Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center

Apple Scholars

The Apple Scholars program is the newest program at UROC. Now in its second year of funding, provided by the CSUN HSI Equity Innovation Hub and Apple, this program focuses on supporting undergraduate researchers in developing a curated research identity through the development of a digital ePortfolio for the STEM workforce or graduate school.

Eligibility

  • Preference given to Hispanic students
  • Must be a STEM major
  • Commit to three semesters of ongoing research
  • Compete an eportfolio
  • Attend monthly cohort meetings
  • Minimum GPA of 2.75

Eligible majors: Ag Plant and Soil Science, Biology, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Tech, and Policy, Environmental Studies, Marine Science, Math, Psychology, and Statistics

Student Successes

Amira Colon in front of research poster

 

Amira Colon, Statistics

"Thanks to the Apple Scholars program Colon has been able to use a MacBook Pro for her work on the research project. She said that before she joined the program, she only had a Chromebook, which was insufficient for running the advanced software that she needed for the project. She was unable to afford a MacBook on her own, but, thanks to the program, she now has a MacBook Pro that allows her to “do the data analysis that I really want to do.”

Colon explained that working on the eportfolio has made her more confident as a scholar. She said, “I'm just more confident in like, putting myself on display, I guess. Being proud of work that I've done and being able to have a little more creative freedom and how I want to, like express that to the world.”"

researcher with her mentors

 

Berenice Lemus, Business Administration

Before joining the program, Lemus, a first-generation Latina, felt more isolated. “I didn’t really know what the research community was all about,” said Lemus. After a semester in the program, she now feels part of a supportive cohort of undergraduate researchers.

Lemus values having the opportunity to share her research with other young scholars. “It kind of made it seem like, hey, my research matters, too. It's interesting. And it's important. I’m kind of building that sense of what I’m doing matters, and I’m having that support from other scholars who are doing the same thing,” she explained.

Current Scholars

  • Angelica Alcazar, Biology
  • Berelim Bautista, Business Administration
  • Stephanie Brambila, Psychology
  • Jourdan Garnier, Psychology