Triton Mindset Blog

At the Spring 2024 Future of Work Conference, one of the conference’s many session options included a panel entitled “The Student Employment Experience: Leveraging On-Campus Opportunities in Upskilling,” which highlighted the significance of student employment programs in shaping students’ professional trajectories.  

The panel, which featured Sabrina Cheng, Brandon Joe and Victoria Morales Vargas, three UC San Diego students who have benefited from on-campus opportunities for career development, was moderated by third-year transfer student and Communication major Maria Coates.  

“We wanted to do this panel to bring awareness to the abundance of opportunities that exist at UC San Diego and how important it is to leverage that while you have immediate access to this network,” said Coates, who helped plan the conference in her role as a Future of Work Learning-Aligned Employment Program (LAEP) research assistant for the Career Center.  

Through her involvement in planning and then attending the week’s events, Coates said there were a few key points that particularly resonated with her—including the importance of being intentional about who you surround yourself with and nurturing the relationships that will help you in getting closer to achieving your dreams. Additionally, she walked away from the conference with a sense of the power of social media and how important it is to build an online brand for yourself and create online connections.  

“The future of work is all about connection and empathy, and our biggest advantage over AI will be, ‘How human can you be?’ The more ‘human’ you can be—through soft skills like empathy, being personable, utilizing active listening—the further you will go in life,” said Coates. 

Persistence paid off this summer for Harriet Mak, a fourth-year molecular and cellular biology major who spent three months as a drug discovery & development intern for major pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly at its San Diego location.  

After applying to a summer 2022 internship at Eli Lilly and getting rejected, Mak didn’t let that deter her from trying again. This time, she believes that a connection she made through the UC San Diego Career Center may have made all the difference.  

“During one of my advising sessions, my coach informed me that recruiters from Eli Lilly were coming to campus,” Mak recalls. She took advantage of the opportunity to get to know representatives from the company and worked on improving her interview skills before giving it another try. “I was much more prepared, and I think applying again showed that I really did want to be an intern there—I liked the company enough to apply twice,” she adds. 
 
The experience, Mak says, was well worth the wait.
 
“I loved the company culture at Lilly. In the first two weeks, I was very surprised at how welcoming and friendly people were,” Mak said. “People wanted to know who I was and learn about my research and educational background so they could help me further. I think the company culture as well as the impact of the research I was doing were the two main reasons why I felt like this internship was pretty special.”  

In her role as an intern, Mak was placed in the protein engineering department where she worked under the guidance of a technical mentor, performing mRNA library construction as well as cellular library screenings for the development of mRNA therapeutics. There, she honed different tissue culture techniques, learned how to build a library and select for certain qualities—experiences she feels could also be leveraged in other areas such as like antibody or phage libraries. 
 
“I got exposure to a field that I never really considered before and I found it to be really fun,” said Mak. “I learned a whole set of different wet lab techniques, exposure to how things work in the industry as well as made connections in industry. I think all of those things will really help me as I apply to future jobs or internships,” she added. 

Now that his summer internship has come to an end, third-year urban studies and planning major Jackson Ludtke can cross “flying through a Category 2 hurricane” off his bucket list. As an operations intern at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Fla., Ludtke had the opportunity to ride along with the famed Hurricane Hunters—the agency’s aircraft group that flies through hurricanes to collect data for forecasting models and scientific research.  

“That was for sure a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” recounts Ludtke, who is a licensed private pilot. “On my second flight, we flew through Hurricane Idalia in a P-3 Orion at an altitude of 8,000 feet. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. You definitely don’t get that kind of turbulence on a commercial flight.”  

When he wasn’t flying along with the Hurricane Hunters, Ludtke was tasked with a coding project that helped the center streamline its day-to-day operations by automatically loading aircraft status reports to a spreadsheet. The three-week experience solidified his interest in pursuing a career at the intersection of aviation and climate science.  

This unique opportunity presented itself through Ludtke’s position as a student employee in the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where he supports the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance program by helping prepare flight plans that inform daily briefings. When a representative from NOAA came to visit the center, he invited Ludtke to spend a few weeks in Florida as an intern during hurricane season.  

Both his CW3E position and the NOAA internship were the product of networking, which Ludtke encourages his friends and fellow UC San Diego students to actively engage in.  

“Email people. Meet with your professors. If there’s someone interesting on campus, reach out to them,” said Ludtke. “The power of networking and talking to people is real—this experience is proof of that.” 

