Michael Coronado, UC LEADS 2005-2007, UC Riverside

December 20, 2018

Crysthal Alvarez

UC LEADS alumnus Dr. Michael Coronado, now an assistant professor at Whitman College, was a freshman majoring in biology at UC Riverside (UCR) when he discovered his passion for research through his participation in the California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP). During his sophomore year, he joined Dr. Daniel Schlenk’s research lab and applied to the UC LEADS program in order to receive funding. Dr. Schlenk was very supportive, allowing Coronado to pursue his own independent research in toxicology, and providing funding for him to attend and present at various conferences.

After graduating from UCR, Coronado completed his Ph.D. in toxicology at Johns Hopkins University and went on to pursue his postdoctoral studies at Stanford University. Now at Whitman, he embraces the small university’s philosophy that integrates research and teaching for all students. He has a lab of only undergraduate students and aims to be as supportive of them as Dr. Schlenk was of him.

Dr. Coronado and Dr. Schlenk have kept in touch over the years and discovered that one of Dr. Coronado students was Dr. Schlenk’s son Noah, who attended many of Coronado’s classes before graduating with a biology degree from Whitman. Ten years after Coronado as an undergraduate was knocking on Dr. Schlenk’s lab door, they were able to reconnect at Noah’s graduation.

Inspired by the UC LEADS program, and its ability to create opportunities, professional development, and lifelong relationships, Dr. Coronado hopes to collaborate with the UCR UC LEADS coordinator Maria Franco-Gallardo to develop more undergraduate research opportunities for students at Whitman College.