Annette is exploring the nature of Spanish-English bilingual college students’ reading motivation. The results from the proposed study aim to help researchers.

Dr. Kambara's research focuses on reading motivation. Her research has appeared in several education and psychology journals such as Journal of Literacy Research and others.</>

His research interests cover Pure rotational and vibration-rotation-tunneling spectra of environmentally important species, including neutral clusters, charged clusters, and radicals, microwave dielectric spectroscopy of liquids and solid, and high-level ab initio calculations.

Alissa is investigating the blood pressure and vascular responses after different orders of combined upper and lower-body Resistent Exercise in college women and the arterial stiffness after different orders of combined upper and lower-body RE in college women.

Yu Lun Tai, Assistant Professor, serves as an Engaged Scholar & Artist Awards mentor for Alissa Olvera. His research interests cover several areas of exercise physiology with a primary Interest in cardiovascular function and autonomic modulation.

Alyssa Christiansen is a Fall 2023 Engaged Scholar and Artist Awardee. She is creating a series of creative works relating to historical events or figures that she believes deserves more recognition from modern audiences.

Professor Carl Vestweber believes that art is an equalizer bringing people together, engendering friendships, and dissipating the chasms of disparity. He currently serves as an Engaged Scholar & Artist Awards mentor for Alyssa Christiansen.

Fernando Gonzalez, majoring in Chemistry at the College of Sciences, is a Fall 2023 Engaged Scholar and Artist Awardee. Under Dr. Manar Shoshani’s mentorship, Fernando is researching the ‘Synthesis of Novel Nickel Aluminil Complexes Towards CH Functionalization’. His project’s aim is to synthesize a catalyst that incorporates multimetallic centers for functionalization of carbon-carbon bonds by the cooperative interactions between Lewis acidic and Lewis basic metals.

Dr. Manar Shoshani, Assistant Professor, Department of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences, serves as an Engaged Scholar and Artist Award (ESAA) mentor for Fernando Gonzalez. Dr. Shoshani has been an ESAA mentor since the Spring 2023 semester.

Emily Jordan is a senior currently pursuing a B.S in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Psychology. She came into undergrad knowing what she wanted to do. Her goal was shooting for medical school, and research was never part of those plans. However, what she thought were her well-laid plans were almost immediately upheaved when she took Biomedical Freshman Research Initiative (BFRI) in her freshman year with Dr. Sue Anne Chew.

Dr. Sue Anne Chew is an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Biomedical Sciences. She obtained a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in Bioengineering from Rice University. Her research focuses on the development of biomaterial-based strategies for bone tissue engineering and the treatment of cancer.

My name is Roberto Perez, Jr and I am a senior music education major set to graduate from UTRGV in the fall of 2022. I am originally from San Benito, Texas but I have been living in Brownsville for the better part of 5 years. I graduated from San Benito High School in 2004 and initially attended UTB-TSC from 2004 to fall of 2005 and was forced to drop out.

I was part of the general work force and as a result have about 10 years of call center and customer service experience under my belt before ultimately deciding that I wanted no further part of the dead end career that is working at a call center and made the choice to return back to the collegiate environment and finish what I had started back in the early 2000’s. My engaged scholar project has involved composing music on the computer versus using a piano, the latter of which I don’t know how to play.

It came about because I wanted to showcase how a composer doesn’t necessarily need to be able to play the piano in order to be able to compose quality music just like the forefathers of music (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc). By involving myself in this creative process, I have been able to successfully finish quite a good amount of compositions, whether they be large ensemble or, as of recently, a solo wind instrument with an obscure “percussion” instrument as accompaniment.

One of the biggest ways to implement my compositions and my work that I have done thus far is by way of the UTRGV school of music concert series.

The School of Music gives great opportunities to all students to not only play existing music from living and/or dead composers but it also gives the chance to showcase students’ work. I hope I am afforded the opportunity to do the same as others have before me.

What mentoring means to me:

Mentoring has been an opportunity to give back to both my students and to UTRGV. I earned my BA in Applied Music from UTPA before the Engaged Scholar Award was available, and the opportunity to be involved with this award has been exciting and fulfilling. I look forward to continuing work with the Engaged Scholar office in my student's future endeavors.