As a digital marketing analytics intern for innovative medical technology company Hologic, Inc. in San Diego this summer, graduate student Morgan Jones had the opportunity to apply skills she’s learned in her Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program at UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management ahead of her graduation this December. The experience solidified her interest in marketing and data analytics and gave her an increased sense of confidence as she prepares to embark on her next chapter.  

Working on the marketing team for Hologic’s diagnostics and virology division, which develops assays—or tests—for HIV, COVID-19 and other viruses, Jones was tasked with an overhaul of a huge nationwide laboratory database designed to help equip the team better understand the labs they are targeting. 

The project was essentially an enormous data clean-up that involved pulling in several data sources and employing data analysis tools, coding and advanced knowledge of Excel. On the very last morning of her 12-week internship, the database was complete. She says that the positive feedback she received from the marketing team after her final presentation made the effort worthwhile, as well as the knowledge that she was delivering something the company could actually implement.  

“I think it was an eye-opener for me to be in a real-world setting as opposed to in my courses, where the data we are working with is often clean,” Jones said. “I think I was able to do it mostly because of my coding skills that I’ve learned in my MSBA program. We’ve done a lot of data restructuring and data engineering-related projects in my coursework that helped me prepare and gave me a background in that.”  

At UC San Diego, Jones works as a graduate peer educator in the Career Center, where she advises students on resumé writing and cover letters as well as helping host workshops and events. Jones found her internship with Hologic through connections on LinkedIn—a resource she often encourages students to take advantage of when it comes to networking.  

“Face-to-face interactions are great, but I always encourage students to tap into forms of networking that maybe don’t feel as natural, like messaging people on LinkedIn asking for informational interviews,” said Jones. “Push yourself to just reach out and be friendly,” she added. 

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the world’s largest and highest-energy laser, big enough to hold three football fields. It made international headlines last December when an experiment conducted there achieved fusion ignition, a major scientific breakthrough that experts believe will lay the groundwork for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power. It’s also where mechanical engineering major Benjamin Tarver spent his summer as a laser systems engineering and operations intern.  

This prestigious opportunity gave Tarver—who just entered his third year at UC San Diego this fall—a glimpse into a potential career path. During his three months at Lawrence Livermore, he was tasked with designing and executing experiments to test how cooling NIF's camera systems might prevent them from accumulating and displaying radiation damage.  

“I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted a career in research and development, but I think this internship has put me more confidently on a path toward getting a graduate degree and pursuing that type of career,” said Tarver. “Due to my exposure to all of the challenging—but really rewarding—problems that you can work on at Lawrence Livermore, I’ve become more convinced that research is the right path for me.”  

From touring the NIF and participating in his first poster session to visiting Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Tarver says his summer internship was full of highlights and lessons that he’ll bring back to the Coimbra Research Group at UC San Diego, where he volunteers in support of the lab’s climate change mitigation research.  

“Being immersed in this environment where you get to learn how scientists and engineers are innovating a future for us where we could potentially harness fusion reactions to produce usable clean energy has been quite rewarding,” said Tarver. “Even though it’s still a long while off, I’ve gotten a greater appreciation of how valuable each step of the incremental process toward that future goal really is. It takes a ton of hard work, but it’s worth the effort.” 

What was the most memorable part of the three months that Diva Sansanwal spent as a protein sciences intern for oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company CytomX in San Francisco this summer? It was a mistake she made—and how her supervisor reacted. It might sound like a nightmare, but for Sansanwal, it was quite the opposite.  

As an intern, Sansanwal, a graduate student entering her second and final year in the in the MS in Bioengineering program at the Jacobs School of Engineering this fall, had the opportunity to take on an innovative project to establish stable “mini pools” for one of CytomX’s lead molecules in the protein science department, where scientists work to produce antibody therapeutics for cancer patients. 

“One time I was working with my cells, and I came in the next day and they were all contaminated. Everything went wrong—the whole entire project—and we had to start from scratch again,” recalled Sansanwal, describing the panic she felt when she realized what had happened. “But my supervisor just said, ‘Oh, I have a backup, we can just start it over—it’s nothing. She dealt with it in such a calm manner, and that really stood out to me. I really learned a lot from that,” she added.  

Upon her arrival at UC San Diego a year ago, Sansanwal, who earned her undergraduate degree in Mexico, had a very detailed plan in place for her future career. But she says that her summer at CytomX caused her to rethink and reevaluate her next steps. Her mentor there encouraged her to take time talking to people from other departments to learn about their jobs and open her mind to new possibilities.  

