Senior Alondra Vega's research with biology professor Kam Dahlquist and math professor Ben Fitzpatrick consists of mathematically modeling the expression of genes in yeast during the environmental stress of cold shock.

"We'd chill cells and see how they react at, say, 13 degrees Celsius," Vega explained. "From there we'd build a network of genes - called transcription factors - that we'd see would have an effect on the cell."

That may sound like scientific jargon gone wild to an outsider, but Vega knows what she's doing.

Vega, a native of the Los Angeles area, will walk the stage in May with a degree in biomath, a small program in the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) that applies mathematical concepts to biological questions. And while she said the research she did with Dahlquist and Fitzpatrick was "a lot of hard work, but really rewarding," she decided she wanted to go in a different direction.

"I want to help people," Vega said. "And I know research is very important, but the wet lab is not my kind of research. I want to do more talking to people, communicating with communities. Since I come from one of those communities, those low socioeconomic communities, I feel like I can bring a lot to those types of programs."

That's why Vega is in the midst of applying for Ph.D. programs in public health, specifically epidemiology. "I think that's going to be the breakthrough that I need to help the people who I want to help," she said. She's talking about people like her friend from the fifth grade, who got into gangs and whose life was eventually consumed by drugs. "He was 17 - we had always seen those things happen in our community, it was just never so close to me. And that's when it hit home: There's no reason I made it out, to college, and he didn't."

That's why Vega is so devoted to ACCESS, a Seaver College program that provides incoming freshman with a three-week residential program that focuses on academics, critical thinking and prepares them for the transition from high school to college. Vega is currently a math tutor for ACCESS students, but was an ACCESS teaching assistant for the past two years.

"It's probably the best program at LMU," Vega said with a smile. "We want to build this community for these students. And, once you're in the program, you're not only responsible for your work, you're responsible for everybody."

Vega, for her part, said that although she wasn't an ACCESS student - the program started the year after she entered LMU - she's had a lot of support which inspires confidence in combination with her relentless persistence.

"Biomath has been a lot of work, and it's taught me to get back up," said Vega. "I just struggled so much, from being great in high school to coming here and falling. And I was not expecting that at all. But I stuck through it." She knows that even though she's nearing the end of her years as a student at LMU, she's got a challenging road ahead if she's going to pursue a public health degree.

"It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm ready for it."