Sydney Corona ’16: Chemistry and Math

Sydney Corona ’16 was attracted to Saint Mary’s small class sizes and the chance to get to know her professors. She had the support of the Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program, which encourages groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, and humanities to pursue research careers. Sydney used her summers to explore possibilities—through a summer internship at Yale studying biosensors in type-2 diabetes treatment, and at nearby Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researching atmospheric aerosols and the impact on global climate change. This fall, Sydney begins a doctoral program in materials science at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Undecided yet between an academic or technology industry career, she is certain about her passions: “To inspire the minds of students and also develop greater technologies to improve society.”