Now one step closer to pursuing her ambitions, the thesis student at New College of Florida has earned a Fulbright award to study epidemiology in Peru. Mejia will conduct research at the Sede Cusco Tropical Medicine Institute at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia for one year, beginning in mid-August. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia is one of the top medical schools in Peru, and one of the major producers and publishers of scientific research in the country.

“A Fulbright year in Peru will enable me to continue studying neglected tropical diseases directly under the guidance of experts in the field,” said Mejia, who is studying international and area studies (with a focus on global health) and will graduate on May 20. “While expanding my professional experiences, I will further develop my Spanish-language skills, engage with community members, and learn more about Andean Peruvian culture.”

The Sede Cusco program focuses on epidemiological, clinical and translational research of neglected tropical diseases, specifically Fasciola hepatica (a parasitic infection that affects the liver). While researching this disease in Cusco’s rural communities, Mejia will use existing databases to perform a geographic information system (GIS) analysis of the spatial distribution of fascioliasis.

“I am convinced that Rosemary’s proposal to integrate GIS and epidemiology in Cusco, and involvement in our clinical trial study, will significantly impact her career and boost her interest in global health and equity,” said Miguel M. Cabada, M.D., the director of the Sede Cusco program, who will be advising Mejia. “I look forward to having Rosemary join our program as a Fulbright scholar. I am sure her stay will be productive and successful.”

The community at New College could not be prouder of Mejia’s accomplishment. Duane Smith, Ph.D., the assistant director of prestigious fellowships for the Center for Career Engagement and Opportunity (CEO), was instrumental in helping Mejia apply for the Fulbright award. So were the student writing assistants at the Writing Resource Center.

“Not only has Rosemary proposed a project that seeks to support an important public health initiative in Peru,” Smith said, “but it will also—without a doubt—make a valuable contribution to her future aspirations to play a significant role in addressing global health issues.”

Suzanne Sherman, Ph.D.— the provost and vice president for academic affairs, and an associate professor of chemistry at New College—has been inspired by Mejia ever since she read her admissions entrance essay.

“I recall her essay as an extraordinarily-written narrative by a high school student who clearly loved to learn and was not afraid to take on difficult subjects [like genetics],” said Sherman, who advised Mejia for four years. “At New College, Rosemary developed her scientific skills, and then began applying those skills to her interests in international studies and global health. Rosemary is so-well prepared for this Fulbright scholarship, and I know that she will build on the opportunity to make important future contributions in the global arena.”

Mariam Manzur Leiva—a Spanish instructor, TA program supervisor, interim instructional designer, and quality matters liaison at New College—has worked directly with Mejia to develop her Spanish-language skills.

“As a Fulbrighter myself, I normally try to share with students my own experience and provide them with perspectives in regards to the role they are expected to have in the host community as scholars and cultural ambassadors,” Leiva said. “In this role, proficiency in the target language goes hand-in-hand with cultural awareness. Both elements become essential to function effectively in the target culture.”

Leiva particularly admired Mejia’s passion for helping others—especially children—and how she was able to communicate that passion in both English and Spanish.

“Rosemary not only showed her knowledge and experience in the field of epidemiology, but she was also able to share her passion to effectively address health disparities,” Leiva said. “I am certain that this Fulbright program will be a life-changing opportunity for her and for the Peruvian community she will be part of.”

Sponsored by the United States Department of State, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program inspires scholars to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide. The program awards about 2,000 grants annually in all fields of study and operates in more than 140 countries. Approximately $25,000 in support is offered per award, which covers travel, health insurance and a stipend (based on the cost of living in the host country).

Since 1968, a total of 87 New College students have received Fulbright awards. The top years for Fulbright recipients at New College were 2009 (with eight students), 2010 (with seven) and 2011 (with eight).

“This Fulbright is a life-changing opportunity to work with Dr. Cabada and it fits perfectly with my future intentions. It will be a major stepping stone in my development of becoming a more empathetic, engaged global citizen,” Mejia said. “Upon completing my time in Peru, I will apply my experiences and skills learned in Cusco to a global health graduate program, and continue working towards supporting marginalized communities’ access to equitable medical care.”

