CSULA PEEPs

CSULA EEP graduates - 2008-2010



2010 EEP grads
2010 CSULA EEP graduates. Also see CSULA article here for more information on each graduate, specifically campus and community involvement.
  • Jennifer Chen (Walnut), 19, biology major. Chen plans to work in a UCLA research lab starting in June, before applying to medical school to pursue an M.D. degree.
  • Shauna Cheng (Arcadia), 19, biochemistry major and art minor. Chen, who would like to become a neurologist, will be heading to Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago this coming August. A recipient of the Organic Chemist Award, she has studied the effects of gastrulating on gene expression with Biology Professor Robert Nissen and has conducted research in Psychology Professor Alicia Izquierdo's Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience.
  • Anita Dhanvanthari (Agoura Hills), 19, philosophy (pre-law) major. Dhanvanthari hopes to find a job in a law firm after Commencement before applying to graduate school and pursuing a career in the law field. She received the University Involvement Award and was named the G.E. Honors Club Member of the Year.
  • Sonya Dhanvanthari (Agoura Hills), 19, biochemistry major and mathematics minor. With experience volunteering at the Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital, Dhanvanthari will be studying to become a doctor at Rosalind Franklin University Chicago Medical School in the fall. She is a recipient of the G.E. Honors Scholarship and the Anthony J. Andreoli Scholarship in Biochemistry.
  • Katherine Donahoe (Rowland Heights),19. Katharine was an active community volunteer that included, work at the Santiago Canyon College Citizenship Program. Katherine was commended by the ASI and the Associated Students Finance Committee for outstanding service in 2006-2007. Katherine who completed research with Dr. Tunstad (CSLA) and Dr. Pikov ( HMRI) in organic chemistry will begin doctoral studies at Washington State in the fall.
  • Bernardo Francisco Ferreiro Hernandez (West Covina), 19, chemistry major and mathematics minor. Hernandez has been admitted this fall to the Chemistry and Biochemistry Ph.D. Program at the University of California, San Diego, with full tuition coverage and stipend. He hopes to pursue a career in organic synthesis research. A recipient of the MARC-U*STAR Fellowship, he conducted research in a chemistry lab with Professor Alison McCurdy.
  • Millie Grimes (La Crescenta), 18, biology major. Grimes will be applying to veterinary school after graduation. As part of Chemistry Professor Wayne Tikkanen's research team, she worked in synthesizing moisture sensitive compounds that are precursors to a chiral Lewis acid catalyst, which is relevant to the pharmaceutical industry.
  • Alexandria Huynh (Torrance), 17, biology major. 17-year-old Alexandria Huynh -- the youngest graduating senior at Cal State L.A. -- was admitted to Harvard University's Ph.D. immunology program with full funding and an additional stipend (see additional article here). She hopes to pursue a career in biomedical research with clinical applications. As part of Edith Porter's research team at Cal State L.A., Huynh focused on how intestinal cells in mice respond to Salmonella enteric serovar Typhimurium, a bacterium that is a leading cause of gastroenteritis in humans. Recipient of the Kinecta Federal Credit Union Scholarship, she was recently named the winner of Cal State L.A.'s Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Senior Award.
  • Charissa Kim (Arcadia), 18, biology major. In the fall, Kim will start graduate school at Cambridge University's neuroscience program in the U.K. She has been a member of Professor Alicia Izquierdo's psychology lab since the age of 15. Kim was one of 10 students selected to represent Cal State L.A. in the statewide 2010 CSU Student Research Competition. Her award-winning presentation was titled "Effects of Pretraining Lesions of the Amygdala on Effortful Behavior in Rats." She also won the Chemistry Departmental Award for Excellence in general chemistry, conducting research in a chemistry lab as well as in a psychology lab.
