Avril Rincon has been selected by the Department of Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology as the 2021-2022 Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship recipient.
July 19, 2022
Congratulations, Avril! This award is made possible by the generosity of donors to the Division of Life Sciences. When MCDB graduate Kristen Hanson passed away in 2012, her friends Courtney Cochran, Sarah Wagman Ellenbogen and Jennifer Cohen Bogan raised $25,000 to dedicate a bench at the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden in her honor. That experience inspired further philanthropy, and the group then raised $100,000 to endow the Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship, which further extended Hanson’s legacy by awarding a scholarship to a Life Sciences student each year, chosen by a committee of faculty and donors. This award honors a female undergraduate who exemplifies the positive traits that Kristen embodied, which include not only academic accomplishment and a passion for science, but also well-rounded interests, leadership, originality and commitment to engage with the world. Avril Rincon exemplifies the well-rounded and community-minded student that the Kristen Hanson award seeks to recognize. Avril is a junior majoring in Human Biology and Society, and minoring in Chicano Studies. She conducts research in Professor Alvaro Sagasti’s lab. She is in the PEERS program and is interested in pursuing a research career. Her interests outside of the lab include hiking and tennis. She also volunteers with her church, which includes teaching Sunday school, preparing food baskets for the needy, and advocating for public health initiatives. To donate to the Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship, please visit this link: https://giving.ucla.edu/Standard/NetDonate.aspx?SiteNum=319 Previous Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship recipients:
Zoe Ge
Daniela Wong
Laila Sathe
Pagé Goddard
Esmeralda Isabel Villavicencio González