For now, Mejia is finishing her senior thesis, How Universal is Universal? A Comparative Study of Refugee Access to Health Care in France and Germany, which is sponsored by Professor of Political Science Barbara Hicks, Ph.D. Mejia is comparing the universal healthcare systems of France and Germany, and how asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants access medical care.

During her time at New College, Mejia has embarked on numerous research projects. She was a systematic review research assistant—collecting, consolidating and analyzing nearly 5,000 academic journal abstracts under the guidance of New College Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Kristopher Fennie, Ph.D.

Mejia was a research intern for Stocking Savvy Environmental Consulting—where she introduced threatened and endangered native plants into Florida’s environment (from seed germination to habitat restoration).

She has also worked as a genetic research intern for the University of Iowa Institute of Human Genetics—assisting with data collection and academic research on glaucoma and Bardet-Biedl Syndrome. During her first Independent Student Project (ISP), she also conducted research under the guidance of Professor of Biology Tiffany Doan, Ph.D.—identifying and recording the historical prevalence of malaria parasites in Florida anoles.

Originally from Crystal Lake, Illinois, Mejia is a graduate of Crystal Lake Central High School. She is a Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Illinois State Scholar as well as a New College of Florida Presidential Scholar.

Mejia chose to attend New College during her undergraduate years because of its small size, personalized education, faculty-student collaboration, and focus on narrative evaluations rather than traditional grades.

“Ever since my first visit to New College as a prospective student, I have enjoyed how students are truly invested in the courses they are taking and the respectful curiosity we have as a community to gain an understanding of one another,” Mejia said. “What really enamored me with New College is that students are not in competition with each other or solely focused on their GPA, but they are dedicated to learning the material and are constantly encouraged to focus on personal growth and development.”

Mejia has also been impressed by the number of Fulbright scholars New College has produced.

“Knowing New College has a wonderful track record of preparing students for their future is one thing, but consistently witnessing my friends and peers achieve these life-changing opportunities (like Fulbright, Princeton in Asia, and attending exceptional graduate programs) makes the reality of our futures truly tangible,” Mejia said. “During my first year, I distinctly remember when Miles Iton was selected as a Fulbright research finalist for Taiwan in 2018. Seeing a fellow student of color, who I still greatly admire, be awarded one of the most internationally-recognized and prestigious scholarships in the world was extremely impactful for me. Representation matters. I am extremely humbled to be a Fulbright finalist and continue our legacy at New College. I hope I too inspire my peers to pursue their aspirations.”

The foundation Mejia has built at New College has enabled her to pursue her upcoming research opportunity in Peru. Mejia is pleased that the Fulbright year will help her connect to the indigenous Peruvian peoples’ culture and expand her Spanish-speaking skills. Overall, Mejia knows the experience will help her help others, which is ultimately her true purpose and passion.

“Your health, my health and our neighbor’s health means everything. We are all vulnerable. We are all at risk. Some of us suffer disproportionately more than others. No one is safe in this world unless we all are safe, as we have so clearly seen with the coronavirus pandemic,” Mejia said. “Health equity is critically important. It is not justifiable, nor right, to overlook health disparities when we—as a global community—have the means to address systemic inequalities that can save people’s lives. Everyone, no matter their background, is equally worthy and equally deserving of their right to health. This experience in Peru will further facilitate and promote my growth into a more compassionate listener and allow me to support others where help is needed.”

For more information on the Fulbright program, visit us.fulbrightonline.org.

To learn more about scholarship guidance from Smith at the CEO, visit ncf.edu/ceo.

To make an appointment with the Writing Resource Center, visit ncf.mywconline.com.

Abby Weingarten is the senior editor in the Office of Communications & Marketing.

With New College as his launching pad, thesis student Joshua Ingram’s out-of-this-world research is now gaining national momentum.

He just earned second place in a major project competition for his analysis of solar flares. He is interning at some of the world’s most prestigious scientific institutions. And his academic discoveries are graduate-research-level groundbreaking.

