The Young Scientist Spotlight series features our former students involved with our Treehouse UCSC Bioinformatics Immersion (TUBI) program, where students gain real-world work experience as researchers in a supportive environment, contributing to Treehouse bioinformatic projects! This week, we are catching up with former TUBI student Sasha Santilla as she discusses how TUBI has impacted her research interests. (Photo of Sasha Santilla)
Interview by Krizia Chambers
How did you get introduced to TUBI?
To handle my nerves about being a freshman in a new environment at UCSC, I wanted to prepare myself by signing up for programs like ACE and the Slug Mentor Network Mentor Collective. I was given a mentor who provided opportunities to sign up for things like TUBI, as they also participated in it before. I asked about their experience and decided that it would be a great way for me to start research even though I felt very underqualified as a first-year student. TUBI was presented as a very welcoming program for students to gain experience without having any previous qualifications and introduced me to a different path in biology that wasn’t just medical school.
Can you briefly describe your experience with TUBI? And what did you gain from participating in the program?
I was very worried about the workload I would have to adopt during my participation with TUBI. One great thing about TUBI is that it can be done online, whether it be meetings or work, which makes it accessible and comforting to know that I could do TUBI anywhere. The leaders, Holly and Yvonne, are also super understanding of our academic responsibilities and are flexible with deadlines while ensuring that we benefit from our experience. Their check-ins were incredibly helpful in gauging our progress and addressing any hiccups we faced. They both do a great job of giving off a welcoming presence that makes them easy to talk to, which I appreciated as I often felt intimidated talking to professors and other staff members. These traits are very valuable when teaching students like myself, who felt underqualified and shy, but now feel confident in my skills. I credit TUBI as a big reason why I can reach out for help with my own peers, teaching assistants, and professors, as I struggled with asking for help in the past.
What advice would you like to lend to the new cohort of TUBI students?
Coming into TUBI may be very intimidating, as the work we do has a real impact on research and children with cancer. But with the amazing leaders and supporters of TUBI, we realize that the impact it has is not limited to those with years of experience, but students like us who are curious enough to want to learn new skills. I would advise new TUBI students to take advantage of this environment by asking questions, learning from and teaching their peers, and challenging themselves.
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