Note to editors and news directors:
For a group
photo of the Early Entrance Program grads at Cal State L.A., please
contact the CSULA Public Affairs office at (323) 343-3050.
20+ early entrance grads
in
EEP grads range in age
from 16-20 years old
Los Angeles, CA –
Twenty-one
Early Entrance
Program (EEP) students—most
of them still teenagers—will receive their baccalaureate degrees at
Cal State L.A.’s two-day
Commencement ceremonies Friday-Saturday, June
15 and 16.
EEP admits extraordinarily gifted youngsters, some as young as
11, directly into Cal State L.A. and provides them with monitored
evaluation, counseling, and the opportunity to study with like-minded
peers.
Here is EEP’s Class of 2012, ranging from 16-20 years old
(listed alphabetically):
• Ajay Bhandari (Valencia), 19, biological
sciences major. Bhandari, who is a graduating magna cum laude, was
recently accepted to Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and
Science to pursue a master’s degree in biomedical sciences in the fall.
His goal is to become a physician. At CSULA, he served as
president of the G.E. Honors Club, vice president of EEP Club, historian
of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Club, and public relations chair for
the American Medical Student Association. In the community, he has
volunteered at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital and Olive View UCLA
Medical center. He is also a recipient of the General Education Honors Scholarship
and the College of Natural and Social Sciences Certificate of Honor.
• Priscilla Dao (Monterey Park), 17, philosophy
major with a pre-law option.
Dao, who will be graduating cum laude, has been accepted into
Teach for America, a program that works to eliminate educational
inequality by enlisting “high-achieving college grads” to teach for at
least two years in low-income communities throughout the country.
After teaching in the Houston Independent School District, she plans to
apply to law school to specialize in educational policy. Dao served as
public relations chair for the Mock Trial Club; associate justice for
the Associate Students, Inc.; and as a student representative
for the
America Council on International Programs for the CSU System. She is
also a recipient of the 2009 American Mock Trial Witness Award.
• Tiffany Frank (Woodland Hills), 19, math and
political science double major with a minor in English. Frank, who plans
to pursue a career in international law or intellectual property law,
will attend the University of Texas Law School in Austin this
fall. Frank is graduating magna cum laude and is a member of the Golden
Key and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. She is also an active member of
the Mock Trial Club and the Pre-law Society at CSULA. She served as
president of CSULA’s Model United Nations Club for the term 2010-11, and
received first- and second-place honors as part of the award-winning
Model United Nations team. She is also a recipient of the Harvey Cranow
Community Service Award for her work in the greater Los Angeles Jewish
community.
• Sarah Gao (Arcadia), 18, chemistry major. Gao,
who will be graduating magna cum laude, will head to Yale Medical School
in the fall. Her goal is to become a medical doctor. Gao is a member of
the Golden Key and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. At CSULA, she has
served as president of the Cancer Awareness Club, president and social
events chair of Humanitarians on Campus, and president and secretary of
the Chemistry and Biochemistry Club. She is also involved with the EEP
Club and has volunteered at Huntington Memorial Hospital. For her
research, entitled “Antiproliferative Effects of the Novel Anti-cancer
Agent, Chlorambucil-Tempol, and its Use in Drug Delivery Research,” she
was presented CSULA’s 2011 Phi Kappa Phi Travel Award of $1,000. Her
accolades include the Golden Eagle Award of Excellence, the General
Li-Jen Fang Memorial Award, and the General Education Honors Award.
• Angela Guerrero (Downey), 18, chemistry and
biochemistry major with a minor in music.
Guerrero, who has been accepted to Stanford School of
Medicine, will be graduating magna cum laude this June. Her goal is to
become a physician-scientist. A Dean’s List student, she was named the
2012 EEP Graduate of the Year.
For her
research on “Photooxidation of the antioxidant trans-resveratrol,” she
received first-place honor at the CSULA Student Symposium on Research,
Scholarship and Creative Activity and second-place honor at the 2012 CSU
Student Research Competition.
She is a participant of the Minority Access to
Research Careers-Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research
(MARC-U*STAR) Program at CSULA.
She is
also a recipient of California Institute of Technology’s 2010 Amgen
Scholars Fellowship. On campus, she has served as president of the CSULA
American Medical School Association, president of the CSULA Music
Appreciation Club, and academic chair of the EEP Club. In addition to
being an active community volunteer, she also played the violin for the
Olympia Youth Orchestra and the CSULA String Orchestra.
