Joint Doctoral Program scholar Genesis Barzallo receives ARCS fellowship

Genesis Barzallo, a Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) scholar at San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego, was recently named one of 11 SDSU students to receive the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to doctoral students, recognizing their “achievements and their exceptional promise to contribute significantly to their fields,” according to ARCS.

Barzallo is in the global health track of the JDP. Her research focuses on pesticides and smoke-related pollutants. She investigates how these exposures influence our lives through agriculture, wildfire events, and indoor air. The fellowship, she said, allows her to be more engaged with her work by relieving financial pressure.

“Environmental health research requires long hours in the lab, extensive method development, field coordination, and data analysis,” Barzallo said. “Having stable financial support gives me the time, focus, and mental clarity to advance my projects with the attention they deserve.”

She currently works with SDSU faculty Eunha Hoh, Nathan Dodder, and Nicolas Lopez-Galvez in the School of Public Health’s Hoh Environmental Health Laboratory.

Her research utilizes silicone wristbands that absorb volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds. She then uses advanced analytical techniques to break down mixtures and identify their compounds, detecting and characterizing the environmental pollutants. This research, she said, offers “insight into personal exposures that fixed-site air monitors cannot capture,” which she hopes can help guide public health strategy and action that leads to environmental justice for disproportionately affected communities.

Barzallo considers her path to STEM nontraditional. She discovered her passion for chemistry in community college before earning a bachelor’s in biochemistry and master’s in analytical and physical chemistry from California State University, Los Angeles. There, she discovered the ability of powerful analytical instruments and how they could be used to impact communities.

“As I grew as a scientist, I realized I wanted to take that foundation further by connecting chemical data to real communities and contributing to public health solutions,” she said.

That goal brought her to the JDP, where she merges her STEM background with community-centered research. The program also allows her to be a role model to students who “may not have seen themselves reflected in higher education or STEM,” she said.

Barzallo, who is the daughter of Ecuadorian and Colombian immigrants, saw little representation of herself in STEM. As she continues to build her own career, she plans to support young scientists with underrepresented backgrounds along the way.

“Your background is your strength,” she said, referring to young science and public health students. “Science thrives on diverse perspectives, and the field truly needs people like you!”

In Barzallo’s own case, the ARCS fellowship validates that her unique perspective is valued in science and in public health.

“This fellowship reminds me that there is a community invested in my success and in building a more inclusive, equitable scientific future,” she said. “It is not only recognition of my research, but also affirmation that voices like mine belong in science and public health.”

Going forward, she plans to continue working with analytical chemistry, exposure science, and environmental public health and hopes to one day work with the next generation of scientists.