During the month of September our team welcomed three new members: Alondra Caraballo Franco and Ariadna Rubio Lebrón, both fellows of the PARACa-AmeriCrops program of Mentes Puertorriqueñas en Acción and Andrea López Merced, who is part of the Civic Science Fellowship supported by the Rita Allen Foundation.

Alondra and Andrea will be supporting CienciaPR in communications and fundraising projects for the next year. Meanwhile, Andrea will be conducting an 18-month assessment of CienciaPR's impact and culturally relevant communication strategies and creating practical resources to increase the civic engagement of scientists.

Welcome to CienciaPR Alondra, Ariadna and Andrea!

A native of Guayama, Alondra Caraballo Franco (pronouns: she) is a recent graduate of the Humanities program at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. Her interest in non-profit organizations and community impact stems from a long career working with different student and non-profits, as well as with the Dr. Pío López Martínez Museum. She also has an affinity for the sciences, having studied at Escuela Especializada en Ciencias y Matemáticas Genaro Cautiño Vázquez. At one point thought she even thought was going to pursue a bachelor's degree in chemistry. She loves reading, going to the beach, walking and listening to music. Alondra says she identifies with CienciaPR's mission because "it focuses on education and that is something I aspire to work on in the future. I hope to be able to collaborate with CienciaPR in any way I can and get the most out of it."

Ariadna Rubio Lebrón (pronouns: she/they, interchangeable) graduated in May 2021 from the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor concentration from the Women and Gender Studies Program. She has volunteer experience with Amnesty International, the Probono Sexual and Reproductive Rights Program of the UPR School of Law and the University Soup Kitchen. Originally from Trujillo Alto, Ariadna enjoys experimenting with textile art, especially embroidery and spending time with her cat and two English Mastiffs. She is excited to work with CienciaPR because she sees it as an opportunity to grow professionally alongside a team of women who are extremely passionate about what they do. Also she says, "I am excited to reconnect with my background in the Natural Sciences and support the sustainability of this inclusive scientific community."

Andrea López Merced (pronouns: she) holds a Master of Public Health with a focus on community health from CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and a B.A. in International Relations, Citizenship and Civic Engagement and Latin American Studies from Syracuse University. Prior to joining CienciaPR she was working as a Research Project Coordinator at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and during the summer she was also a Margaret E. Mahoney Fellow at the New York Academy of Medicine. She has over 5 years of experience in community-based participatory research, clinical research and project management. She is a native of San Juan and is committed to promoting health equity in the Latino community and improving representation in the field of research. In her free time, she likes listening to music, reading and watching series. She is excited about working with CienciaPR because she has been living in NYC for over three years and was yearning to collaborate with a Puerto Rico-based project.