Biomedical Engineer in the Making: 玛丽安吉梅内斯 Found New Possibilities at Pima

By Kanika Samra and Tanner Grammar, External Relations

玛丽安吉梅内斯, born and raised in South Tucson to Mexican immigrants, graduated from Pima in May 2022 with an Associate of Science (AS) in engineering. 今天, she is wrapping up her second semester at the University of Arizona (UofA) pursuing a degree in biomedical engineering.

为什么皮马人?

Marian shares her experience at Pima and how it's shaped her career path

When she’d first enrolled at Pima, Marian had been an accounting major. Her high school chemistry teacher made the subject interesting and sparked her curiosity. But when it came to selecting a major, she went with her first interest, math. Soon after though she found her focus shifting and switched to marketing, then nursing and education. Each major came with its own challenges and never held her interest until she visited a Banner Health facility while working at the YMCA. Even though she was there to chaperon and encourage younger students to engage with careers in healthcare, that visit changed the course of her academic career. The group met a biomedical engineer and Marian was captivated. She made her last and final switch to an AS in engineering after that interaction.

After drifting through college for a few semesters Marian had finally found an area of study that motivated her. It was also then that everything started to fall in place. 她发现 work as a peer mentor at Pima’s Desert Vista campus and learned about the Pima-UAZ STEM桥项目 在一个活动上. She was accepted into the program which helped her transfer to the UofA in fall 2022. 

As part of the transfer program students are paired with mentors and required to complete a research internship. Krysta Bready, 皮马大学的生物系教员和玛丽安的导师, encouraged her to apply for the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) run by the Nanotechnology Collaborative Infrastructure Southwest (NCI-Southwest). NCI-Southwest鼓励女性, first-generation and students from underrepresented minorities to apply; all of which describe Marian. 在经历了一个紧张的过程之后, she was invited to complete her REU internship at NAU’s Center for Material Interfaces in Research Applications (¡MIRA!)于2022年夏季举行.

“因为我去了皮马, 我可以做这个研究, get a good foundation for my math and make connections with other students going through the same thing so, 我没有那种孤独的感觉." ——玛丽安·希门尼斯

Moving out of Tucson for the first time, Marian wasn’t sure if she’d fit in or how she’d cope. To her surprise, the community at NAU, especially ¡MIRA!这让她立刻有了家的感觉. 她发现 皮马大学毕业生Jorge Muñoz 还有其他许多拉丁裔人, Hispanic and South American researchers who shared her language and culture. She also worked on cutting edge research to aid in the development of a non-invasive techniques for breast cancer detection via Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) of saliva samples. At the end of her internship Marian presented her work at the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) REU 2022 Convocation in Kentucky. 乔治，博士.D. NAU候选人, 远程参加会议并说, 很明显，除了她的努力工作, her preparation at PCC provided her (Marian) with the tools she needed to meet the challenges in her investigations and deliver a top-notch presentation.”

Looking back, Marian isn’t surprised at her choppy start. As the first among her family to think of pursuing a four-year degree– her brother is ex-military, and her sister is a dental assistant– she didn’t find helpful guidance at home. 幸运的是, her high school was very clear on one thing: Whether a student chose to pursue a college degree or not, 他们必须申请并了解他们的选择. 她就是这样了解到皮马的项目的, and the lower financial burden made it a straightforward choice.  Even though she didn’t break out of her shell instantly, 玛丽安说, “因为我去了皮马, 我可以在夏天做这个研究. 我能够为我的数学打下良好的基础, which is very important and make connections with other students going through the same thing as I was. 所以，我没有那种孤独的感觉.”
 
From increased self-confidence to becoming a motivated self-starter, learning time management skills as well as building a professional network; Marian says her college experience was educational in numerous ways. 她在传递她的智慧. 去年秋天，她的表弟, whom Marian helped through the application process, 被UofA录取了吗.
 
The one piece of advice Marian hopes students follow, 是" if you hear about something "吗, don't be afraid to ask questions because that's how I got here.”