A bright future for an aspiring scientist

Hispanic Times Magazine, Fall, 2003 by Jilliene Mitchell

"I became interested in science after taking a high school biology class," said Nancy Urizar, a graduate student at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

"The instructor's enthusiasm for science led me to value both scientists and scientific discovery," she added.

Urizar recalls seeing the inside of a lab for the first time on a high school field trip to Baylor. This experience helped inspire her to pursue a scientific career and later prompted her to choose Baylor for graduate school.

Encouraged by her parents to stay in the Houston area, Urizar received her undergraduate education at the University of Houston on a full scholarship. She got hands-on laboratory experience working part-time as a laboratory assistant at Baylor.

Urizar earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry, but she know that she wanted to further her education. After taking a year off from school, she applied to several graduate schools, including Baylor. Although she was accepted into other schools, Urizar did not get into Baylor, which was her top choice. Determined to go there, she continued working as a lab assistant at Baylor and then reapplied for admission. She was accepted the following year.

In addition to her strong will and determination, Urizar attributes much of her success to the MBRS program, which provided her with financial assistance and offered her the change to go to meetings such as the Gordon Research Conference on Hormone Action, which she attended during her first year of graduate school.

"The Gordon Conference gave me the opportunity to meet many well-known scientists," Urizar said. "Seeing their excellent research motivated me to work even harder," she added.

Urizar also attributes her success to having a good mentor, Dr. David D. Moore. She currently works in his lab in the department of molecular and cellular biology, studying the role that FXR, a type of protein called a nuclear hormone receptor, plays in maintaining the balance of lipids in the body, especially cholesterol levels. Urizar was the first author on a paper in Science identifying a natural product that lowers cholesterol levels in an animal mode This work received international attention.

Urizar credits Moore with helping her to become a independent researcher. "When I go to Dr. Moore for help he doesn't simply tell me what to do. Instead he and discuss ways to solve the problem," she explained.

Urizar advises student entering graduate school to see assistance from advisors, instructors, postdocs, and other students. "If you reach a point where something is not working after more than three or four tries, go and get help from an expert in that techniques," Urizar said. Although uncertain of the direction she wants to take in future, Urizar know she wants a career in science. "I just have to find the career that's perfect for me" she said.

It's official!

With a population of almost 40 million, Hispanics have been declared the highest minority in the United States. This declaration, substantiated by the U.S. Census Bureau, will have far reaching effects on politics, educational and career opportunities, purchasing power, and other changes that come with population trends.

The offical figures, just released in Washington, showed that Hispanics topped blacks for the first time. It has been estimated that, if current trends continue, Hispanics could account for 15.5 percent of the population by the year 2010, and 18 percent by the year 2020. This estimate is based on current trends of immigration and fertility. The Latino population is growing by about 3 percentage points every decade.

The news is not unfamiliar to Californians, where Latinos have been the largest ethnic minority for many years. According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, in 1990 they made up 25.4 percent of California's population. At that time, Asian Americans were at 9.2 percent, and African Americans registered 7.1 percent of the state's population.

In today's count of California, Asian Americans increased to 10.9 percent, while African Americans declined to 6.7 percent. Nationally, Asian Americans, also a rapidly growing ethnic group, numbers 6 million, or 4 percent of the U.S. total.

On the national level, it is apparent that Hispanics are a diverse, energetic, and vital population to America's future. The burgeoning numbers have affected and influenced customs, language, music, and tastes in food and clothing. Although the Hispanic population is still heavily concentrated in the West (California, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona), there is a definite trend toward dispersal around the country. An interesting finding by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at Claremont College showed that Latinos outnumber African Americans in 23 of the 50 United States.

Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Institute pointed out some of the changes that have come with the influx of Hispanics across the country. He stated that in food items, salsa and ketchup are equally popular in sales and consumption; and he referred to the numbers of political candidates who are taking Spanish lessons in order to appeal to the powerful voting caucus of the new greatest minority.