Legacy of Academic Leadership
Karina Quevedo followed a family tradition in coming to Santa Monica College. Her grandfather was a Spanish professor for 39 years at SMC, and her father is in his 20th year in the Math Department. Karina, however, is forging her own path, pursuing a future in scientific research.
She wanted to become a physician, but courses such as Science 10, Principles and Practice of Scientific Research, showed her she could have an even wider impact as a researcher. “Even after you’ve done your own project, the work it leads to keeps going,” she noted. She hopes to see doctors apply her research discoveries to patient care.
Her journey’s next step will be conducting epigenetic research as an intern at the UCLA laboratory of renowned biophysicist Matteo Pellegrini. “It was my top lab pick,” she said.
Karina is as dedicated to others’ academic success as she is to her own. She tutored students at SMC through the Science Research Initiative. She also mentored middle school students through the Emily Shane Foundation and SMC’s Sister to Sister program, a partnership of the Adelante and Black Collegians programs. “I became a tutor,” she said, “to help people with things that I struggled with when I was taking chemistry or biology.”
Karina admits her career could continue her family’s legacy of service at SMC. She appreciates SMC’s “environment of students coming first. Whatever goal we have, the faculty and staff are going to do anything they can to help us reach it.”
Karina graduates with an Associate degree in General Science. She has been accepted at several UC campuses and at CSU East Bay, and is deciding where to transfer.
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