Major: Psychology

Activities: Intellectual Entrepreneurship Pre-Graduate School Internship Program; Bridging Disciplines Program, School of Undergraduate Studies; and student research assistant in the Child Development in Context Laboratory, Department of Psychology.

College bound … With help from her mentors in the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Program, Martinez learned everything she needed to know about how to get into graduate school—and how to pursue a career that matches her interests and passions. She is proud to be the second in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree and—in a few years—a PhD.

Acclimating to the Forty Acres…At the start of her freshmen year, she became involved in several organizations that helped her acclimate to a large university. “Working in the Child Development in Context Laboratory for the past four years has definitely helped me be more self-confidant.  Now people are asking me how to do things in the lab—that’s pretty cool.”

Bright lights, big city… After graduating, she is heading to New York for a couple of years to work as a full-time research assistant with a researcher who specializes in autism. As for the distant future, she envisions herself attending graduate school and working in the field of developmental psychopathology.

A word of advice … “Just be proactive. There’s nothing that I regret about joining these programs. They really helped me get to where I am. Making your own little community within this much bigger community will help you feel at home.”