Greetings Paul,

It is great to hear from you. My apologies for the delayed reply as this semester has been quite a hectic one. I hope you are well. It sounds like Oak Crest is running smoothly in its new location and is continuing to grow. Since my Rose Hills Fellowship I have transferred to California State University, Long Beach where I conduct research as a MARC scholar. I am now in my final year and just finished submitting my applications for PhD programs. I have developed a love for organic chemistry and plan on conducting my graduate research in natural product synthesis. This past summer I conducted summer research as a WAVE Fellow at Caltech in the lab of Dr. Brian Stoltz. I had a great experience and presented my research at ABRCMS just last month. Other than school, not much has been happening on my end. School and research comprises the majority of my time. I still hold strong ties with PCC through faculty relationships and I currently tutor ochem for PODER students on campus. My aim is to return to PCC after my PhD to teach chemistry. I continue to encourage students to conduct undergraduate research and tell them about the Rose Hills Fellowship. By the way, how is Manji? Would you please tell him I say hello. Thank you so much for reaching out and it was a pleasure to hear from you. Please let me know if you ever need any help with events or outreach. Happy holidays. -Joel

Message from June 2019

My name is Joel Monroy and I participated in the Oak Crest Rose Hills Fellowship in 2015/16. I worked under John Moss measuring uncharacterized pollutants in vehicle exhaust emissions. My experience at Oak Crest helped develop my critical thinking skills and exposed me to real world research with important implications. I learned how to think scientifically and how to ask relevant questions regarding my research. I also gained valuable experience working within a group of fellow researchers and developing protocols. At the time I was attending Pasadena City College and since then have transferred to Cal State Long Beach where I obtained my B.S. in chemistry. This coming Fall 2019 I will be starting the Chemistry PhD program at Caltech.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-monroy-a75141101/