S-Stem Scholar Jaira Munoz Zavala's Blog

End of Spring 2022   For my Mental and Physical Health: From this semester, I learned to leave one day of the week for myself—either for cleaning, resting, reorganize, or do something for myself. I didn’t do that in this semester, and that took a hit on my grades. I have to learn to say no. If it affects my health, it is not worth it. For my career goals: Now that I’m close to finishing my two majors, I noticed that I haven’t work in what I originally wanted. I started to keep an agenda (an actual book). In cases where I don’t finish items of one day, I work on them the next day. I’m keeping a note to remember to make time for: –        Practicing sculpting faces –        Studying for the MCAT –        Look for opportunities about Forensic Anthropology. I will continue working in the Forensic Entomology lab because I like it, but I’m aware that it is not my end goal. However, hav...

 Factors influencing participation of underrepresented students in STEM fields (and my own influences) According to the article, there are multiple factors that affect the participation of students in the STEM field. These can be intrinsic psychological and external environmental variables. The article, focuses in the intrinsic psychological factors. It mentions that the academic mindset are keys beliefs of a student. For instance, it was already discussed before the different between a growth mindset and fixed mindset. A student with a fixed mindset will most likely fail to achieve the goal because they will fail to try after failing once. On the other hand, a student with growth mindset will continue trying, and learning from mistakes. Another factor is the feeling of belonging in STEM. Having this feeling will have a positive impact on academic achievement and retention in STEM . I believe that my identity affected my mindset. My parents always reminded that they work hard so ...

 Fixed and Growth Mindset  For today's blog I read two articles. One of them is "Students' Mindsets for Learning and Their Neural Underpinnings." The other one is "Problems in the pipeline: Stereotype threat and women's achievement in high-level math courses" by Good, Aronson and Harder.  They both talked about the fixed and growth mindset. The first article explains how "entity mindset" (or fixed mindset) limits an individual in many areas of their life. They focus in explaining this idea in the education area. People with an entity mindset believed that their intelligence is fixed, and they cannot be more intelligent. They believe that they cannot improve with effort. Consequently, they don't handle failure well; they avoid challenges and risk-taking challenges; they adopt maladaptive strategies.  On the other hand, people with "incremental mindset" (or growth mindset) believe that they can increase their abilities, intelligence...

These are the college experiences that I had during college. I re-write them as how I will have them in a resume.  Experience 1: Under Research/Independent Project I participated in the decomposition project this summer, and this winter. Assisted in a research studying insects activity during decomposition. Collaborated with other students to identify of different insects' order. Consulted with lab partners, lab supervisor and professor to design experiments Experience 2: Under Work Experience I worked in the school library. I work at the desk, helped in cleaning, and assisted in some projects Performed regular cataloguing of new acquisitions. Maintained organized library collection as well as staff/faculty copies. Built a string knowledge base of library materials and Workflows system. Answered phones and directed phones calls to the appropriate recipients. Responded numerous references questions daily basis Referred students to appropriate resources. Experience 3: Under Research/...

 Humanitarian Forensics My goal is to do Humanitarian Forensic. I want to focus working near the border, where people come to the US. I would like to sculpt faces for the bodies that are found in the desert. This is because DNA is not possible. especially if there is no one looking for the person (to get a mtDNA test). Most of the time is because people are afraid to get in trouble. I would like to help creating a source open to the public. There, they can see the pictures of the faces of the people found. That way, it might be easier to step in and help to bring closure.  So far, I've been looking into the Red Cross for this job. The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) requires people to have a minimum of a Masters to be an intern or work there.  At the moment, I will look for a forensic technician after graduation or similar. I might get my Masters right after college, but I'm not sure yet. For the time being, I was accepted to volunteer in Investigatio...

  Reflections on my current and desired on-line presence After creating my website, I have been posting more regularly. The major reason is because there is a challenge in October called "Inktober". Unfortunately, I stopped last week because of finals and midterms. From the science part, I haven't post anything. I'm working in a decomposition research and insect identification. This information still remain private. However, this week I started a class called "On Walking", an art class. The main project is to keep a journal (online or paper). Art here is not the main goal, but part of the process. Our teacher explained that it can be related to something of interested. For me, I'm focusing in collecting insects for the research, so I can write down about that. The second important part of this class is to post our journals in any platform we feel comfortable. I feel comfortable using Instagram. I prefer to write down in a notebook, and then posting the p...

 Current Online Presence  As of now (09/03/21) I don’t have too much online presence. Thanks to the galleries’ shows I’ve been in, one can search my name and find some information about me—mostly about my art pieces.  I have an Instagram. At the beginning, my goal was to only post about my Art work. However, I barely post anything. At the most once every few months. I mostly use it to communicate with friends. Likewise, I ignored my Facebook account and page for awhile. My excuse is that I’m not photogenic nor I have anything to share about.  I created a LinkedIn account few years ago because a friend insisted on it. I think I opened it once or twice. He was the only contact I had.  Also, few months ago, one of the galleries invited me to open a Alignable account. I don’t have much intention of creating a small business, but I haven’t taken advantage of the things this website offers.  In one of my semesters, I was required to create a Handshake account. I ...