“The whole internship experience changed my life and really helped me figure out what I want to do in the future,” she said.  

Her advice to other students interested in pursuing internship opportunities for next summer? Really take the time to narrow down which internships you apply to, focusing on the ones that really match your interests and skills, and tailor your application accordingly.  

“Definitely do yourself a huge favor and visit the Career Center,” she said. “You really have to write that cover letter with all your heart—pour your soul into it the same way you did when you were applying to UC San Diego. You have to show the company that you really want to work there.” 

As the 2023 spring quarter approached, Victoria Morales Vargas was faced with a difficult decision: continue her work in the lab of Matthew Panizzon, an associate professor of psychiatry, as an unpaid volunteer—or opt for a part-time job that would help cover her living expenses and alleviate financial stress.  

While she weighed her options, Morales Vargas learned about a brand-new program that could bridge the gap by funding her work as a research assistant. With the support and guidance of her mentors in the Panizzon Lab, she applied for LAEP and was accepted.  

Since LAEP requires students to work on their own personal project in the lab, Morales Vargas, who is interested in women’s health and cognitive aging, has had the opportunity to study the link between psychological distress during menopause and dementia risk. Through her work, she hopes to shed light on why women have a higher risk of dementia and how their neural integrity can better be protected. This project builds upon the Alzheimer’s research that she had previously assisted with for academic credit prior to her acceptance to LAEP.  

“Sometimes it’s a little sad if you have to work due to financial needs rather than gain research experience, so LAEP really helped a lot,” said Morales Vargas, who is a third-year student majoring in psychology and cognitive behavioral neuroscience. “LAEP puts my financial worries at ease while also boosting my career goals and future career path, so it’s really a win-win. I’m grateful for all the resources and all the opportunities the program has given me,” she added.  

In addition to continuing her personal research project, Morales Vargas is currently assisting in the lab with data collection for a study related to ovarian hormone suppression. She credits her mentors in the Panizzon Lab with pushing her and motivating her to achieve success. Their support has been so crucial to her success that she hopes to one day give back to others in a similar way.  

“The mentors I’ve had around me have been absolutely amazing—life-changing, really,” said Morales Vargas. “What I’d like to take from this, aside from all the experience and skills that I’ve gathered, is that I’d like to mold myself into the person that I want to be for others. Seeing how my mentors in the lab have given me so much of their time and energy makes me want to be that type of person in whatever workplace I end up in.” 

How does the California poppy adapt to different climates across the ecologically diverse state? This is the question that Joe Kesler ’23 sought to answer during his final spring quarter at UC San Diego while conducting research in the lab of Elsa Cleland, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences.  

Thanks to the LAEP program, Kesler’s paid research position took him to 10 different locations within the University of California’s Natural Reserve System, from San Diego County to Bodega Bay and everywhere in between. At each, he set up long-term monitoring plots to record the number and abundance of poppies within a designated number of square feet. With long-term monitoring, the data gathered from the project will help inform conservation efforts aimed at preserving this iconic species.  

For Kesler, who had been volunteering in the Cleland Lab since the fall quarter of 2021, the opportunity to be paid for his research efforts as he prepared to graduate was extremely beneficial.  

“I was always afraid to apply for grants because there was a part of me that thought, ‘You’re not going to get it and you don’t deserve it anyway,’” said Kesler. “The experience taught me that if you qualify for something, always apply for it.”  

Not only did the LAEP program give Kesler a boost financially, but the opportunity to lead a personalized project and present it during the Summer Research Conference helped him land a summer position doing genomic conservation work for the Green Biome Institute. He’s now working for RECON Environmental in the Bay Area as a habitat restoration technician—and credits his experience in the Cleland Lab with preparing him for the future as he applies to graduate programs.  

“LAEP was really a great experience for me, and it helped me on multiple levels,” Kesler said. “It prepared me for a real job doing field work and ecological restoration, which I always wanted to do, and prepared me for grad school.” 

When biochemistry major Julia Vazquez first arrived in the Anthony O’Donoghue Lab at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences during the spring quarter, she says that “imposter syndrome” quickly kicked in. But thanks to the support of a Ph.D. student in the lab who took her under her wing, it wasn’t long before Vazquez felt at home.  

