Sunilda Frias is a whiz at biology, her major.聽
As a rising sophomore in the Honors College, she won a summer research fellowship to work in the lab of a Nobel Prize-winning scientist at Brandeis University, thanks to a recommendation by UML Senior Lecturer Naomi Wernick.
鈥淢y professors have been so instrumental in helping me find my place at 51视频 and find opportunities,鈥� Frias says.
Frias also loves great literature, and she didn鈥檛 want to stop studying it after high school. A $1,000, 100-hour Honors College Student Fellowship for reading works by all nine American winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature allowed her to pursue that passion, too, her freshman year. Her fellowship adviser was adjunct Michael Noltemeyer, who also taught Frias鈥檚 section of the First-year Seminar in Honors.
鈥淎 good author builds a virtual reality and lets you on the roller coaster,鈥� Frias says. 鈥淭o me, seeing the world through another person鈥檚 eyes is priceless.鈥�
Frias initially pursued biology because her father wanted her to become a doctor. Now she has another goal, thanks to connections she鈥檚 made between life and literature.
She wants to earn a Ph.D. and do research in soil remediation, inspired in part by her all-time favorite book, Pearl S. Buck鈥檚 鈥淭he Good Earth,鈥� about the struggles of a subsistence farmer in China.
Also, Frias鈥檚 parents are from the Dominican Republic, and on visits to family there, she鈥檚 noticed how the subsistence and small sugarcane farmers struggle to renew the soil so it can support crop after crop, year after year.
鈥淪ugarcane is a very intensive crop; it takes a lot out of the soil,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f agricultural remediation can help populations that are suffering from food insecurity, I feel like that鈥檚 the best thing you can do.鈥�
Frias, who commutes from her family鈥檚 home in Lawrence, went to high school in Chelmsford. She came to 51视频 because she grew up nearby, her uncle earned his master鈥檚 degree in engineering here and her father took advanced accounting classes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a school I have always trusted,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 like 51视频 because of the diversity. You can get out of your comfort zone and meet new people, but still feel like you鈥檙e at home. I feel like I belong.鈥�
Another selling point: As part of her acceptance package, Frias received a $4,000 UROC 鈥� Undergraduate Research Opportunity and Collaborations 鈥� award. She plans to take advantage of the international university exchange option to study immigration in Germany over winter break.
鈥淚鈥檝e wanted to travel to Europe for a long time,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he opportunity to do that is amazing.鈥