Experience
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Education
Volunteer Experience
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Neuroscience Graduate Student Representative
Sinauer Associates Lecture Committee
- 3 years 7 months
• Suggested, evaluated, and contributed to the selection of relevant scientific speakers, including those beyond own area of expertise, for the prestigious bi-annual Sinauer Lecture.
• Hosted a scientific speaker during his visit to present his Sinauer Lecture. -
Graduate Student Member
Neuroscience and Behavior Program Recruitment Committee
- 3 years 1 month
• Worked with the committee to plan and prepare for the yearly Recruitment Event.
• Hosted, escorted, and answered questions from potential graduate students during their visit. -
NEAGEP Recruitment Assistant and Judge
Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate
- Present 9 years 5 months
• Traveled to the University of Puerto Rico as a Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP) alumni to recruit and interact with potential NEAGEP awardees, delivering an overview of the program and serving as a point of contact.
• As judge, assessed scientific posters in STEM disciplines, including those outside of own area of focus. -
Graduate Student Host
Young Women in Science Program – Flying Cloud Institute
- Present 13 years
• Worked with laboratory team members to formulate, prepare, and provide small experiments to teach a group of middle school girls about neuroscience and the research conducted in our laboratory.
• Hosted tours of the laboratory and promoted a scientific discussion to engage the group of middle school students. -
NEAGEP Graduate Student Mentor
Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate
Sep 2010–Aug 2011, Sep 2012–Aug 2013, Sep 2014–Aug 2015
• Served as a peer graduate mentor to post-baccalaureate and first-year graduate students.
• Met with the assigned student at least once a month and advised them through their graduate school application (post-baccalaureate) and their first year of graduate school. -
Student Member
Psychology Students Association Induction Committee
- 10 months
• Worked in an administrative capacity, as part of the committee, to plan, coordinate, and complete the preparations for the induction ceremony, which consisted of a program to welcome and honor the new members and a banquet for students, faculty, and parents.
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Student Member
Orientation Students Committee
- 1 year 3 months
• Worked in a team to plan, organize, and complete the preparations and activities for the Freshmen Orientation Week.
• Hosted all incoming freshmen students from our Department, engaged students in varied social activities, gave campus tours, and hosted panel regarding college academics and social life. -
Teacher Assistant
Summer Camp: Aguadilla Third Presbyterian Church
June 2006, June 2007
• Worked as part of the assistants’ team to help summer camp teachers with classes and with supervising and caring for children (ages 3-6 years old).
Publications
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Alcohol binge drinking during adolescence or dependence during adulthood reduces prefrontal myelin in male rats
The Journal of Neuroscience
Teen binge drinking is associated with low frontal white matter integrity and increased risk of alcoholism in adulthood. This neuropathology may result from alcohol exposure or reflect a pre-existing condition in people prone to addiction. Here we used rodent models with documented clinical relevance to adolescent binge drinking and alcoholism in humans to test whether alcohol damages myelinated axons of the prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In Experiment 1, outbred male Wistar rats self-administered…
Teen binge drinking is associated with low frontal white matter integrity and increased risk of alcoholism in adulthood. This neuropathology may result from alcohol exposure or reflect a pre-existing condition in people prone to addiction. Here we used rodent models with documented clinical relevance to adolescent binge drinking and alcoholism in humans to test whether alcohol damages myelinated axons of the prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In Experiment 1, outbred male Wistar rats self-administered sweetened alcohol or sweetened water intermittently for 2 weeks during early adolescence. In adulthood, drinking behavior was tested under nondependent conditions or after dependence induced by 1 month of alcohol vapor intoxication/withdrawal cycles, and prefrontal myelin was examined 1 month into abstinence. Adolescent binge drinking or adult dependence induction reduced the size of the anterior branches of the corpus callosum, i.e., forceps minor (CCFM), and this neuropathology correlated with higher relapse-like drinking in adulthood. Degraded myelin basic protein in the gray matter medial to the CCFM of binge rats indicated myelin was damaged on axons in the mPFC. In follow-up studies we found that binge drinking reduced myelin density in the mPFC in adolescent rats (Experiment 2) and heavier drinking predicted worse performance on the T-maze working memory task in adulthood (Experiment 3). These findings establish a causal role of voluntary alcohol on myelin and give insight into specific prefrontal axons that are both sensitive to alcohol and could contribute to the behavioral and cognitive impairments associated with early onset drinking and alcoholism.
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Honors & Awards
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Graduate School Dissertation Research Grant
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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National Science Foundation Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP) Fellowship
National Science Foundation
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2010 Travel Scholarship
Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
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College of Arts and Sciences Valedictorian Award
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
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Luis Stefani Raffucci Valedictorian Award
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
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Social Sciences Department Valedictorian Award
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
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Academic Excellence Award, Advanced Level Program, College Entrance Examination Board
College Entrance Examination Board
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Academic Excellence Award, Outstanding Score in College Entrance Examination Board
College Entrance Examination Board
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Valedictorian Award
Liceo Aguadillano High School
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Scholarship Award
Borinquen Women’s Club
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Yearly Academic Excellence Awards 2002-2005
Liceo Aguadillano High School
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Yearly Honor Roll 2006-2009
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
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Yearly Outstanding Score Award on Learn Aid Exam 2002–April 2005
Liceo Aguadillano High School
Languages
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English
Native or bilingual proficiency
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Spanish
Native or bilingual proficiency
Organizations
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Organization for the Study of Sex Differences
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- Present -
Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, University of Massachusetts Amherst Chapter
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- Present -
Advancing Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Organization
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- Present -
Society for Neuroscience
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- Present -
Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez Chapter
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- Present -
Psi Chi Psychology International Honor Society
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- Present -
National Association of School Psychologists
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Psychology Students Association
Sub-secretary
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University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez Student Support Group
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