One of the Undergraduate Diversity Program’s greatest strengths is its mentorship. Each group of five students had a Host Mentor and Peer Mentor, who guided them before, during, and beyond the meeting. A special thank you to all the mentors who dedicated their time to supporting these future toxicologists! UDP Host Mentors this year included Xiaojia He, Chris Kassotis, Julie Moreno, Frederic Moulin, Shreesh Sammi, and Patricia Silveyra. UDP Peer Mentors included Arturo Barahona, Christopher Clark, Samuel Cochran, Charlotte McVeigh, Evangeline Schott, and Alexandra Svetlik. We also had additional Peer and Host Mentors for the students who joined on Sunday for the Undergraduate Education Program. These mentors included Laura Armstrong, Napissara Boonpraman, Chris Curran, Angela Curry, Frederick Ekuban, Elana Elkin, Lucie Ford, Hyland Gonzalez, Joshua Gray, Gagandeep Kaur, Kristin Kerstens, Judit Marsillach, Richard Nass, Sumira Phatak, Mindy Reynolds, Crystal Roach, Adam Schuller, Ashley Schwartz, Cody Smith, Nicole Soucy, Nicole Sparks, Sarah Tucker, Lauren Walker, and Xiang Xue.
Undergraduate Gab with a Grad Over Grub
Pizza and Gabbing about Grad School
On Tuesday, March 18, the SOT Inclusion, Diversity, and Engagement Committee (IDEC) hosted Gab with a Grad Over Grub, where undergraduates got to have informal conversations about graduate school with SOT grad student members—over pizza, of course! Special thanks to the 25 graduate student volunteers who took the time to share about their experiences: Narayan Acharya, Sarah-Marie Alam El Din, Hassan Alkhadrawi, Voke Aminone, Marisol Arellano, Josephine Brown-Leung, Gina Capece, Christopher Clark, Alyssa Daniel, Alexis Digman, Natalie Eppler, Hyland Gonzalez, Ruth Meletz, Jadesola Oladosu, Trisha Patel, Kamila Sadko, Caitlin Schneider, Evangeline Schott, Ashley Schwartz, Kristina Stayer, Alexandra Svetlik, Tenley Weil, Jennae Whitted, and Melanie Wilson.
Thank You to Our Volunteers & IDEC Members
This program wouldn’t be possible without our incredible volunteers and the members of IDEC, including Co-Chair Checo Rorie; members Aline de Conti, Deacqunita Harris, Jessica Hartman, Jennifer Larson-Casey, Amie Lund, Teresa Palacios-Hernandez, Lauren Poole, and Dahea You; postdoctoral representative Samuel Cochran; graduate student representative Evangline Schott; NIH grant PI José Manautou and co-PI Karilyn Sant; and Council contacts Agnes Karmaus and Jennifer Rayner.
The Impact: A Launchpad for Future Toxicologists
For many students, this program is a game-changer, shaping their academic and professional paths. Many return as graduate students and even future SOT leaders. Thank you to everyone who made this event a success—we can’t wait to see you in San Diego for the 2026 program! The call for volunteers will go out in November.
“I got so much more than I could have hoped out of the program and not only feel more confident in my abilities, but I trust myself in choosing the steps of my journey, which is huge.”
-2025 Undergraduate Diversity Program Student Travel Award Recipient