Jason H. Mitchell is a classically trained guitarist and a composer of instrumental and electro-acoustic music. Though he has lived throughout the United States, he grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, where the rich cultural heritage of the Texas-Mexico border region influences much of his music. His music has been performed throughout North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. His music has been performed at numerous festivals and conferences, including the 2016 CairoTronica, 2015 Venice Biennial, ICMC, SEAMUS, SCI, NYCEMF, Studio 300, NSEME, NMEA, EMM, and Ensemble Mise-En’s summer festival and concert series.

Dr. Mitchell is currently a Lecturer of Music Composition and Technology at the UTRGV, where he is the advising coordinator and chair of the UTRGV School of Music curriculum committee.

"For me, being a mentor is about helping set a young person up for success. It requires that my mentee sees me as a person who can add value to their life. This is the goal I have on the previous, current and future Engaged Scholar and Artist Awardees in my group."

"Being a mentor for these students has been extremely rewarding! Opening up high quality student video assignments during the Pandemic was like getting Christmas presents for a professor! These students are very talented and creative, and it is gratifying to see what leadership the next generation brings to the field of Early Childhood education. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be supportive of their project and learn from them."

Vivian Sosa is currently a junior at UTRGV, studying bilingual education. She has been a musician since the age of 13. Through the course, "Teaching Music in Elementary School," taught by Professor Sally Sandoval, she has grown a passion for using and innovating the integrated arts in the classroom. Looking back at her years in school, the topics she recalls most were taught to her through song. She believes that the use of integrated arts helps students, not memorize, but learn the information presented to them and carry it with them for life! Within the next five years, she hopes to help teachers across the nation bring the arts into their classrooms, enabling students to have true success in their education.

The project that I am currently working on is the creation of a Wind Thermal Generation System for Sea Water Desalination. I chose to work on this project because I am interested in creating new innovative technologies based on the use of renewable resources. As one of the major renewable energy sources, winds have been broadly used to generate electricity by means of wind turbines; however, using winds to directly generate heat has not been thoroughly investigated. My role in the Wind Thermal Generation System is to develop an innovative technology that will improve water quality through the use of energy produced from the wind. In order to successfully implement this research project, there will be three main stages to achieve a completion status. These stages include the design of a basic prototype for the wind thermal generation system, initial testing, and humidification-dehumidification application. The expected results include a successfully assembled prototype in which the wind energy is converted into heat without converting it into electricity. Therefore, this wind thermal generator will be much simpler and more energy-efficient than a wind turbine itself. After the completion of the research project, it will be submitted to research conferences and to workshops to expose and promote the importance of research and students in STEM.

Our research has sought to determine how changes in the white and grey matter of the spinal cord after spinal cord injury (SCI) can influence recovery potential. We anticipate that findings from the research will assist clinicians in describing the therapeutic outlook for subjects with a SCI. As we continue in our research career, we plan to use the methodologies optimized to evaluate changes in spinal cord architecture in other neurodegenerative diseases, including stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The incidence rate of these diseases is higher in the Rio Grande Valley.

Our Engaged Scholar Award (ESA) project consists of four art education students. We are very grateful to have been accepted twice by the ESA committee and to contribute to our local community. Both projects, CurArte and SanArte: Healing Through Creative Expression, aims to design art projects for youth who have lived situations of trauma, such as children living in economic hardship residing in our local community, through recreational services that promote creative expression and multicultural immersion by providing access to mentorship, cultural events, and art workshops. CurArte and SanArte are currently working with facilities such as Southwest Key Nueva Esperanza and Carlotta Petrina and is collaborating with the Sunday Sidewalk School program that has been initiated at the Brownsville and Matamoros border for migrant children. Through this art fostering experience, students have a safe place for self-expression and self-awareness while nurturing creative thinking. As a collaborative effort, we hope to encourage positive reflections in youth and in our community for a brighter future.

When I first started learning mariachi in middle school, I never thought it would become part of my identity. Now, my family and friends like to call me “El Mariachi” whenever I attend social events. Although everyone thought I would join the UTRGV Mariachi while attending college, I sought to pursue a manufacturing engineering degree. Nevertheless, I freelance with mariachi groups on the weekends as a hobby and part-time job, which keeps me rooted to my passion.

