GE cluster students have research posters placed in Powell
Second-year English student Gloria Gallardo, left, and second-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student Brianna Backman were among a group of students who created research posters focusing on health, poverty and social justice issues.
By Kendal Mitchell
Oct. 15, 2013 12:38 a.m.
The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.
Powell Library recently hung research posters made by students in the UCLA Blum Center’s Poverty and Health in Latin America cluster as a way to showcase the students’ work.
The research posters chronicle topics ranging from water sanitation in rural El Salvador to female homicides in Ciudad Juarez, combining health, poverty and social justice issues.
The topics were taken from the curriculum of the freshman cluster, which focused on health issues and socioeconomics in Latin America.
Some students in the cluster’s inaugural class last year took their coursework and applied it to health-related internships in Los Angeles and Latin America last summer.
Gilberto Mercado, a second year microbiology student enrolled in the class last year, said he enjoyed the course because it highlighted issues that were otherwise overlooked.
About 90 students researched a specific Latin American country’s health concern and compiled information about the potential ways to improve the program. Nine students within the cluster presented their work at the Blum Center’s spring symposium last May.
Professor Michael Rodriguez, director of the UCLA Blum Center, said the center asked Powell to display the posters because it wanted to reach out to different entities on campus and highlight the students’ work.
“We wanted the exhibit to inspire other students,” Rodriguez said.
The UCLA Blum Center works collaboratively with Latin American institutions to study economic inequalities and their influences on health. It also works with students to help set up internship opportunities in the Los Angeles area that address health problems affecting the Hispanic community. Students from the General Education cluster interned for the Blum Center at community organizations including St. John’s Well Child and Family Center in South Central Los Angeles.
Rodriguez said the General Education cluster that led to the research posters fills most students’ social science course requirements. He added that he structured the cluster in that way to attract pre-health majors.
“I want to start students early to inform them about potential (health) careers,” he said.
Brianna Bockman, a second-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, said she chose to enroll in the cluster after spending time on a medical mission trip to Guatemala.
“(I wanted to understand) what about poverty creates health issues and its cyclical effect on communities,” Bockman said.
Rodriguez said he hoped that the course would show students potential paths that can create health changes on a global scale, either through field work or direct interactions with politicians.
Jessica Aguilera, a second-year math/applied science student, said she originally took the class to satisfy a majority of her General Education requirements.
After learning about social and legal issues attributed to poverty and health in the cluster seminar, she decided to work on a research project in the psychology department this year. Aguilera said she aims to study early childhood development of first and second generation Hispanic children from lower income backgrounds.
“(The cluster) brought to light the social determinants of health,” Aguilera said. “(Health problems are) deeper and more complicated than that.”
Correction: Brianna Bockman’s name was misspelled.
