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Alex Lombardo '21
Alexandra Lombardo '21
How ‘Brain Power’ Fueled One Scotties’ Path through STEM in the Liberal Arts
It weighs roughly three pounds and is made up of as many cells as there are stars in the Milky Way. It uses 20 percent of the body’s total oxygen and, when awake, generates enough electricity to power a small light bulb.
The human brain, by nature of its complexity, remains one of sciences' biggest mysteries still to this day. But first in this story, came the human heart…
In 2008, all that seven-year-old Alexandra Lombardo knew was she wanted to be a doctor, a cardiologist, to be exact, and it was “all heart, all the time” in her El Paso, Texas home. But flash forward a little over 10 years later to a working neuroscience research lab on the 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø campus, and you’ll find an “Alex” whose undergraduate STEM experiences changed the trajectory of her career aspirations forever. It was there while researching neurodevelopmental disorders such as Rett syndrome and schizophrenia that she was unexpectedly introduced to the mysteriousness of the human brain and developed a passion for conducting medical research.
A self-described learner and an “innate explorer,” Alex found the unknowns within science particularly enticing. “There are so many things we don’t know – about the human body and how it works, about how diseases develop,” Alex said. “There needs to be a group of people passionate about understanding these unknowns, people who are driven and can use the answers to the research questions they’ve asked to ultimately help our community to be in their best state of mind and health to lead their lives. I am certain it is my purpose to be one of those people – a servant to my community by contributing to transformative advancements within biomedical research.”
Alex’s desire to be helpful to her community is indicative of the nature of a Scottie. According to the Science Center for Women, 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø women believe they have a leadership role to play in health care, in agriculture, in technology, in the medical ethics issues of this century. One-third of students enroll at 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø intending to major in the sciences, and the liberal arts institution graduates women in STEM at higher rates than other similar institutions (25% versus 10%).
Though Alex majors in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology on the pre-med track, her research experiences at 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø have influenced her plans to pursue neuroscience as a graduate student one day.
It all began during her sophomore year at 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø when she took a molecular biology course that incorporated an inquiry-based lab under the instruction of associate professor and chair of biology Dr. Jennifer Larimore. This became the first lab course Alex had ever taken that required her to develop her own research project over the course of an entire semester. Dr. Larimore’s own research was incorporated into the inquiry-based lab, and Alex and her two lab mates were tasked with investigating a cellular system that could be altered in Rett syndrome or schizophrenia model systems. Their findings culminated in poster presentations at the college’s Spring Annual Research Conference (SpARC) and the Scotties with Nerves Symposium for which they were awarded runner-up for Best Poster Presentation.
This was the jumping off point for Alex’s newfound love for research, and she decided to apply for the college’s STEM Scholars Program. The STEM Scholars Program, provides full-time summer research experiences to 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø students in various STEM disciplines. STEM Scholars students are mentored by STEM faculty to conduct cutting-edge research, helping them gain essential skills for STEM scholarship and workforce leadership, while giving them a stronger understanding of how researchers build new knowledge.
For Alex’s summer research experience, she was placed in the Larimore Lab, a cellular neuroscience lab, and mentored by Dr. Larimore, who later asked Alex to be a permanent lab assistant in her working lab.
“While there’s an overall research goal that the lab works toward, each student assistant also has their own independent assays and molecular experiments that they run, analyze and report back to Dr. Larimore on,” Alex said. “Most recently, we helped each other put the data and images into a manuscript, which we then submitted to a peer reviewed science journal. This experience, among others, has been integral in contributing to my professional development and in helping me to understand where my niche is in STEM.”
With Dr. Larimore as a faculty mentor, 100 percent of her mentees get experience presenting their scientific work through poster presentations, and 24 percent have their work published. Mentee names have appeared alongside Dr. Larimore’s in research published in no less than 13 peer reviewed journals such as the Journal of Neuroscience and Frontiers in Genetics. “Our students frequently tell of better understanding their career path based on these experiential moments,” said Dr. Larimore, who is also the co-director of the college’s popular Neuroscience Program. “In addition, coursework at a small liberal arts colleges enhance a STEM student’s ability to think critically and view science in the context of other topics.”
Alex has also benefited from the college’s various resource centers, such as the Resource Center for Math and Science where she sought guidance from tutors, and the Center for Writing & Speaking where her personal statement was reviewed and improved upon. She credits Dr. Molly Embree, Director of STEM Mentored Research, for giving her advice on post-graduate plans and teaching her how to better articulate her research.
“While the primary focus of STEM Scholars Program is the authentic research experience, another aspect that I emphasize to students is the importance of each person'
