Hello! My name is Zeynep Elshaer and I am a senior here at UCF, hoping to graduate in Fall 2020. I am currently studying Biomedical Sciences and Spanish. One of my favorite classes that I have taken thus far at UCF is Endocrinology with Professor Ahangari.

I wanted to become a STEM Ambassador so that I could have a way to share my love of the STEM fields with students and hopefully inspire them to get interested in STEM careers. I also feel that as a woman in STEM it is immensely important to ensure that young girls have female role models in the field that they could look up to and see themselves in. When I was in high school and in the start of my college career, I had various female teachers in many if not most of my STEM related courses and I feel that this impacted me greatly in perusing my own path. Additionally, I want to be able to show kids that they could make a career in the STEM field anything they want. For example, I combine my studies of Spanish and medicine every day through my research regarding the impacts of varying perceptions amongst different ethnolinguistic groups on the uptake of vaccines.

When I am not studying or at school, I love to have board game nights with my friends, listen to true crime podcasts, or travel. Lastly, if I had to give one piece of advice its to peruse things that you are truly passionate about without the preoccupation of what everyone else is doing or following a traditional trajectory. When you really care about your studies, projects, and extracurriculars you can pave a unique and fulfilling path that will lead you to meaningful experiences and connections.