A lesson I learned in manufacturing engineering is the cost savings derived from visual aids. With this in mind, I came across an idea that can benefit the mariachi community in that aspect. Through personal experience, I knew there was a problem when it came to ordering custom mariachi suits. Customers never obtain a “visual” or “proof” for the suit they want to order. Many times, customers are unsatisfied due to too much design or lack thereof. To circumvent this problem, I proposed the creation of an application (app) that allows customers to design and see their suit prior to approving their orders. This facilitates the ordering process, and saves consumers’ monetary and time investments. This app will be designed with the intention to assist in eliminating any surprises for the customer when the suits are finished and delivered.

Dr. Hiram Moya is my Engaged Scholar Award (ESA) Faculty Mentor, and he will help me accomplish the tasks to fulfill my project’s proposed outcomes. Since information on mariachi suit making is scarce online, we are expecting to use ESA funds to conduct in-person interviews with popular suit designers in Jalisco, Distrito Federal (Mexico City), or Guanajuato, Mexico to reflect their actual capabilities in one app. I am eager to make this service product a reality, and I trust ESA will provide the resources needed for the success of my project.

The aim of this film, Peaks of the Valley, is to create a narrative that focuses on the psychological damages borders do to the people who live among them and submerge viewers into the emotional hardships that the border creates. Specifically the U.S-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley region. Woven into the narrative are concepts from Plato’s Republic and Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands.

Jessica's project titled, Environmental Impact of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Pipeline on the Brownsville Ship Channel Water Quality, is a study performed by the Vaquero Stream Team (VST), a research-based student organization comprised of UTRGV Civil Engineering students certifies in water quality monitoring. The purpose of the investigation is to reveal the environmental impacts of the LNG pipeline construction along the Brownsville Ship Channel.

As a result for conducting this study, the team expects to bring awareness of the various point and nonpoint sources of pollutions that harm RGV waterways. In addition, the team aims to inform any individuals that may be directly affected by the findings of the study, such as causes of adverse health effects or discoveries of inadequately treated sewage systems.

I am the music composer of Act 2 of the musical Malinalli, alongside with my mentor Dr. Moreira, who provided the lyrics for the music. The musical is about La Malinche and the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan. The musical is thus a dramatization of the arrival of Hernan Cortez in Tenochtitlan and the birth of the first mestizo person: Martin Cortez. The musical also goes over the Malinche's early life, and how she was sold into slavery by her own mother once she remarried. The musical consists of two acts and my work focused on developing Act 2.

I created most of the music in Act 2 by using the music writing software Finale. The music was input with a mouse and keyboard as well as a USB piano. In addition, I borrowed important melodic lines from Act 1 and implemented them in Act 2. Throughout the project, I've learned how to work in a team, how to manage a project, to manage time, to research Aztec culture and music, and have a more in-depth understanding of Finale. I also have obtained a better understanding of background music development and how thematic music relates to characters. I chose this project because I love composition and would eventually like to work as a film composer.

My goal for the project is to workshop Act 2 at the end of the fall 2018 semester and have a working draft of the complete musical by 2019-2020. Additionally, with my mentor, I am planning to attend the AWP conference to talk about my involvement with the musical. The AWP is a conference where playwrights, and other creative artists. Through this conference, I am hoping I will be able to network with other individuals involved in creative works and get my work exposed to the public. I also want to increase the representation of Mexican culture and history by disseminating this musical.

Erika is a Political Science major a the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She is a first-time ESA awardee using her funds to study the adverse effects of a booming economy on social relations. From this project, she wishes to receive a publication of all her research.

Initially, I decided to get involved in a diabetes lab because I have a lot of family history with this disease. This allowed me to learn more about it in a molecular aspect. Melatonin is a widely used supplement and a natural hormone that is released in our bodies. Whenever I got my hands on this project, I was excited to really understand the role of melatonin and what kind of effects it has on adipocytes. My Engage Scholar Award (ESA) mentor, Dr. Saraswathy Nair, has been extremely supportive and has helped me accomplish a lot to bring this project from the bench to the public. Future experiments will be performed to determine if melatonin is causing significant effects on the regulation of the mitochondrial gene expression and function during brown adipocyte transformation.

