Contact: Steve Carr (505) 277.1821

December 10, 2002 CARLSBAD NATIVE HAS SIGHTS SET ON MEDICAL SCHOOL Carlsbad native Elyse Sewell has aspirations to be a doctor. Sewell, who will graduate magna cum laude with a double major in biology and Spanish from the University of New Mexico this month, has applied at several schools and has already interviewed at Albert Einstein in New York City and the University of Colorado in Boulder, and has one more setup at North Carolina. Sewell came to UNM after receiving the Regents’ Scholarship. The Regents’ Scholars Program was established in the 1989 and the first class was selected in 1991. The program is designed to attract the brightest and most talented students from the state and nation to UNM. The Regents’ Scholarship is a full-ride academic scholarship, which includes tuition, books and fees, room and board, and is renewable for eight semesters provided the student meets specific renewal requirements. The scholarship itself is worth more than $8,000 per year. “It (the scholarship) really helped me out a lot,” Sewell said. “I didn’t even apply anywhere else. UNM was definitely the way to go.” Sewell was influenced by her grandfather, who was an engineer, to pursue science. “I definitely got interested in science at an early age because of my grandfather,” said Sewell. “He was an engineer and was also really into geology and astronomy. We were always going on trips around New Mexico. He taught me a lot about geology, astronomy and science in general.” Sewell’s decision to pursue a life in the medical field was the result of research conducted by David Bear, chair of Cell Biology and Physiology Department, and a professor in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department at the Health Sciences Center on UNM’s north campus, whom she worked with during her first semester at UNM. “The scholarship program set me up with a mentor, Dr. David Bear, in the Biochemistry Department,” said Sewell. “So I got to learn a lot about his lab and his research, which included research on mRNA, the primary product of DNA, in the cell titin. That experience pretty much helped me decide to go to medical school after looking at the medical research that he did.” Sewell is currently working in Randy Thornhill’s lab, a distinguished professor in the Biology Department, where she is studying evolutionary biology and human sexual selection. She also collects DNA samples, anthropometric data (human body measurements for use in anthropological classification and comparison) and measures circulating hormone levels. Sewell has spent the past semester as an undergraduate teaching assistant (TA) in the Chemistry Department. She got interested in becoming a TA after scoring a 100 on a quiz when she took Chemistry 122 several years ago. “On my first Chemistry 122 quiz, I was the only one to get a 100,” says Sewell, “and so Dr. Kuang-Chiu Ho, who we call Joe, asked me if I wanted to help tutor 121 students. From there I started leading focus groups like structured study sessions for students and finally he asked me if I wanted to TA and I decided to do it. I started with Chemistry 122 and moved on from there.” Sewell has been on the Dean’s List for the majority of her academic career. She actually prefers chemistry to biology, but realized she could graduate a year early if she changed her major to biology. “I started out with biochemistry and realized I could graduate a year early if I switched to biology,” she said. “I do like chemistry a lot better than biology. I finished all the chemistry requirements for med school and my biology degree. So this past semester I was just a teaching assistant. I also did a lot of tutoring.” Sewell, who is also a National Merit Scholar, also majored in Spanish, a program she speaks about highly. “I really liked the Spanish program at UNM,” Sewell said. “All of my Spanish teachers have been native speakers, which is great to have. The cultural influence has definitely improved my Spanish education.” Sewell plans to stay at UNM for the spring semester to continue as a teaching assistant, while she works through the medical school application process. Her hobbies include cooking, reading and sewing. She is the daughter of Everest and Susan Sewell. # # #

The University of New Mexico
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