“Using observations made by the GOES satellites operated by NASA and the NOAA, I studied how often solar flares occur throughout the 11-year solar cycles and within different active regions in the solar corona. Astrophysicists typically model the way in which these flares occur using some form of a random Poisson process model, but the results of my statistical analysis challenge its validity,” said Ingram, who is studying statistics and applied mathematics, and is the co-president of the Astronomy Club. “I showed that some of the fundamental assumptions made when utilizing this modeling approach are broken, gave an explanation of what might be going on, and presented several questions that must be investigated to better understand how solar flares occur.”

To the layman, Ingram’s research may seem like a lot to comprehend. And that’s because it is. But Ingram finds a way to make it universally accessible. Ingram is the type of scholar who merges magical wonderment (a fascination with the sky and the stars) with incredibly hard work (putting his pedantic pen to paper with rock-solid facts and compelling arguments).

His latest award-winning research project (a portion of his undergraduate thesis, which he defended during his third year), is entitled, On the Generative Process of Solar Flares: Non-Poisson Behavior, and it exemplifies Ingram’s scholarly prowess.

The judges of the recent Spring 2021 Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition (USPC)—an event for undergraduate statistics and data science students, sponsored by the American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Consortium for Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE)—took notice and awarded him with second place.

“This event was very competitive, from my understanding, with a considerable amount of submissions from undergraduate students from universities all around the United States,” Ingram said. “It’s really uplifting to see my work recognized at this scale, even though I’m just an undergraduate student.”

New College Professor of Statistics Bernhard Klingenberg, Ph.D., Ingram’s faculty sponsor, encouraged him to compete. Submissions that were understandable to readers who were not necessarily statistics experts were especially favored by the judges. Ingram has spent plenty of time inside and outside of the New College classroom, honing his writing and researching skills.

He is currently a research intern at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics  (through December 2021) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center Astrophysics Science Division (through May 2022). Ingram has also interned with the NASA Hubble Space Telescope Team at Goddard. All of these experiences contributed the foundation of his New College thesis research.

“A lot of my thesis work originated from research on solar flares I started as an intern in an REU [research experience for undergraduates] during the summer of 2020 at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,” Ingram said. “I modeled the waiting times and counts of flares across solar cycles, and within active regions, using a Poisson process model. I also developed a statistical model that fits a discounted power-law to the observed distribution of solar flare total energy releases. I tested the performance of my model using simulations and even conducted a power analysis of several goodness of fit tests I utilized in my work.”

Professor of Mathematics Necmettin Yildirim, Ph.D. served on Ingram’s thesis committee in May and continues to champion his research.

“Josh’s thesis work constitutes interdisciplinary cutting-edge research, which is a nice blend of statistics, mathematics and astronomy,” Yildirim said. “His national accomplishment [in the USPC] is the fruit of hard work and the endless dedication of Josh in doing interdisciplinary research, which may often be challenging. I can say that, without doubt, bright futures are ahead of him.”

Ingram’s opportunities at New College have been integral to his success, he said.

“All of my professors have been nothing but supportive of my efforts. They have encouraged me to push myself in my academics and have influenced me to be very inquisitive and skeptical about our data-driven world,” Ingram said. “Without their support, I definitely would not have gone as far as I have, academically and in my research, especially during the past year or so during the pandemic. They’ve impacted the way that I think, approach problems, and learn about new topics, even when I’m not sure I have what it takes at first.”

On top of that support, Ingram is also earning his bachelor’s degree debt-free due to New College’s affordable in-state tuition and fees, and he is the first person in his family to earn a degree.

“In addition to its affordability, New College has amazing STEM programs and so many professors excited to help students succeed. Because of our low student-faculty ratio, I’ve been able to develop lasting relationships with amazing professors and staff members. I have several mentors that push me to fulfill my potential and support me in achieving my goals in research, resulting in invaluable research experiences at Harvard and NASA,” Ingram said. “I believe going to New College was one of the best decisions I’ve made. New College is the school to go to if you’re willing to be an independent thinker, are self-driven and like to make things happen. Now I’m working towards my dream to go to graduate school and dedicate my life to research.”

Abby Weingarten is the senior editor in the Office of Communications & Marketing.