We are led to believe that the technologies of science fiction are impossible to achieve, and are merely outlets of creativity for writers and dreamers.
Biochemistry undergraduate Ayse Muñiz strives to challenge that assumption by integrating the fields of medicine and engineering, and in turn pushing the realm of possibility to the limit.
Muñiz was born in Alamogordo, New Mexico, to a family that frequently moved across the state as well as to Arizona. She graduated in her hometown in 2012 and went on to pursue further education at UNM, the first of her family to do so.
“I had no idea what I wanted to do. During my freshman orientation I believe I put down psychology as my major, just to have something there,” Muñiz said. “My then-boyfriend was doing nuclear engineering, and he recommended I should check out chemical engineering. I did a year and a half of that before switching to biochemistry.”
Muñiz took part in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program the summer after her freshman year. The program, funded by the National Science Foundation, took place at the Center for High Technology Materials on south campus where Muñiz spent her time etching solar cells and contributing to various studies.
Muñiz landed her name on two research papers by her sophomore year, one of which published in the Journal of Electronic Materials where she was credited as second author.
In keeping with her passion, Muñiz joined the Maximizing Access to Research Careers program in 2014. Included in the program was a grant that funded Muñiz in a lab of her choice for two years. Of five potential laboratories, she chose Jeffery Brinker’s biomedical engineering lab in the Centennial Engineering Center.
Despite her major in a renowned medical field, Muñizsaid that she has no intention to go to medical school but rather pursue a more engineering-focused curriculum in her graduate career and improve the relationship between the two fields.
“I really do like engineering. My whole goal is to apply engineering principles to developing technologies that will help in medically relevant situations,” she said. “And so overall I noticed a gap in science, in the research being done and how the medical field is operated, such as with pharmaceutical industries.”
“There’s a rift there, I want to be a part of that solution to bridge the gap.”
In her two years in the lab, Muñiz worked with scientists of various backgrounds, including chemists, material scientists and biomedical engineers. She believes the diverse background of the laboratory is invaluable, as everyone has a different perspective to offer.
Moreover, Muñiz and her husband are both first generation college students in each of their respective families. She credits her success to the multiple opportunities UNM has provided along the way.
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“Nobody in my family has gone to college before,” she said. “STEM has been a challenge, more so in that way. I didn’t have family or friends in the field beforehand at all, and I didn’t know anything about anything before I came here. Now, I’ve been able to have all these experiences because of programs UNM has offered.”
After graduating with a bachelor’s of science in biochemistry later this week, Muñiz will pursue her doctorate at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in macromolecular science and engineering, which she intends to apply to medicine.
Muñiz is one of 2,000 students in the nation to receive the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which will be funding three years of her graduate education.
Audrin Baghaie is a culture reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
