Welcome to our student-led organization, Underrepresented Researchers of Color (UROC)! We serve as a pipeline to increase representation of marginalized students in research programs and grad schools, and seek to build a community of researchers of color. As research is an extremely isolating and exclusive process at this institution, we seek to dismantle this. Furthermore, students of color perform low rates of research at this research institution, alongside research programs on campus having low representation and acceptance rates of students of color. In other words, marginalized students receive little to no mentorship and access to resources to conduct their research/projects. We exist to bridge this gap.
UROC events/workshops are open to the public (on or off campus) and held regularly. Part of how we’re cultivating this community is to provide students with necessary tools and resources – such as mentorship, panels/mixers, research methodology workshops, and decolonizing research workshops – for students to envision research that is relevant to their identities and communities with which they’re engaging.
Emelliah Vaught
UROC – Undergraduate Coordinator
My name is Emelliah Vaught (she/her/hers) and I am an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. I am majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology with an emphasis in Immunology and Pathogenesis and plan to minor in African American Studies. In the future, I hope to attend med school to become a Pathologist and base my research on communities of color. As a Black woman navigating a very white, colonist society, I have experienced the racial disparities that continue to taint the medical field today. I hope to eliminate these disparities in the future through my career of choice. I am passionate about encouraging students of color at Berkeley to continue taking up well-deserved space at this institution, and hope to bring a better sense of community and belonging through my work at UROC.
Jackie Lopez Santiago
UROC – Graduate Student Coordinator & SURF Mentor
An alum of the UCSB, Jackie Lopez (she/her) is a first-generation college student from Los Angeles, California. In undergrad, Jackie served as a peer mentor for first-generation college students through the ONDAS Student Center, as well as participated in the McNair Scholars Program. She began her research experience as a second year student in undergrad working on projects related to teacher and practitioner perspective on school supports. Currently, Jackie is a second year student in the School Psychology PhD program in the Berkeley School of Education. Her primary research interest focuses on finding ways to support the academic outcomes of Latine students, particularly through parent education. When not at school, Jackie enjoys sewing, watching Grey’s Anatomy, and taking naps.
UROC News
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