  • James Lee (Arcadia), 18, biology major. Lee, who hopes to become a professor of genetics, will be working Professor Hyunsook Park's research lab before applying a Ph.D. program in molecular genetics. He has currently conducted research on the molecular genetics of the fungus Candida albicans using advanced cellular biology and biochemical techniques. He is a recipient of the Howell Foundation and CSUPERB Undergraduate Research Scholarship and G.E. Honors Award.
  • Rebecca Lee (North Hollywood), 20, electrical engineering major. Cheng will be going to graduate school at USC in the fall, in order to pursue her career goal of becoming a research and development engineer for nanoelectronic devices. She has conducted research in the CSULA Biomedical Engineering Research Lab, the NASA SPACE Laboratory at Cal State L.A., and the Center for Nanoscale Systems at Cornell University.
  • Michael Letivin (Laguna Niguel), 17, business administration-finance major and mathematics/economics minor. Letivin will be going to The Robert Day School at Claremont McKenna College to pursue a master's degree in finance in the fall. He hopes to pursue a career in investment management.
  • Sudipta Mohanty (Rancho Cucamonga), 20, biology major. Hoping to apply his volunteer experience at Pomona Valley Hospital and Central Avenue Urgent Care, Mohanty has applied to graduate schools to pursue a career in medicine. He is a recipient of the Golden Eagle Award of Excellence and the David Cameron Fischer Memorial Fellowship.
  • Lara Roizen (Los Angeles), 19, English major. Roizen will be heading to Dartmouth University to pursue a M.A. in comparative literature, specifically focusing on French and Russian.
  • David Segall (Beverly Hills), 19, economics and finance major; math minor; magna cum laude. Segall plans to enjoy classes at the London School of Economics this summer before studying for the GRE and applying for an economics doctoral program. He hopes to become a university professor.
  • Haley Stepp (Pasadena), 17, psychology major and English minor. Stepp will take a year off to conduct research, and then apply to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She has conducted research in Psychology Professor Alicia Izquierdo's Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and was a teacher's assistant for Psychology Professor Henry Schlinger's PSY 421 class.
  • Jennifer Shitanishi (North Hollywood), 20, physics major. Shitanishi will be heading to USC Graduate School to pursue a Ph.D. in physics in the fall. She is a recipient of the Ted C. Bradbury Award in Theoretical Physics and John Spielman Award in Freshman Chemistry. She has conducted research for the CSULA Consortium for Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE), Scientific Visualization Lab (SciV!i) at Cal State L.A., and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Charlottesville, VA.
  • Claire Weinan (Torrance), 20, electrical engineering major; mathematics minor. Weinan, interned at the Aerospace Corporation for a summer, is now heading to Stanford University to pursue a master's degree in electrical engineering. She was a member of Cal State L.A.'s Cross Country and Track and Field team, having garnered the All-CCAA Academic Award, CSULA Athletics Department Academic Achievement Award, the CSULA Cross Country and Track Outstanding GPA honor, CSULA Golden Eagle Award of Excellence, and James M. Rosser Endowed Scholarship.
  • Details on David Ballardo, Julian Bouzanquet, Fiona Cochran, Matthew Goldin, Jake Pacheco, and Aditya Mohanty were unavailable at press time.