“It’s easier to fit in when you have someone willing to support you through all the ups and downs,” said Vazquez, a third-year student who was looking for a job when her organic chemistry professor told her about the LAEP program.  

In the O’Donoghue Lab, Vazquez has participated in research efforts related to an enzyme called globupain that comes from deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems. Scientists believe that because of its unique properties and its ability to handle high temperatures, the enzyme could be useful in industrial and biotechnology sectors.  

While Vazquez still isn’t sure what her plans are for her future career, she says that her participation in the lab—and the LAEP program—have helped her grow more confident and capable. She also has appreciated the opportunity to attend LAEP cohort meetings led by staff members from the Career Center. These virtual gatherings have helped her get to know fellow students who are supportive, accepting and open about the challenges they face in the lab and beyond.  

“I’ve learned so much beyond just how to be a researcher,” said Vazquez. “I’ve learned to communicate, present my work and analyze data. It’s helped with general skills that you need in any work environment. You can gain a lot from the research environment—especially at UC San Diego where there are so many opportunities to be a part of research and share your research.”  

Through her work in the lab over the spring and summer, Vazquez conducted activity tests with the enzyme and is now helping co-author a paper that details the study’s findings.  

“The LAEP program is such a blessing to be a part of,” said Vazquez. “It really helped give me the freedom to focus on school but also work in my research lab and not have to worry about finding another job to make sure that I can help take care of myself. Now I can put a lot more time an effort into what I’m learning in the research lab.” 

She’s midway through her final year as an undergraduate communication major at UC San Diego, but Merelyn Cedeno already knows firsthand what it’s like to work in her chosen career field. On top of her full-time academic course load, in which she’s maintained Provost’s Honors throughout her time at the university, she works part time as an editorial assistant in the Marketing and Communications department at UC San Diego Health.  

How does she manage to do it all? “A lot of late nights,” Cedeno said with a laugh. But the benefit of working as a campus employee, she added, is that her manager, Rachel Thomae, Editor-in-Chief of UC San Diego Physician Update newsletter, understands that being a student always comes first.  

“It’s a breath of fresh air to work for somebody who is not only a manager, but a mentor,” she said of Thomae. “I’m an overachiever and an overthinker, particularly with writing. She has helped me realize that it’s OK for someone to take your writing and mark it up. It ultimately makes you a better writer.”  

For Cedeno, the position has provided her a safe space to make mistakes as a writer and learn from them. It’s also affirmed her desire to launch a career in journalism or internal communications after she graduates in June 2024.  

Being recognized as a 2023 Triton Student Employee of the Year was a big surprise for Cedeno, who was nominated for her positive attitude, attention to detail and significant contributions to the newsletter. The recognition evoked a wave of emotions in her.  

“I was just so happy about it,” she said. “Having this award and having someone acknowledge the efforts and the hard work that I do on top of being a student made it feel so special.” 

In the lab of renowned geneticist Rusty Gage at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, fifth-year UC San Diego doctoral student Jasmin Revanna is studying how microglia—the immune system cells of the brain—impact the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The work is meaningful and rewarding, but her quest for purpose doesn’t stop there. Outside the lab, she’s dedicated her time to mentoring undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds who are working toward degrees in STEM fields.  

“For students, I think being able to see others who look like them and are getting their Ph.D. makes it seem like a more feasible goal,” said Revanna, who has long drawn inspiration from her mother, a physician who came from a small village in India. “She really had to fight for where she is now,” she added of her mother. “She’s always inspired me to keep going.”  

During her second year in the UC San Diego Biological Sciences Ph.D. program, which exists through a partnership with Salk, Revanna learned about an employment opportunity for graduate students to serve as advocates with the PATHways to STEM through Enhanced Access and Mentorship (PATHS) Scholars program on campus.  

The program, which aims to increase the number, persistence and success of underrepresented students in STEM fields and medicine, provided Revanna with the chance to help undergraduate students navigate institutional barriers, use their voice and take action as they pursue their academic and career goals.  

Through her work as a graduate advocate, Revanna has helped provide guidance on crafting resumes, writing personal statements, applying to graduate programs and reaching out to principal investigators to inquire about research opportunities. Her efforts have paid off, with more than 90% of the scholars she has mentored being admitted to competitive summer research programs and labs.  

As she plans to pursue a career in venture capital, Revanna said she believes that her experience working for the PATHS Scholars program has equipped her to continue to advocate for equity in scientific fields and beyond.  

