the conference looked at how dopamine release is affected in socially housed animals vs individually housed animals in both males and female rats. This work is important to be able to help understand how social factors, such as having a social partner and sex, play a role in the attenuation of addiction to methamphetamine.

CSHPE doctoral student Cassandra Arroyo received the ASHE/Ascendium Fellowship for the ASHE 2021 conference in Puerto Rico. She served as the Research Coordinator for one of three research teams composed of ASHE members and Puerto Rican higher education leaders all focusing on higher education in Puerto Rico. Each team presented at the ASHE pre-conference and will write a report culminating all their findings.

Cassandra Arroyo is part of the Student Success and Funding team which seeks to answer the question, what financial support do PRCUs (Puerto Rican Colleges and Universities) need to achieve and further develop student success goals?

The goal is to develop applications for culturally relevant and student-conscious strategies to facilitate expanded student success. Each team is working between August and December to understand the specific topic and its context in Puerto Rico and the current research and research gaps related to the topic. During the Institute itself, ASHE/Ascendium Fellows presented their work to an audience of invited Puerto Rican higher education leaders for review and feedback.

As a Mexicana-Boricua scholar, her research examines intersection of higher education policy and college access for Latina/o/x students with a particular focus on higher education in Puerto Rico.