Additional articles:
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - "Three San Gabriel Valley Teens graduate from Cal State L.A. with bachelor's degrees" - click here
Beverly Hills Courier - "Local Teenager Graduates College" - click here
India-West National-U.S. - "Twin Sisters and Brothers Among Early Cal State LA Grads" - click here
South Bay School Notebook - "Torrance teen heads to Harvard med school for doctorate" - click here; also articles in Daily Breeze; Creaders News; Sina Daily News; Sing Tao Daily.
Sing Tao Daily - "Early Entrance Program grads featured: Jennifer Chen and Shauna Chen" - click here


2009 EEP grads
2009 CSULA EEP Graduates. 22 EEPsters graduated in June, 2009, and 13 of them graduated with honors! That is, their GPAs were in the top 5% of all CSULA graduates. For more details on the graduates, visit CSULA article.
  • Lubabah Ben-Ghaly, 19, biology major, cum laude, will work as a laboratory assistant before graduate school.
  • Jennifer Chemel, 20, economics major with math and political science minors, magna cum laude. Chemel, who plans a career in law in the future, will first spend a year in Israel. Chemel was President of ASI and gave the graduation address.
  • Angela Chen, 18, telecommunications and film major, summa cum laude. Chen, who plans to become a filmmaker and professor, will apply to graduate school this winter.
  • Roy Cheng, 19, psychology major. Cheng, currently applying to graduate school, was a research assistant for Professor Kaveri Subrahmanyam in the Media and Language Laboratory.
  • Theresa Cheng, 19, philosophy and biology majors, summa cum laude. Cheng will soon be teaching 9th grade biology through Teach for America, a program that trains top students to teach in poor communities. Recipient of a 2009 James Bright Wilson Award.
  • Alexander Connelly, 19, biochemistry major with management minor. Connelly has applied to medical school to pursue his goal of becoming a cardiologist.
  • Christine Do, 18, biology major with math minor. Do is applying to a master's program before heading to medical school.
  • Steven Gee, 19, biochemistry major. Gee will attend UC San Francisco's neuroscience Ph.D. program, was also accepted to UCLA, UC Irvine and Yale. At CSULA, he conducted research with Professors Nickolaisen and Xu.
  • Maggie Herskowitz, 18, psychology major, cum laude. Herskowitz, whose goal is to become a theatre actress, will attend the Boston Conservatory of Music as a musical theater major this fall, as well as studying at Berklee College of Music.
  • Andrea Kulier article, 17, physics and mathematics major, summa cum laude. Kulier, at 17 the youngest graduating senior, will be at Princeton's astrophysical sciences department with paid tuition and $33,000 fellowship. She was also accepted to Ph.D. programs at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, Harvard, UC Santa Cruz, Caltech, and the University of Chicago. See ABC Cool Kid newsclip.
  • Margaret Lee, 19, biology major. Lee will be applying to graduate school in genetic counseling.
  • David Nagy, 19, philosophy major, magna cum laude. Nagy plans a joint JD/Ph.D. in philosophy, and will enter IUC-Yokohama for Japanese Language Studies. He is the founding president of the CSULA Mock Trial Club, and is a recipient of the Philosophy Department's James Bright Wilson Award.
  • Nika Nourmohammadi, 18, communication studies major. Nourmohammadi, will pursue a master's degree in communication studies at Johns Hopkins University. Founder of the CospLAy student organization, she also served as president for Lambda Pi Eta, Eagle Eye Public Relations Club, The RhetOracles, and People for Animal Care and Kindness.
  • Zeeshan Ott, 17, social work major, cum laude. Ott will attend Columbia University's social work master's program, with plans to pursue a law degree and work with children and families.
  • Swapneel Patel, 18, biochemistry and physics major, cum laude. Patel, who aspires to become a physician or scientist, studied molecular biology with Professor Vellanoweth.
  • Sharon Ready, 20, electrical engineering major with mathematics minor. Ready, who plans to apply to graduate school, developed a see-through stucco stud detector as part of a senior design project sponsored by DirecTV.
  • Lea Richardson, 20, biology major, summa cum laude. Richardson, who plans to apply to graduate school, was named Organic Chemistry Student of the Year in 2007.
  • Stephanie Sung, 20, biochemistry major with political science minor. Sung, who would like to become a health ambassador, will be working as a marketing consultant for the nutraMetrix program for doctors.
  • Claire Weinan, 19, electrical engineering major with mathematics minor, magna cum laude. Weinan, who plans to apply to graduate school this fall, is interning at the Aerospace Corporation. She served as president of the Engineering, Computer Science, Technology Student Council. She garnered the All-CCAA and CSULA Athletics Academic Achievement Awards, CSULA Golden Eagle Award of Excellence, James M. Rosser Endowed Scholarship.
  • Debbie Yen, 17, biology major, magna cum laude. Yen, who will be heading to UC Berkeley in the fall, was also accepted to graduate programs in Boston University, Emory, Georgetown, University of Notre Dame, UCLA, University of Texas, and the College of William and Mary. She conducted research in Professor Nissen's genetics lab.
  • Details on Alex Stevens were unavailable at press time.