“As I move on to these very different roles, I’ll continue to push the boundaries and make sure that the workspace I’m in is equitable,” she said. “I think roughly 7 percent of venture capitalists are women, which is really low. Even just taking up space is something I’ve learned to do—using my voice and advocating for others.” 

As a student administrative assistant in the Office of the Chancellor, Alec Parra-Miranda’s work ethic and friendly demeanor quickly caught the attention of those around him. Those initial impressions served him well: After graduating in June with a degree in political science, Parra-Miranda was hired as a full-time UC San Diego employee in the Chancellor’s Office. In large part, Parra-Miranda credits the experience and connections he gained as a student employee with setting him up for success in his current position.  

While working in the Chancellor’s Office, Parra-Miranda interacted with a wide range of individuals, from fellow students to high-level campus leadership, community leaders and elected officials. “Learning the institutional landscape really prepared me for my current position,” said Parra-Miranda, who was given the opportunity to take on some tasks for Government and Community Relations as a student after expressing interest in pursuing a career in the field. “That’s where I really found my niche. I realized that this was something I definitely wanted to pursue full time.” 

In his new role, Parra-Miranda is partnering with colleagues at UC San Diego Health to help renew its Human Rights Campaign Leader designation, which demonstrates that the university is a leader in LGBTQ+ and patient-centered care. 

Parra-Miranda said the work is meaningful and rewarding— and that he can’t help but be grateful for the path that led him here. 

“It’s not hard to wake up for this job, because I really like what I do, and I like that I can continue learning the dynamics of how an institution represents itself in these spaces,” he said. “It all started with speaking up about what I was interested in.” 

Sevim Bianchi recently received her first medical school acceptance—and when she reflects on the path that led her to this moment, it’s about a lot more than just good grades and high test scores. 

Bianchi, who graduated in June with a degree in human biology, spent the better part of three years as an undergraduate student researcher in the lab of Sandra Sanchez-Roige, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Medicine. First as a volunteer and later in a paid position, Bianchi helped support the lab’s work to elucidate the genetic underpinnings of behavioral health and substance use disorders, and even conducted her own research on the link between anorexia nervosa and impulsivity disorders.  

“The mentorship that I gained through this employment was so valuable,” said Bianchi. “Dr. Sanchez-Roige is one of the reasons why I believe I got into medical school. As an undergrad, learning things and going to class is amazing, but it’s really about your connections and putting yourself out there.” 

During her time in the Sanchez-Roige Lab, Bianchi proved herself as a rising star, co-authoring numerous papers published in high-impact journals and contributing to a perspective piece on the urgent need to increase diversity in genetic research. She also served as the president of the American Medical Women’s Association during her fourth year.  

As she prepares for the next step in her journey toward becoming a physician, Bianchi believes her experiences in the lab have given her invaluable insights into how medical research is conducted. 

“Doctors will get to read papers and apply the findings, but being able to learn where these findings come from was really important to me,” she said. “It really opened so many avenues for me in regard to my future career.” 

Kamiah is the perfect example of a student who has taken full advantage of the Video Production Assistant position with UC San Diego Athletics. When Athletics hires students, they are always thinking about what's next for the students and how they can develop student leaders among their broadcast crew. Kamiah started working as an audio engineer and a camera operator in 2022, and quickly moved up to a graphics operator position. She has been developing skills as an ESPN+ producer, and started training to become a director and technical director. Kamiah has produced several UC San Diego baseball games for ESPN+ broadcasts, which is both a rare and exciting accomplishment in Athletics. There are times when the department has to produce 3 or 4 ESPN+ broadcasts in one day, and Kamiah is always someone they can rely on to help them through the busiest days. Kamiah has accepted every new opportunity as a challenge, and she is determined to get better with every broadcast. 

While enrolled as an undergraduate student, Elisa worked as a Student Affairs Intern at Eleanor Roosevelt College. Her undergraduate studies honed her research skills while her internship experience helped her to develop her skills in office administration, program management, collaboration, and time management. The combination of these skills, along with the career readiness guidance from the Career Center, prepared her to successfully secure an internship with the San Diego Mayor’s Office in the Fall 2022 quarter. Through a string of experiential education opportunities, she was accepted to the prestigious UCDC program in Washington D.C. as a public policy intern in the Winter 2023 quarter. After graduating in Spring 2023, she planned to take a gap year and secure an entry-level government position working in Washington before applying to graduate school.