{"id":74611,"date":"2025-04-21T10:15:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=74611"},"modified":"2025-04-21T10:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:16:08","slug":"goldwater-scholars-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/goldwater-scholars-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Goldwater scholars fight for vulnerable communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s NAU Goldwater Scholars have something (else) in common: they work in the same lab.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both juniors majoring in science disciplines, <\/span>Amaya Pablo<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>James Davis<\/span><\/b> work with assistant professor <\/span>Naomi Lee <\/span><\/b>on research that is improving Indigenous peoples\u2019 health. The two students\u2019 experiences in Lee\u2019s lab have cemented their dreams of obtaining graduate degrees to fight for better care for vulnerable populations.<\/span><\/p>\n

With help from the prestigious <\/span>Goldwater Scholarship<\/span><\/a>\u2014<\/span>which provides up to $7,500 in financial support to outstanding students who are interested in pursuing research careers in science, engineering and mathematics\u2014both Pablo and Davis can continue chasing their dreams. They are among 441 students to receive the scholarship, chosen from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants from throughout the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read on to find out more about these dedicated students\u2019 backgrounds, their work in Lee\u2019s lab and their career aspirations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"James<\/a>Davis still remembers the moment he decided to attend NAU. While visiting from his hometown of Sacramento, California, Davis walked by Cline Library and spotted the imposing Humphreys Peak in the distance.\u202f\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI fell in love with the nature around Flagstaff,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I saw the view of the mountain\u2026I knew that I wanted to go here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now a junior majoring in biomedical sciences, Davis has found a home away from home at NAU. When he isn\u2019t in Lee\u2019s lab developing an HPV vaccine that\u2019s easier to distribute in Indigenous and rural communities, he can be found in the pool playing club water polo, serving as activities chair of the Ambassadors for the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences, working as a community assistant in Sechrist Hall and serving as a peer mentor for the Research Assistant Mentorship Program and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Davis applied for the Goldwater Scholarship on the recommendation ofSakhawala, who mentored him during an internship at the National Institutes of Health. With support from the Goldwater Foundation, Davis is one step closer to achieving his dream of earning a doctorate in cellular and molecular biology, finding a job in academia and running a lab that champions diversity in biomedical research.<\/span><\/p>\n

Davis cites his mother as his biggest cheerleader and most important mentor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe always told me to find what I enjoy doing and do that for the rest of my life,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI am extremely lucky to have found something like that. I really enjoy going to school and learning new things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"Amaya<\/a>Pablo grew up in the Hopi village of Mishongnovi, where she saw family and friends struggle with the long-term fallout of exposure to toxic forever chemicals without adequate access to specialized care. That inspired her to become a physician.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cComing from a small, rural community, we have limited resources, but my family always found a way to persevere,\u201d Pablo said. \u201cMy dreams were cultivated by my family and the Hopi community. I wish to give back to my community through medicine with my family\u2019s support.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pablo always knew NAU would be the first destination on her career journey. She found supportive mentors here as early as high school, and it was the only university close to home that would allow her to double major in chemistry and applied Indigenous studies. While in Flagstaff, the junior hasn\u2019t just been hard at work on a treatment against antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in Lee\u2019s lab. She\u2019s also spent time fighting against uranium mining on and near Native reservation lands as an intern with the South Carolina Universities Research and Education Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Davis, Pablo serves as a peer mentor for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, and in the summer, she mentors peers in the Cultural and Academic Research Experience program. She\u2019s also involved with several clubs and other corners of campus, including the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos\/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science and the Center for Materials Interfaces in Research and Applications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pablo is <\/span>one of just eight UWorld-supported Goldwater scholars<\/span><\/a> selected from a national pool of applicants. A generous scholarship, in addition to a whole host of pre-MCAT materials and courses offered by the test prep company, will help propel Pablo through her final undergraduate year at NAU and on to medical school, setting the final steps of her career plan into motion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter obtaining my M.D. or Ph.D. in cancer biology, my research will focus on mitigating Native American cancer prevention and treatment disparities by expanding biomedical research and healthcare access for Native American reservation communities, especially in the Four Corners region,\u201d Pablo said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

For more information about applying for the Goldwater Scholarship and other nationally competitive scholarships, <\/span><\/i>visit this website<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/span><\/p>\n


\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s NAU Goldwater Scholars have something (else) in common: they work in the same lab. Both juniors majoring in science disciplines, Amaya Pablo and James Davis work with assistant professor Naomi Lee on research that is improving Indigenous peoples\u2019 health. The two students\u2019 experiences in Lee\u2019s lab have cemented their dreams of obtaining graduate…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":74613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}