Page 8 - January 2026 Insider

•
INSIDER January 2026

Page 8
UCSD Check Presentation
(November 4, 2025)

The UCSD check ceremony was held at Joya Kitchen this year, where a lovely spread of food was
offered. Leslie Bruce, Sue Kalish, Elizabeth Taft, Pam Werner and Cathie Atkins attended
from ARCS. A good number of the ARCS Scholars from UCSD attended and we were joined by the

Executive Vice Chancellor, Elizabeth Simmons, the Dean of the Graduate Education and
Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA) Judy Kim, as well as the Assistant Dean of GEPA, Giulia Hoffman.

They all expressed sincere appreciation for the support their students receive from ARCS. Leslie gave
a brief overview of ARCS and Wilfredo Gabriel Gonzalez Rivera, a UCSD ARCS Scholar who has
won many awards in addition to ARCS, provided his thanks to ARCS explaining his amazing journey as
a first-generation, low-income PhD candidate from Puerto Rico who earned his BA in computer
science and biotechnology from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez to acceptance to one of
the top Biomedical Informatics programs in the country at UCSD.

Natalie Quach, Elizabeth Taft, Brandon Vogt, Cathie Atkins, Pam Werner, Judy Kim,
Leslie Bruce, Elizabeth Simmons, Rimjhim Agarwal, Sue Kalish, Dylan Hirsch, Renny Ng,
Wilfredo Gabriel Gonzalez Rivera, Benjamin Lam

Fall General Meeting
(October 28, 2025)

Seventy-two members, ARCS Scholars and guests heard 19 new inspiring ARCS Scholars explain their
ground breaking research at the October 28 General Meeting at La Jolla Country Club.

“My favorite quote is ‘Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars,” said

Pierre Loch-Temzelides, who is studying chemistry at the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical
and Biological Sciences at Scripps Research. His research focuses on understanding how natural
products from coral can be used to treat diseases.
Continued on Page 9