2008 EEP grads
2008 CSULA EEP Graduates. For more details on the graduates, visit CSULA article.
  • Kevork Abrahamian (Pasadena), 19, biology major. Abrahamian, who conducted research on plasma lipo proteins in Professor Ray Garcia's lab at Cal State L.A., plans to apply to medical school to pursue his goal of becoming a physician.
  • Alezandra Brady-Villagran (Arcadia), 20, political science major. Brady-Villagran, whose interest is in global politics, will apply to graduate school this fall.
  • Leslie Cain (Los Angeles), 18, philosophy major. With aspirations to become a musician or art dealer, Cain will attend the Manhattan School of Music in the fall. An award-winning pianist, she was also accepted to Oberlin Conservatory of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She was recognized as an "Outstanding Undergraduate in Philosophy" by the CSULA College of Arts and Letters.
  • Jennifer Chau (Hacienda Heights), 20, biology major. Chau, who volunteered at Arcadia Methodist Hospital and worked as a research intern at the City of Hope, plans to apply to dentistry school.
  • Jennifer Chemel (Woodland Hills), 19, economics; minors in mathematics and political science. Chemel will apply to law school to pursue her goal of becoming a lawyer.
  • Samantha Hsu (Arcadia/Monrovia), 20, electrical engineering major. Hsu plans to apply to law school to become a lawyer.
  • Amanda Jancu (Monrovia), 19, English major; physics minor. Jancu, whose goal is to become a lawyer, will attend the UC Hastings College of the Law this fall. She was also accepted to Loyola Law School, and was the receipient of the General Education Honors Scholarship
  • Shari Kensley (Los Angeles), 20, communication studies major. Kensley plans to attend Pepperdine University to pursue a graduate degree. Her goal is to start and run her own non-profit organization that works to educate the public at a grassroots level on relevant public policy issues.
  • Jaimisyn Kopilec (Glendora), 20, biology major. Kopilec, who volunteered at the Los Angeles County-USC County Hospital, is applying to medical school.
  • Danielle Krasner (Malibu), 16, biochemistry major. Krasner will attend Yale University this fall to pursue her goal of becoming a research scientist. Admitted to Yale Ph.D. program in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, she was also accepted to Ph.D. programs at University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California and University of California, Davis. (article, article)
  • Christopher Lam (Monterey Park), 20, biochemistry major. Lam, who volunteered at the Garfield Medical Center and the Los Angeles County-USC County Hospital, plans to apply to medical school. He conducted research under the direction of CSULA Professor Howard Xu in gene cloning and protein expression/isolation.
  • Sonia Levitin (Laguna Niguel), 18, English major; finance minor. Levitin plans to apply to law school this fall to pursue her goal of becoming a lawyer.
  • Alegra Lustig (Pasadena), 19, liberal studies major. With interest in photography, Lustig is planning to apply to graduate schools at Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland; University of Westminster, England; London College of Communication; UC Berkeley School of Journalism; and Spéos (Paris Photographic Institute).
  • Jmar Montgomery (Fontana), 19, mechanical engineering major. After graduation, Montgomery plans to pursue a career as a fighter pilot.
  • Cory "Frosty" O'Brien (Highland Park), 18, English major. O'Brien, who will apply to graduate school this fall, plans to pursue a career as a writer or inventor.
  • Edwin Peng (Monterey Park), 18, mechanical engineering major. Peng, who will attend North Carolina State University, plans to work as a professional engineer.
  • Spencer Perreault (Seal Beach), 17, computer science major. Perreault, who will be attending Cornell University this fall, was also accepted to graduate schools at Yale University, Georgia Tech and USC. He was recently honored as the "Outstanding Graduating Senior" by CSULA's Computer Science department. With a desire to become a computer game developer, he was working as a Microsoft Student Partner, a program that helps students develop real-world skills to succeed in future careers in technology and/or marketing.
  • E. Travis Rust (Los Angeles), 19, psychology major. Rust plans to apply to graduate school to pursue his goal of becoming a professor.
  • Claire Schulkey (Glendale), 21, applied mathematics major. Schulkey will be attending Washington University this fall to pursue her goal of becoming a research scientist. She was also accepted to the graduate program at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is a recipient of the Charles Clark scholarship.
  • Marc Shutman (Monrovia), 18, philosophy major. Shutman plans to apply to law school and become a lawyer.
  • Natasha Spottiswoode (Beverly Hills), 18, biology major, magna cum laude. Spottiswoode plans to take a year off before applying to Cornell University or UC Davis to pursue a career as a veterinarian. She studied the effects of adenosine on neurons during their development using confocal microscopy and video analysis in the Andrew Charles laboratory of UCLA.
    Update (2010): NIH-Oxford Scholar Degrees: Natasha is now studying for a M.Sc in Integrative Bio-Science in 2010 from the University of Oxford, with an interest in applying an improved understanding of genetics to problems with health relevance. Currently, she is finishing her first Master's project in the Hal Drakesmith lab on the putative links between viral infection and iron metabolism control. (article)
  • Michael Tecson (Baldwin Park), 19, anthropology major. Tecson is a recipient of a Golden Eagle Award of Excellence, and plans to pursue a graduate degree in his respective field.
  • Adekumbi Williams (Los Angeles), 19, biochemistry major. Williams plans to apply to medical school.


Also available: 2005-2007 graduate information -- click here

Contact PEEP by email or phone (323/906-0300)
or contact Rich Maddox at EEP by email or phone (323/343-2287)