COHORT 3

José Flores Velázquez was tragically shot and killed in August 2019 while delivering gifts for a baby shower to a friend near where he grew up in Los Angeles. The graduate program where he was working to earn his PhD in astrophysics, UC Irvine, awarded him a Master of Science degree posthumously the following year. A scholarship in his honor, the José Flores Velázquez Memorial Cal-Bridge Scholarship was created in 2020. The money in the fund benefits AB540/DACA Cal-Bridge scholars who otherwise would not be eligible for scholarship support under the terms of the National Science Foundation Grant that funds the Cal-Bridge program. To donate to this fund, go to crowdfund.cpp.edu/jose.

This is the biography he wrote before he was killed:

My name is José Flores Velázquez. I received my undergraduate degree in Physics at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and now I am a graduate student pursing a PhD in astrophysics at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). In high school was always good with mathematics but didn’t know how to apply them to real world applications until I took on an AP physics course. By the end of my senior year I knew exactly I wanted to pursue a degree in physics in order to become a high school physic teacher. That goal quickly changed after my sophomore year of college. For the summer of 2016 I applied to the NSF funded, CAMPARE program and was placed to conducted research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) with Professor Jorge Moreno as part of the Banneker-Aztlán Institute. It was after this summer that I knew exactly I wanted to a PhD in astrophysics in order to become a professor. In the fall of 2016 I received the NSF funded, Cal-Bridge scholarship which funds me up to $10,000 for the school year. This program was great because it allowed me to quit my job as a McDonald’s manager and focus on my studies. Cal-Bridge also offered the support of mentors whom tremendously helped me with REU, graduate and NSF-GRFP applications. Thanks to their help and support I was accepted to conduct research at the NSF funded, CIERA-REU (summer 2017), accepted to 4 Physics & Astronomy PhD programs throughout the US, and received the NSF-GRFP fellowship in 2018. Aside from the research and advisor at UCI, I also highly considered UCI’s PhD program because it has a strong community of Cal-Bridge scholars (currently 6 of us!). As a first generation Latinx student pursing a PhD, having a support network who look like me, understand and have gone through a similar path was a huge bonus. Thanks to these students and their support, my current department at UCI feels like I am at home.

Today, I am committed to obtain my PhD and eventually a tenured astronomy professor at a top university. People in programs like Cal-Bridge, Banneker-Aztlán and CIERA who dedicate their time to help women, members of under-represented groups and those from small colleges have shaped who I have become. If it weren’t for people in these programs who are constantly looking for talented students in places others fail to look at I probably would’ve had a different college experience. Just as professors in these programs have helped students achieve their goals, I plan to help students do the same once I’m a professor.

My name is Jeffrey Salazar and I went from being lost to becoming a scientist at California State University San Bernardino; my undergraduate institution. There I found out I enjoy doing research in instrumentation. Now, I am a driven and competitive PhD student at the University of California, Irvine. I am currently working on mitigating the Brighter Fatter effect for CCD cameras. This work is relevant to the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). This project encompasses much of what I discovered to enjoy in research as an undergraduate.

I encountered a new feeling when I first attended CSUSB. I had a strong desire to learn more about math, yet, I had no end goal. Taking my first physics course made me realize that I truly only enjoyed the applied math as a math major. During my intro to physics series, I switched to be a physics major. Following this interest lead me to meet Dr. Timothy Usher and Dr. Carol Hood. They were the first to address my issue of being motivated to learn yet not have a realistic career plan (what I thought felt like being lost). My dream was (and still is) to become a professor. Fortunately, Dr. Usher and Dr. Hood helped me understand that my career plan was very much attainable. “You cannot become a professor as a first gen,” is a statement that existed in my mind alone. At a talk recruiting Cal-Bridge applicants, given by Dr. Rudolph, I first saw that people from my background were doing exactly what I wanted to do. He and Dr. Hood emphasized with numbers, charts, and facts that being a first generation college student did not disqualify me from becoming a professor. I knew I had to become a Cal-Bridge scholar and increase my chance for a higher education. Had it not been for this scholarship program, I would not know how capable I am.

The most important benefit, to me, as a scholar, was my internship at the University of California, Berkeley. There I realized how important instrumentation was in the astronomy field. There I found a great interest in simulations and the calibration process of imaging tools (in that case radio telescopes). Another benefit is that the Cal-Bridge community is growing. This has benefited me since I have reached out to alumni and those in the program for help with various tasks. One major help I received was handling stress during senior year. Being a part of a community where everyone is striving for something similar helped me notice I was not alone in this endeavor. This space helped create strong friendships that will lead to collaborations as our careers progress. On a different note, I have continued to benefit from this program as an alumnus since many Cal-Bridge members are here in UCI. Seeing familiar faces in a completely new institution made the transition to graduate school that much easier.