Student Spotlight: Sydney Corona '16

Small class sizes and the ability to really get to know her professors brought Sydney Corona to Saint Mary’s; the Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program helped her soar.

The Leadership Alliance encourages students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, and humanities to pursue research careers in the academic, public, and private sectors. Her first internship at Yale University introduced her to materials science where she utilized bulk metallic glass that eventually yielded a bio-sensing-capable electrode that better detected blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetes patients. Sydney’s research revealed to her how scientific knowledge can be applied to help others. 

Sydney returned to Saint Mary’s with an interest in physical chemistry, and the following summer she sought out a position at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with the U.S. Department of Energy where she did research on atmospheric aerosols. This research, which shows the impact of global warming, turned into her senior thesis, which she completed during her junior year. 

Thanks to the Stella J. Camara Endowed Scholarship, Sydney has been able to attend Saint Mary’s, her top-choice school, and focus on her studies.  “The scholarship has enabled me to pursue these amazing summer internships to support my Saint Mary’s education.  Without it, I would have had to forgo them to work full-time,” she says.

In addition to her busy school workload of classes, summer internships, and research projects; this chemistry major and math minor, has tutored chemistry, physics, mathematics, has acted as a teaching assistant, and has been an after school enrichment teacher for elementary level students to promote interest in the STEM fields. In her words, “teaching has strengthened my own understanding of the material and allows me to spread knowledge on the topic I love.” Sydney reiterates that her scholarship was integral in allowing her to have the time and freedom to study and take advantage of all of the opportunities that were available to her. Additionally, she feels like she is a more well-rounded individual for having received a liberal arts education and extolls the virtues of Seminar. She feels like she is better able to communicate science and teach others because of her unique Saint Mary’s education.

Sydney is off to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena this fall to pursue her Ph.D. in materials science.  “Following graduate school, I plan to explore opportunities in academia as well as industry, creating products for technology companies or biomedical equipment. I know my passions lie in inspiring the minds of students, but also are prominent in developing greater technologies to improve society.”

--Recipient of the Stella J. Camara Endowed Scholarship