3 minute read
When Opportunity Knocks
When Opportunity Knocks
Connections take Emely Lopez from El Salvador to the University of Illinois
By Marla Todd | Photo by Gregory Rothstein
Emely Lopez, food science and human nutrition graduate student, believes that each person she meets may be a link to her future. The connections in her life have opened many of the doors through which she has found her current success.
Lopez’s dreams and her interest in agriculture started early in her life. Growing up in an urban area of El Salvador, she started growing plantain, cilantro, and celery in her family’s garden. “I liked that special feeling that something that I had taken care of was being useful to my family.”
As she began to consider higher education opportunities, Lopez knew she wanted to study outside of El Salvador, but it was not until her godmother mentioned Zamorano University in Honduras that she learned about the institution. Even after being accepted there, Lopez wasn’t sure attending Zamorano was an option due to cost. Just one week before reporting for classes, she learned that she would receive a full scholarship for three years from a foundation in El Salvador.
“Without the right people to talk to, you might not have opportunities,” Lopez notes. “If I had not had the conversation with my godmother, attending Zamorano probably wouldn’t have happened.”
The motto of Zamorano University is “learning by doing,” explains Jim Albrecht, an ACES alumnus familiar with the institution. “Students know what it takes to get something from a seed in the field to a grocery store in the marketplace.”
“The students at Zamorano do everything together,” explains Bill Helferich, professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Lopez’s advisor in ACES. “They work together. They eat together. They train together. They count on each other to come up with creative ways to do things and solve problems.”
A unique aspect of the Zamorano curriculum is a required internship in the final year. The University of Illinois College of ACES is one internship partner. Albrecht's generous support creates accessibility to the internship experience, defraying costs for faculty hosts and Zamorano students.
During Lopez’s internship in 2013 Albrecht also ensured she could attend the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) annual meeting and expo in Chicago. Lopez returned to the gathering of food science professionals in 2017 to present a poster on her graduate work. She also participated in the Global Purpose Challenge, in which people from all over the world collaborate over three days to address nutritionand industry-related problems.
“Dr. Albrecht’s support has opened up so many opportunities. When I arrived here for my first internship, I didn’t know the extent of the possibilities I had in my hands,” Lopez explains. “Once I opened up and started talking about what I wanted to do, people became interested, and I think that’s the biggest impact. I now have the ability to express myself, communicate my research, and build collaborations.”
A student at Zamorano starting at age 15, Lopez came to Illinois for her first internship at 19 and returned for a postgraduation internship two years later in 2015. Her internship experiences sparked a specific interest in malnutrition and food insecurity and linked her to Helferich, with whom she started graduate work in fall 2015.
“My early years in El Salvador were really tough,” Lopez explains. “Due to the political situation, my family experienced the consequences of food insecurity, violence, and more. I saw food shortages and the effects, but I didn’t understand the concept of food insecurity. It was just something that happened to my family and many others in my community.”
Early in her graduate work, connections allowed Lopez to work on a global food insecurity project in the Philippines. An introduction from Albrecht to Chris Nielsen, a professor emerita of business at the University of Baltimore, resulted in a collaboration to fortify coconut vinegar, commonly used on Filipino food. Because the vinegar is a dark color and an acidic environment, it is easily fortified, Helferich explains.
Lopez recently published on the project after creating the product, ensuring stability, and conducting sensory and accessibility tests in the Philippines. A graduate student international research award from the ACES Office of International Programs enabled her research and travel to the Phillipines. The research awards are made possible by generous gifts from Bill and Mary Lee Dimond.
Lopez is appreciative for the support she has received from Albrecht and the Dimonds. “Without it I wouldn’t have visited the Philippines to do something positive. My first time traveling off of the North American continent was to bring my research to the people of the Philippines.”
In April, Lopez was part of a team of students from multiple universities that won the Campus 1871 competition. In the 3-day event, students share ideas, collaborate, and build an original startup business plan. Lopez’s diverse team created Bridge, an app that connects highly qualified refugees with employers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
One of Lopez’s connections, a fellow student majoring in aerospace engineering, first shared the competition announcement with her. “I read the requirements and what they were looking for—mostly programming, IT, hackers, etc.,” Lopez says. “I don’t have any tech experience, but I applied as a dreamer and was accepted.”
Now, she says, she wants to add coding to her list of skills.
Helferich notes that “I tell all students in nutrition they will be more successful if they link nutrition to something. Link it to medicine, engineering, medical modeling, economic development, or some other field.”
Lopez continues to create professional links, but ultimately wants to do something good for others. Just as Albrecht influenced her, she plans to build collaborations that bring people together to improve lives.