• Billie Hsieh (Duarte), 18, biology major and
economics minor. Hsieh, whose goal is to become a medical doctor, will
be heading to El Salvador this fall as a recipient of the Foundation for
International Medical Relief of Children Fellowship. Currently,
she is an intern at the COPE Health Solutions Clinical Care Extender
Program. She was formerly a volunteer in the Surgical Oncology
Department at City of Hope Medical Center and former cardiology
volunteer at Kaiser Permanente Hospital. She
also traveled to Bumwalukani, Uganda, for a direct medical expedition.
Locally, she has led fellow students in team events, including
AIDS Project Los Angeles Walks, Walk for Kids for Los Angeles Children’s
Hospital and Walk Now for Autism Speaks. A Dean’s List student, her
accolades include the Golden Eagle Award of Excellence, CSULA Alumni
Scholarship, and the California 9th Annual Leadership Summit
Scholarship. Working as a writing tutor and teaching assistant in the
University Writing Center, she also served as president and founder of
CSULA’s Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children, vice
president of Amnesty International, and treasurer of People for Animal
Care and Kindness (PACK) Club on campus.
• Trenton Lee (Seal Beach), 16, biology major.
Sixteen-year-old Trenton Lee—the youngest graduating senior at Cal State
L.A.—has been accepted to Boston University and American University this
fall. His goal is to become a physician, specializing in the cure of
kidney disease. A Dean’s List student, he has served as a web master and
news editor for the Golden Key honor society on campus. He is also a
member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society, the National Society of
Collegiate Scholars and the Mock Trial Club at CSULA. He was previously
a volunteer at the Rosemead Dialysis Center, and an intern at the
Academia Sinica-Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Taiwan. Under the
direction of CSULA Professor Yong Ba, he has conducted research on the
potential applications of antifreeze proteins through their shapes using
protein spectroscopy and protein labeling. In the community, he has
presented piano and violin performances at local senior centers.
• Sanmit Narvekar (Arcadia), 19, computer
science major with minors in math and physics. Narvekar, who will
graduate summa cum laude, will pursue a Ph.D. in computer science at
University of Texas in Austin this fall. He is a recipient of the 2012
National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship and named
the University’s Computer Science Student of the Year for 2011. At CSULA,
he served as treasurer of the Association for Computing Machinery, vice
president of communication for the Golden Key honor society, and
secretary for the Mock Trial Club. Additionally, he has worked as a
summer intern and held a part-time position at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, working on autonomous remote sensing and telemetry
processing, as well as a summer research intern at the USC Information
Sciences Institute, working on the detection and classification of
activities on Twitter and social media.
• Cristiana Puiu (Santa Clarita), 20, biology
major. Puiu, who plans to gain some job experience during the summer,
will be applying to medical school to pursue a career in genetics. A
Dean’s List student, she has served as secretary of the EEP Club and
president of Amnesty International. In the community, she has
volunteered at the Olive View UCLA Medical Center.
• Daniel Pyon (Montebello), 18, business
administration major with a pre-law option and a minor in economics.
Pyon, who is graduating summa cum laude, was selected for the
University’s Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship for the 2011-12 academic year. He
will pursue a Juris Doctor degree at Harvard Law School starting next
fall. After graduation, he will explore various opportunities, such as
volunteering for an electoral campaign, and working at a courthouse, law
firm, or financial institution. Pyon has also received the Golden Key
Business Achievement Award, the Korean American CPA Society of Southern
California Scholarship, the Youngnak Academic Scholarship, first place
in Pi Sigma Alpha Undergraduate Paper Contest, and “Outstanding
Delegate” at UC Riverside’s 2011 Model United Nations Conference. He
served as vice president for finance for Associated Students, Inc. (ASI),
academic chair of the EEP Club, and chief justice and associate justice
for ASI. Off campus, he has volunteered for LOVE LA: Food for the
Homeless and AWANA (church youth group).
• Ben Saiyasombat (Monterey Park), 18, chemistry
major and psychology minor. Saiyasombat, who plans to apply to medical
school after graduation, has conducted research in CSULA Professor Alison McCurdy’s
chemistry lab, focused on calcium signaling. A Dean’s List student, he
served as treasurer of the Chinese Cultural Club, and treasurer and vice
president of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Club. He is an active member
of the G.E. Honors Club and the Music Appreciation Club on campus.