I chose this project because as a first-generation college student, I want to explore students' own understanding of what determines their ability to navigate certain barriers towards college success. I am also interested in the supports that students have when it comes to achieving their educational goals. As a future educator, this research project will enhance my own understanding of the barriers and supports students are likely to come to school with. I hope that I can apply the insights gained from this project and the deeper understanding of the barriers faced by Latino students to become a more effective teacher and mentor so that I can best engage my own students, provide the positive supports they need, and prepare them for success in postsecondary education. My expected outcome from this project is an academic research paper and to submit the information gathered to an undergraduate research journal. My findings may also inform practices and policies that lead to student success. As of now, students have cited finances, work and family responsibilities, lack of academic preparation, misunderstanding expectations, time management and international student status as barriers. On the other hand, students cite peer support, faculty mentorship, family encouragement, and on-campus programs such as work study or extracurriculars as sources of support.

I am doing a mixed-methods project which consists of both in-person interviews and an online anonymous survey using Qualtrics. I am interested in exploring the role of employment, finances, family, peer effects, and institutional supports or barriers. I am currently working on sending the survey out to students at UTRGV. In-person interview respondents are recruited in person by providing them with information about my project. I plan to conduct at least 20 interviews with undergraduate students currently enrolled at the university. Interview questions will be open-ended to probe students’ college experiences, as well as any family or peer influences on their educational path. Interview data will be recorded, transcribed and open-coded to reveal recurring themes in students’ college experiences. Lastly, I review the coding to determine whether there are patterns, similarities, and differences in my respondents’ experiences. It is worth noting that I presented this project at the Engaged Scholar Symposium at UTRGV and also at the Southern Sociological Society annual conference in New Orleans, LA.

I started conducting research when I first joined Dr. Michael Lehker’s infectious diseases laboratory two years ago as a laboratory assistant. In Dr. Lehker’s lab, we study the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis which causes trichomoniasis, one of the most prevalent yet scientifically neglected sexuality transmitted infection worldwide. This parasite primarily affects women in third world countries that often have limited access to medical care. This makes the need for alternative and cost-effective therapeutic drugs a matter of great importance. This is one of the reasons why I decided to focus my research in further investigating the pathogenicity of trichomoniasis and contribute to the scientific community. The current focus of my project is to investigate the regulation of redox homeostasis under different environmental conditions in trichomonads. With the results of this project, we expect to expand the knowledge of the behavior of this parasite under different stressors and contribute to a scientific area that has not been yet fully studied.

For my Engaged Scholar project, I am a co-editor of The Chachalaca Review. The Chachalaca Review is an online, student-run arts publication. What makes the Chachalaca Review unique is its existence as an international, multicultural, and multilingual publication that anyone can submit to. In part, this project was created as an outlet for the local community’s individual voices to be heard.

Since being awarded with the Engaged Scholar Award, the Chachalaca Review has grown in scale. Some of the changes are as follows:

• The Chachalaca Review has transformed from a simple blog page to a full-fledged website with new issues every semester (located at www.chachalacareview.com).
• The award has allowed us to expand from only having two team members. Now, we have five members and we are still growing.
• Hundreds of submissions are now being sent in for each issue.
• Each issue is now themed to encourage artists to think outside of the box – for instance, this issue is inspired by Mexican-American author Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands.
• We are now featuring local and internationally recognized artists – for example, the upcoming issue will include special features on San Antonio poet laureate Octavio Quintanilla and award-winning Griselda Castillo.
• Throughout the semester, we release new content (e.g. interviews and videos) highlighting the artists we publish and their work.

Next semester, we plan to grow further by focusing on community outreach. Our plans include creating a blog to feature interviews of community members, conducting workshops for local schools, and sharing the work of new artists.

Our team is mentored by Dr. Christopher Carmona. Other team members include Kelly Saenz (co-editor), Jesus Amaya (Spanish editor), Robert Hinojosa (art director), and Tanya Quezada (social media manager).