Through hands-on research, close faculty mentorship and opportunities beyond the classroom, Emily Menéndez ’26 has grown into a confident, capable chemist at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. Her experience reflects the university’s approach to scientific training: giving students real responsibility in the lab while preparing them for what comes next.
Menéndez, a first-generation college student majoring in chemistry with a minor in biology, began developing her skills early through course-embedded research, where students design their own research questions and apply classroom knowledge to real scientific problems.
“Every class I’ve taken after my first year has course-embedded research,” she notes.
Those experiences laid the groundwork for more advanced work in Dr. David Laws III’s chemistry lab, where she gained hands-on experience with chemical synthesis, analytical techniques and independent problem-solving.Â
That foundation carried her abroad to the University of Bath in England, where she completed a paid summer research internship and discovered just how prepared she was to work independently in a professional lab environment.
The experience confirmed her confidence as a scientist and reinforced her plans to pursue graduate study after ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø.
“I have a really good foundation because of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø,” says Menéndez. “I know when I go to graduate school that I’m going to be doing good because I’ve learned how to do so much here.”
