#SoCaltech: Melissa Ramirez

“My parents were born in Mexico and immigrated to Pasadena in the 1970s. I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Pasadena, and am one of three sisters. My dad worked at Burger Continental on Lake Avenue for 25 years, where he did the cleaning and dishwashing. He interacted with a lot of the Caltech community since it was only a couple blocks away. He has a very strong work ethic, and his shifts were always very long. My mom was a caregiver to the elderly for many years. I learned a hard work ethic from her, too, and the importance of being compassionate, especially with those who are most vulnerable. My parents have always inspired me to be persistent. They only went up to the second grade, but they wanted to provide my sisters and I with a better future; with more opportunities than they had. Although they did not know how to guide me in my academics, they encouraged me to pursue a higher education.

“Throughout high school, I took advantage of different summer programs that helped me realize my interest in science. This included the Caltech Summer Research Connection (SRC) program, which allowed me to perform summer research as a high school student at Caltech and the Oak Crest Institute of Science. The SRC program still runs today, and I recently got to meet the students who participated in the program last summer. Eventually, my dad came here to Caltech to work at Browne Dining Hall. Being a postdoc at Caltech brings my academic journey full circle. I get to conduct research in a laboratory space, and I’ve gotten opportunities he and many others don’t get a chance to have. My background as a first-generation Latina shapes the leader that I am today. It keeps me grounded and reminds me of the privilege that I have to serve the local and global community through science.”

Melissa Ramirez is a postdoctoral scholar research associate in chemistry whose research focuses on the development of catalytic methods for enantioselective quaternary center formation using a combination of experiments and computations. She is a NIH K99/R00 MOSAIC Scholar, NSF MPS-Ascend Fellow, Caltech Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar, and she was named a CAS Future Leader by the American Chemical Society.

#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.