Chemistea

The Journey to and Through Grad School as a Minority in Stem: a chat with Allan Argelagos


Listen Later

Allan Argelagos is a current 4th year PhD student in the department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He works under the guidance of Dr. Andrej Lupták where he seeks to understand the utilization of deoxynucleotide diphosphates (dNDPs) as a substrate for DNA polymerization instead of the typical deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs) required. This research has many implications with the field pertaining to origins of life. Allan is a first-generation college student coming from a background of Mexican/Guatemalan descent. He has had a very non-traditional route to grad school, but I am sure that hearing his journey will also inspire those who have struggled in college when it comes to being first-generation. We are so happy to have Allan on the podcast, and we are hoping to manifest some inspiration for more minority students to make it into higher STEM fields! If you are interested in reaching out, you can contact Allan by email at [email protected].

Link to the UCI Minority Science Program (MSP), discussed in this episode: https://undergraduate.bio.uci.edu/minority-science-program/ 

Allan's Favorites

1.) Favorite writing/studying snack: Shrimp Chips!  

2.) Song to get you hyped: Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande 

3.) What's on your watchlist? Locke & Key on Netflix

4.) Dream Vacation spot: Yucatán Mexico, with all the crystal-clear ocean water

Chemistea is a chemistry and science podcast founded by Lucy Yang (she/her), currently a fourth-year undergraduate at UC Irvine, studying chemistry and biological sciences. Some of the most famous scientific collaborations and discoveries were born from a conversation over tea, and on her podcast, Lucy aims to combine her love of talking with her love of sharing and hearing stories—stories about others' passion for science, their journeys, and any and all fun shenanigans in between. You can follow Lucy on twitter @isolucyine. She is also the founder of The Kawaii Chemist, a shop where you can find cute chemistry stickers and merch, where 100% of profit goes to charity. You can check out The Kawaii Chemist here, and you can donate to support Kawaii Chemist and the Chemistea podcast here. Thank you listening!

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

ChemisteaBy Lucy Yang