Carolina Salguero Receives the First Rosalyn Yalow Achievement in Science Award

At Hunter's 202^nd Commencement on June 3, graduating senior Carolina Salguero received the first Rosalyn Yalow Achievement in Science Award, named for Hunter's first physics graduate and one of two women graduates of Hunter to win a Nobel Prize in Medicine.  (Hunter remains the only school in the world with that distinction.)  President Jennifer J. Raab announced the award just days after Yalow's death, at the age of 89.

Like Dr. Yalow, said President Raab, Carolina "beat the odds."  The youngest of eight children growing up in Colombia, Carolina came to the U.S. alone when she was 16, not knowing a word of English but determined to fulfill her dream of becoming a scientist.  Her dream was deferred for several years while she worked full-time to support herself until she could go back to school.  Eventually, she was accepted at Hunter and received a special science scholarship - allowing her finally to put on that lab coat. 

It didn't take Carolina long to find success.  Her biology research at Hunter led to a summer program at Yale and many awards, including a Jonas Salk Scholarship, CUNY's highest science honor. Carolina graduated in June with a double major in biochemistry and economics - and will soon begin a PhD program in molecular and cell biology at Harvard University.