Jailenne I. Quiñones-Rodriguez (she|her|ella) www.jailennequinones.com in collaboration with QMA According to U.S. Census Bureau and Excelencia in Education , Latino males had lower levels of degree attainment than other males. As of 2014, 20% of Latino males had earned an associate degree or higher, compared to Asians (62%), Whites (45%), and African Americans (30%). Have you ever wondered how difficult a career in graduate studies would be as a minority student? And at some point finishing your graduate studies, have you asked yourself: How would the transition from being a graduate student and starting a tenure track signify? If the answer to one of those questions was yes, I strongly recommend reading the inspiring story of Dr. Miguel P. Méndez-González, a Puerto Rican scientist who has been able to overcome all the barriers that have been crossed as a first-generation Latino scientist. In 2016 he successfully obtained his doctoral degree (Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences with spec
Jailenne I. Quiñones-Rodriguez (she|her|ella) www.jailennequinones.com in collaboration with QMA According to the United States Census , the number of doctoral degree holders has more than doubled to 4.5 million. Being a graduate student is… well, it depends on whom you ask; the variety of experiences (and opinions about those experiences) ranges wildly. From my experience, being a graduate student is being in constant learning and training. This training not only contributes to the academic aspect but also involves the emotional and mental components. However, it has been an extremely gratifying experience to be able to be a facilitator to train and influence the lives of so many students and adolescents. For this reason, in the last years of my training, I made the decision to promote pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) so that minorities, like me, are represented and have role models to fulfill their goals. With this in mind, I in