Dr. Elma Gonzalez
She is currently Professor Emerita at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was born in Ciudad Guerrero in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico in 1942. When she was six years old, her family moved across the border to the U.S. She grew up in Hebbronville, Texas but spent summers from about twelve-years-old on moving from farm to farm across the country picking crops with her family who worked as migrant farmworkers during the summertime.
Even as a child, Dr. Gonzalez had an interest in science. Both her parents were very open and eager to interact with the world, although neither of them had very much education, and her father encouraged her interest in science by bringing home birds’ nests, among other items from nature.
How was it that Dr. Gonzalez knew that science was her calling?
Dr. Gonzalez attended Texas Woman’s University as an undergrad and majored in both biology and chemistry. For three years after college, she worked in a research lab at Southwestern Medical School that studied autoimmune diseases. She began her Ph.D. work at Rutgers University where she studied cell biology, specifically, how each organelle contributed to the overall activity of the cell.
Join me as I talk with her about how her studies evolved and how her persistence helped her move forward even when she encountered those who would try to dissuade her from continuing. What can we learn from Dr. González about persistence?
After a post-doctoral position at The University of California, Santa Cruz, she became a professor of cell and molecular biology at UCLA where she taught for thirty-three years.
During her time at UCLA, Dr. González studied organelles in yeast and later organelle biogenesis in plant seeds. She applied similar tools and techniques (as those applied in her earlier research) to understand subcellular calcification in a group of planktonic algae called coccolithophores.
What was her study about, you might ask. Well, a short description is as follows:
When these tiny organisms (coccolithophores) die, their shells sink to the bottom of the ocean and become limestone and chalk. In fact, the White Cliffs of Dover on the coast of England are huge chalk cliffs that are actually made up of the ancient skeletons of coccolithophores.
Why was this research important and what kept Dr. Gonzalez’s research interests alive and well? Join us to learn how to keep your own “business” moving forward.
In addition to her academic endeavors, Dr. González has been involved during the course of her entire career in various programs that help minority students succeed in scientific research careers.
For example, in 1990, she founded the Center for Academic and Research Excellence (CARE) program at UCLA as a way to organize funding for students in science. The CARE program became an umbrella organization under which various other programs were housed. One of these programs was the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health to support about a dozen UCLA undergraduates each year by funding their education and research. Dr. González also served as the director of the MARC program.
Even outside of her own university setting, Dr. Gonzalez was involved and continues to be active in initiatives to bring more Latino students to the sciences. She is considered a co-founder of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). She is currently serving on the SACNAS Board of Directors (which for her is a second round on the Board, as she first served on the Board in the 80′s).
A current project of Dr. Gonzalez’s is working with the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education to bring more Latinos to the sciences. Last year, she and a group of colleagues organized a plenary for the group’s annual meeting. This was so well received, the group asked them to organize a similar plenary for this year’s meeting in Miami. As a follow up to the plenary, a group of folks met this past year to strategize increasing the numbers of Latino professors in science, math and engineering. Although in its initial stages, the intended outcome of this strategy session will be to guide and encourage proposals to foundations to enact the strategies.
I will be asking Dr. Gonzalez what she has learned from her work with students, what kinds of problems they’ve encountered and why she believes there are so few Latinos as science professors.
Dr. Gonzalez has had numerous articles and books written about her life, including:
Verheyden-Hilliard, M. and M. Menzel. 1985. Scientist With Determination: Elma Gonzalez
Schniedewinds, N. and E. Davidson. 2006. Open Minds to Equality – A Sourcebook of Learning Activities to Affirm Diversity.
Ruiz, V. and V. Sanchez Korrol. 2006. Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia.
In addition, there is a book coming out about her next month in February of 2008, entitled Paths of Discovery: Chicanas in Science, Math and Engineering, published by UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center Press (formerly published by the American Association for Advancement in Science under the name Floricencia: Chicanas in Science, Math and Engineering).
From her long and illustrious career, what can we learn and take with us from Dr. Gonzalez’s experiences? What can she teach us to help us in our own life path?
Selected Publications are listed below:
Corstjens, P. L. A. M. and E. L. Gonzalez. 2003. (In Press) Effects of nitrogen and phosphorous availability on the expression of the coccolith-vesicle V-ATPase (subunit c) of Pleurochrysis (Haptophyta) : – .
Gonzalez, E.L. U, Riebesell, J. M. Hayes, E.A. Laws. 2001. Effects of biosynthesis and physiology on relative abundances and isotopic compositions of alkenones Geochem Geophys. Geosys 2: 2000GC-000052.
Corstjens, P.L.A.M., P. Westbroek, and E.L. Gonzalez. 2001. Coccolithophorid calcification depends on a highly conserved vacuolar ATPase: characterization of the gene encoding the membrane-bound subunit. J. Phycol. 37: 71-78.
Gonzalez, E.L.. 2000. The Calcifying vesicle membrane of the coccolithophore, Pleurochrysis sp Wiley VCH, Weinheim, Germany : 269-283.
Corstijens, P.L.A.M. and E.L. Gonzalez. 1999. Isolation and Molecular Analysis of our Actin encoding cDNA clones (Acc. Nos. AF144403, AF144404, AF 1444405, AF 1444406) from the Cocoolithophorid Pleurochysis carterate (Prymensiophyceae). (PGR 99-091) Plant Physiol 120: 933- .
Arako, Y. and E.L. Gonzalez. 1998. V- and P-type Ca2+ -stimulated ATPase in a calcifying strain of Pleurochrysis sp., (Haptophyceae) J. Phycol 34: 79-88.
Isreal, A.A., and E.L. Gonzalez.. 1996. Photosynthesis and inorganic carbon utilization by the coccolithophorid alga Pluerochrysis sp. (Haptophyta) Marine Ecology Progress Series 137: 243-250.
Pavel, M., Bruno, J.E., Gonzalez, E.L., and Strand, S.. 1996. Identifying and addressing information deficits for minority undergraduate students in science J. Educational Technology Systems 24: 335-357.
Corstjens, P.L.A.M., Y. Araki, P. Westbroek and E.L. Gonzalez. 1996. A Gene Encoding the 16 kD Proteolipid Subunit of a Vacuolar-Type H(+)-ATPase from Pleurochrysis carterae strain 136 (GenBank Accession No. U48365 and U53182) Plant Gene Register PGR96-038: – .
Kwon, D.K. and E.L. Gonzaelz. 1994. Localization of Ca2+-stimulated ATPase in the coccolith-producing-compartment of cells of Pleurochyrsis sp. (Prymnesiophyceae) J Phycol. 30: 689-695 .
Sign-in or Register to listen this fascinating interview here