As a child growing up in Puerto Rico, Yadilette Rivera-Colón was fascinated by science, often watching Beakman’s World and National Geographic specials on television. Her parents were not involved in science; her mother stayed at home to care for the children, and her father worked in an autobody shop. Both placed a great deal of emphasis on the value of education for their children. Rivera-Colón explains that, “They always told me to study, because knowledge is the only thing that no one can take away from you.”
When Rivera-Colón was just 15 years old, her mother was diagnosed with leukemia. She passed away soon afterward, but the care provided by her nurses comforted her and the family in her final days. Rivera-Colón was touched by their tender care, and decided to study to become a nurse, to help other families understand medical procedures and provide comfort within the hospital setting.
Rivera-Colón trained as a practical nurse at Escuela Vocacional Benjamin Harrison, a technical high school. “The more I learned about the human body and human disease,” she says, “the more I wanted to be able to do something about it.” She thought that as a medical doctor, she would be able to have a hand in curing diseases, so she began a pre-med program at University of Puerto Rico, Cayey.
After studying to become a medical doctor for a few years, Rivera-Colón decided that she needed to try basic research before committing to a career in medicine. She took part in a summer program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she studied under Craig Martin. There she got a taste of biochemistry and the world of proteins, and decided to pursue a PhD rather than an MD, so that she could continue to be directly involved in scientific research.
Rivera-Colón graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, with a s degree in general natural sciences, and committed to attending the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for her doctoral degree. The summer before she began graduate school, Rivera-Colón took part in the Biophysical Society’s Summer Research Program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The program was her first introduction to biophysics and was also the first course she took in English. She says, “I fell in love with biophysics and made an amazing network of friends and colleagues who have supported me every step of the way ever since.” During the course, Rivera-Colón worked in the lab of Charles W. Carter, Jr. Carter introduced her to the study of protein structure, which she continues to work on to this day.
Following the BPS summer program, Rivera-Colón began her graduate program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in Scott C. Garman’s lab. While there, she worked on determining the structures of human lysosomal enzymes that are defective in patients who have lysosomal storage diseases. She recently completed her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology. During her time in graduate school, Rivera-Colón found that the most rewarding aspect of her work was seeing her students succeed in achieving their personal and professional goals. Garman says of Rivera- Colón, “Her enthusiasm and support for the undergraduates she mentored led them to working as a well-oiled machine. She showed me how you can trust good undergraduates to be independent, and then watch them take personal responsibility for their projects.”
Because of her interest in and dedication to teaching, she pursued a postdoctoral position in the Penn-Postdoctoral Opportunities in Research and Teaching (Penn-PORT) Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Recently, following her postdoc, Rivera-Colón began her first faculty position at Bay Path University, where she serves as an undergraduate research coordinator and assistant professor in biology.
“The most exciting aspect of this new position”, says Rivera-Colón,” is the fact that I will get to educate not just within the school but also the community as a whole. There are many underserved students in that area and I want to be able to create educational opportunities for them so that they know how many options are available for them. I am looking forward to try innovative teaching methods and one of the reasons I joined Bay Path University is because it is an environment where professors are encouraged to do so.”
When asked about the biggest challenge she has faced so far, Rivera-Colón believes that it has been understanding what was expected of her each step of the way. “The idea of scientific training is to prepare trainees for a research career, but aside from classes, there is never a concrete set of expectations for graduate students or postdocs…In my experience, you play it by ear until you get it, and those who don’t, drop out of graduate school.” This lack of clearly defined expectations led Rivera-Colón to put the highest possible standards on herself, which has made her journey more difficult. “If more advisors established a basic set of expectations for researchers on the first day of training, there would be a lot more success stories in science. The future of science depends on proper science education,” Rivera-Colón says.
Rivera- Colón understands that an important part of science education is informing those outside of the scientific community about the value of research. “Only a small amount of people will read your awesome paper because no matter how interesting it is, scientific work is often very specialized,” she explains, “Not everyone is interested in what you do, so make them see why it is cool.”