• John M. Sanchez (Torrance), 19, biology major.
Sanchez, who will be graduating magna cum laude, plans to continue his
research into the development of neuronal circuitry at Caltech under Dr.
Patterson after graduation. He has been involved with ovarian cancer
research with Dr. Dorigo at the UCLA School of Medicine and with
cardiology research with Dr. Budoff at the UCLA School of Medicine. A
Dean’s List student, he served as the College of Natural and Social
Sciences representative for the Associated Students, Inc. (ASI), as
environmental affairs commissioner for ASI, president of Amnesty
International, president of the EEP Club, and vice president of the
Horticulture Club. He is also a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society
and a recipient of the 2010 U-SU Student Involvement Scholarship.
• William Tsai (Arcadia), 18, biochemistry
major. Tsai, who will be graduating magna cum laude, has been accepted
into the Teach for America program to teach in New York City. He plans
to apply medical school to become a doctor in the future. His accolades
include the 2011 Leadership Award of Excellence, the 2011 Student
Appreciation Award, and the 2011 John Spielman Freshman in Chemistry
Scholarship. At CSULA, he has served as chief justice, associate chief
justice, and public relations for the Associated Students, Inc.
elections. He is also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Golden Key honor
societies, G.E. Honors Club, Music Appreciation Club, and the Chemistry
and Biochemistry Club.
• Winston Vuong (Rosemead), 18, biochemistry
major. Vuong, who is graduating magna cum laude, will be applying for a
research post-baccalaureate position at the National Institutes of
Health after graduation. His goal is to become a physician-scientist
with a focus on toxicology. Under the direction of Chemistry Professor
Ray Garcia, he has conducted research on reverse cholesterol transport
metabolism. At CSULA, he has served as vice president for the Chemistry
and Biochemistry Club and the American Medical Student Association. A
recipient of the Rashad Razouk Scholarship, he is also a member of the
Golden Key and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. In the community, he has
volunteered at the California Hospital Medical Center and the California
Mission Inn convalescent home.
• Amy Wat (San Gabriel), 20, mechanical engineering major.
Wat was recently selected as
one of only five undergraduates nationally—and the only CSU student—to
attend the 2012 Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP)
Bridge to the Doctorate International Workshop in Grenoble, France. She
will be graduating cum laude this June.
A recipient of the Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholarship and
the LSAMP Scholarship, she plans to apply for an internship at the U.S.
Department of Energy and Science’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
in the fall. Her goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in materials science with an
emphasis on nacre microstructure and nanofabrication. At CSULA, she is
working as a research assistant in a lab that is focused on studying the
design and development of a microfluidic direct methanol fuel cell using
modified nafion membrane. Additionally, she was a founding member and
president of Association of Student Biomedical Engineers, and a founding
member and vice president of People for Animal Care and Kindness.
• Jaquelyn Yeh (Monterey Park), 18, chemistry
major. Yeh, who is graduating magna cum laude, plans to apply to medical
school after graduation in order to pursue a career as a surgeon. Under
the direction of CSULA’s Biochemistry Professor Vellanoweth, she has
conducted research on preventing senescence of arabidopsis thaliana. She
is a member of the Golden Key and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. At
CSULA, she has served as vice president for the G.E. Honors Club,
president and social chair for the EEP Club, secretary and vice
president of the Music Appreciation Club, and vice president of
Humanitarian on Campus. She has also volunteered for outreach events,
such as the Sally Ride Festival and the Terrific Scientific.
***Details on Adam Bess, Samuel Chen, James Norwood, Seth
Nunez, and Caitlyn York were unavailable at press time.
----------------
EEP Graduate Student:
Constance Jiang (Orange), 20, computer science major.
Jiang, who earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science at CSULA,
will be promoted to a full-time employee at Internet Brands upon
graduation. A Dean’s List student, she was vice president and president
of CSULA cospLAy club; webmaster, events coordinator and president of
PACK; the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology
Representative for the Associated Students, Inc.; vice president for
computer science for the ECST Student Council; and secretary for the
Association for Computer Machinery. A member of the Golden Key and Phi
Kappa Phi honor societies, she has also participated in the ProgFest and
Loebner Prize Competition.
# # #
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CSULA’s Class of 2012
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