The 2020 Gerald and Sally DeNardo Senior Prize winner is:
Kat Xia
A biology major, Kat was nominated by Eric Tillman, Fletcher Jones Professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She has conducted a total of 2 years and 5 months of research at Santa Clara University including 6 months in the Public Health Program and 1 year and 11 months in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Her long-term goal is to be a physician-scientist specializing in aging, particularly stress-induced aging, to develop interventions that improve quality of life and care for the elderly and the homeless.
One of Kat’s first research experiences at SCU was in the Public Health Program with Dr. Jamie Chang, as the two were both interested in studying homeless deaths in the United States and how to develop more effective interventions for the homeless community. Kat contributed to this project by conducting extensive reviews of homeless death literature and was able to identify the most common causes of fatality for the homeless.
Through the engaging work she completed with Dr. Chang, Kat found herself drawn to a project in the Tillman lab that would minimize the use of metal catalysts in polymer cyclization reactions. Since these catalysts related to what she had been studying on the homeless, she was eager to get involved.
For the past two years, Kat has done ample research in Dr. Tillman’s lab, focusing on developing a chemical reaction called AGET-RTA-ATRC (Activators Generated by Electron Transfer with Radical Trap Assists in Atom Transfer Radical Coupling/Cyclization Reactions). AGET-RTA-ATRC combines nitroso (RN=O) compounds, reducing agents, and more environmentally-friendly metals to manipulate the shapes of polymers while using minimal amounts of metal catalyst. Kat found the demonstration of this process to be important as it allowed her to determine the product yields easily and gauge the impact of each reactant in AGET-RTA-ATRC. Her work to optimize AGET-RTA-ATRC in the formation of cyclic polymers is important for future use as a greener and cheaper procedure in industry and various labs.
Impressively, Kat has accumulated an abundance of peer-reviewed publications and off-campus presentations in her time at Santa Clara University. Kat has successfully published two first author papers, appeared as a co-author on another, and has presented at two off-campus conferences.
Awarded for her diligence and hard work as Santa Clara University’s first Beckman Scholar, Kat also won the first place award in Physical Sciences for her poster presentation at the National Collegiate Research Conference at Harvard University. “Kat is as proactive as any research student I have had in the lab,” stated Dr. Tillman. “She has sought out presentations on her own and is not intimidated by any venue.”
Keeping with her excellent achievements, Kat was also the sole undergraduate research presenter at the 34th Annual William S. Johnson Symposium at Stanford University, and was also a part of the Markkula Health Care Ethics Internship in order to prepare herself to navigate future difficult decisions alongside the individuals she serves.
Santa Clara University’s mission of competence, conscience and compassion has clearly left its mark on Kat as she has honorably served the community through her work and beyond. Kat has utilized her deep sense of conscience and compassion through her services of feeding and aiding the homeless to ultimately drive her career path. The relationships Kat formed with those in the homeless community provided her with a constant reminder of her love and desire to serve others. Kat has pushed herself in the courses she took to build a more holistic understanding of problems people in her community face, as well as challenged herself to speak up in class and at conferences so that one day she may speak up for her patients and the underserved.
During her time at SCU, Kat has said that she focused intently on developing herself into a person who serves others with compassion, but through her incredible, courageous and intelligent work, it's safe to say that she already has. Kat’s goals fall nowhere short of her incredible persistence and determination to serve her community. She hopes to become a geriatrician after obtaining an MD/PhD from medical school. After wrapping up with her polymer cyclization project in Dr. Tillman’s lab, Kat is working at a biomedical lab at UCSF to study the effects of aging on proteins in the human body, and how these changes can lead to chronic conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
In his nomination letter, Dr. Tillman noted: “Kat is so much more than just another talented student in the sciences. She brings not only a zest for learning, but a zest for life. She takes every opportunity to raise others up and will go on to do wonderful things with her unique blend of intelligence, happy disposition, and challenge-seeking mentality.”