Colorado State Students
Colorado State’s Minority Assistance Alliance Celebrates First Ph.D.
Published September 2005
Organic chemistry student, Javier Read de Alaniz, has obtained his doctorate degree in chemistry with the support of the Louis Stokes Colorado Alliance for Minority Participation, or CO-AMP, and is on his way to a meaningful research and teaching career.
Javier Read de Alaniz following the successful defense of his dissertation in May.
After successfully defending his dissertation in late May, Javier Read de Alaniz was looking forward to a 10-day bike trip through northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. But before leaving Fort Collins, he put the finishing touches on three more papers for publication and wrapped-up projects in the Colorado State chemistry lab where he has worked for the last six years.
Then, this promising chemist headed to California with his fiancée to begin two years of postdoctoral studies, the last stop on his journey to a career as an organic chemistry professor. Read de Alaniz hopes to land an academic position where teaching is valued and emphasis is placed on encouraging students to pursue higher education. In other words, he hopes to give back some of what he’s been given.
Read de Alaniz is the first Ph.D. graduate under the Louis Stokes Colorado Alliance for Minority Participation, or CO-AMP, a statewide program based at Colorado State University. The program is designed to increase the number of minority students studying college science, technology, engineering and mathematics. CO-AMP supports students during their undergraduate years through professional development, research opportunities and internships in private industry. The project then recruits students to continue their studies at the graduate level.
While an undergraduate at Fort Lewis College in 1996, Read de Alaniz was undecided on a major until he was approached by Fort Lewis Chemistry Professor Jim Mills, who encouraged him to consider pursuing science. Attracted to the challenges chemistry offered, Read de Alaniz was offered a summer research stipend by CO-AMP, allowing him to discover that a chemistry laboratory is a work environment he loves and the realization that a career in science was attainable.
Journey To Doctorate Degree
Born and raised in the small northern New Mexico town of Las Vegas, Read de Alaniz is a middle child among five siblings. His love of cross-country running led to an athletic scholarship at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.
Through encouragement from his professors at Fort Lewis, Read de Alaniz decided to pursue graduate studies. This led him to CSU in 2000, where he found a mentor in organic chemistry professor Tomislav Rovis.
"I couldn't think of a more deserving and better role model for CO-AMP."
- Associate Professor Tomislav Rovis, CSU Department of Chemistry
"I couldn't think of a more deserving and better role model for CO-AMP. Read de Alaniz has been a mentor to undergraduates and junior graduate students and leads by example. He will no doubt be a mentor to younger scientists of all backgrounds as well as directing his own research group in the future," Rovis said.
Read de Alaniz will be doing his postdoctoral studies at the University of California - Irvine with Professor Larry Overman, one of the "giants" in the field, according to Professor Rovis. Read de Alaniz has also been awarded a prestigious University of California President's Fellowship to support his two-years of work in California . Following his postdoctoral work, he plans to pursue an academic position at a research institution, hopefully in New Mexico.
With the aid of two CO-AMP graduate fellowships, Read de Alaniz was able to stay focused on his lab work which gave him a chance at additional graduate funding through the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
"It was definitely a domino-effect. Obtaining the first CO-AMP fellowship made it easier to gain additional funding," Read de Alaniz says.
Scientific Research Impacting Everyday Lives
Don’t be surprised if you read or hear about Read de Alaniz in the future. His years in the chemistry lab may have a direct effect on your life someday.
The goal of Read de Alaniz’ organic chemistry research is to develop new ways to mimic nature and make natural products that are active ingredients in pharmaceuticals that work in the human body. His science involves finding new ways to construct molecules and he specializes in the sub-group of organic chemistry known as asymmetric organic catalysis.
"Nature has perfected the art of making different kinds of molecules."
"Nature has perfected the art of making different kinds of molecules," Read de Alaniz explains. New molecules constructed by chemists allow for the developments of new drugs and medicines to battle human diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
Some day, you may reach for a miraculous new drug that was created by a student like Read de Alaniz, who was encouraged to pursue science and given the resources and mentoring from a program like CO-AMP.
More Info On CO-AMP
The CO-AMP alliance is a consortium of 14 four-year institutions and community colleges in Colorado and the Four Corners Region and one of 34 similar programs around the country funded by the National Science Foundation. CO-AMP has seen a 44.5 percent growth in enrollment by minorities in science and engineering courses since it was created 1996.
Additional Links:
Omnia El-Hakim, Principal Investigator/Director of CO-AMP and Assistant Dean for Diversity, College of Engineering
April 12, 2006 CO-AMP Press Release
