Student Works

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11801/3
This collection includes academic and creative works produced by UPRM students apart from theses, dissertations, and project reports submitted for graduate degrees. These may include textual documents (articles, books, book chapters, technical reports, etc.), conference presentations, research posters, and other products such as maps, graphics, or computer code. Works in this collection may or may not be produced as part of a class. To learn more about what works can be submitted to this collection, visit https://libguides.uprm.edu/repositorioUPRM/estudiantes

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  • Publication
    Hierarchical three-dimensionally ordered mesoporous carbon (3DOm) zeolite composites for the adsorption of Contaminants of emerging concern
    (Elsevier Inc., 2021-02-12) Fernández Reyes, Bethzaely ; Morales Jiménez, Stefannie ; Sánchez Marrero, Gloriani ; Muñoz Senmache, Juan C ; Hernández Maldonado, Arturo J ; College of Engineering ; Department of Chemical Engineering
    Effective removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from water via adsorption requires adsorbent materials that showcase a synergistic combination of textural properties, hydrophobicity, and specific surface interactions. In this work, we present a hierarchical composite prepared on the basis of in-situ or confined growth of a faujasite zeolite (FAU) within the voids of a 3D mesoporous ordered carbon (3DOm). This adsorbent was tested for the removal of several CECs (i.e., caffeine, carbamazepine, naproxen and metabolites clofibric acid, 10,11-epoxycarbamazepine, o-desmethyl naproxen, paraxanthine, and salicylic acid) from water at ambient conditions. Upon inclusion of copper(II) extra-framework cations, the hierarchical composite (Cu-3DOm-FAU) excelled at adsorbing ionic CECs and offered similar uptake capacity toward neutral parent compounds in both single- and multicomponent fashion and while covering a mg L^-1 - mg L^-1 concentration range. Compared to other adsorbents reported so far in the literature, the Cu-3DOm-FAU composite adsorption capacities were larger, in many cases by at least one order of magnitude. Given the substantial thermal stability of the composite, regeneration could be accomplished via thermal cycling also depending on the type of CEC involved.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Carlos Eziel Vega Rosario, May 4, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, 2022-05-04) Vega Rosario, Carlos Eziel (Narrator) ; Morales Gonzalez, Andre Jose (Interviewer)
    The interview is about inflation and fluctuation of prices throughout the past five years in Puerto Rico where the narrator had some stories from his point of view being a high school student and now a college student. During Maria he had a few stories that involved his grandparents losing their house and spending the night in their bathroom. During the earthquakes, he had a situation with the demand of gasoline which involved going through four municipalities in search of gasoline. He also talked about the instability of the UPR system with the cuts and everything which involved him leaving after a semester because he saw that things were not going to get better. Moving to another university during the current inflation became a hassle to a point where he decided to get a job in a shoe store for him to cope with the cost of living in 2022.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Jose Antonio Ruiz Questell, May 16, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, 2022-05-16) Ruiz Questell, Jose Antonio (Narrator) ; Ruiz Arce, Jose M. (Interviewer)
    This interview talks about the change that education has undergone in recent years. This was done by talking with Jose A. Ruiz Questell who has been a teacher in the public system for 29 consecutive years. He mentions the changes and impacts that social injustices and climatic changes have had on the system. He especially mentions the changes based on the tremors of 2020 and he also talks about the salary injustices that exist against the teachers at the heart of education.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Arelys Marzan, May 18, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, 2022-05-18) Marzan, Arelys (Narrator) ; Sánchez Centeno, Lizmarie (Interviewer)
    This interview addresses the injustice of gender-based prejudices. CAUTIONARY NOTE: The interview includes references to suicide which may be disturbing to some people.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with V.S.C., November 9, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) V.S.C. (Narrator) ; Z.M.R.R. (Interviewer)
    V.S.C. is a second year psychology college student. She was born on April 22, 2003 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. She lives in Cabo Rojo, a municipality situated on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico. The interview discussed topics of climate issues in Puerto Rico such as: Hurricane Maria, earthquakes, Covid, and Hurricane Fiona. V.S.C. was 15 years old when Hurricane Maria happened in 2017 and when Covid started she was a junior in high school going to 12th grade as a senior. V.S.C. was lucky enough through all of Maria and Fiona and didn’t suffer major losses or damages. When V.S.C. heard about Covid she was completely skeptical about the situation. She described that time as a very stressful time but filled with new experiences and self growth.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Sheyla A. Mercado Sánchez, September 8, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Mercado Sánchez, Sheyla A. (Narrator) ; Candelaria Mercado, Jeriel R. (Interviewer)
    The narrator’s name is Sheyla Arleen Mercado Sanchez, from Añasco, her birthday is on August 19, 1975. The interview takes place in Añasco. The date was September 8, 2022. Sheyla was born and raised in Añasco throughout her life. She has always been very responsible, dedicated, and hardworking. She has always been fond of working in finance and that is why all the jobs she ever had have been related to that. The interview focuses on social aspects regarding hurricane Maria, Electric Energy Company, COVID, abortion, and the government. In the interview the time periods go from 2017 to 2022. Starting from Hurricane Maria all the way to COVID and recently the situation regarding gas prices. The interview mostly focuses on the events that happened on the island and with the narrator. The narrator's experiences do have a relation with diverse social issues because it relates to their health, their economic status, and their daily life. They deal with political failure, overall structural care in most of the island and with managing to work on the minimum wage. The point is that there are many issues that need to be addressed that have not been done yet properly. All these things shaped and made the interview that later became a story possible.
  • Item
    Oral history interview with Peter Torres Greer, April 16, 2023
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Torres Greer, Peter (Narrator) ; Hernández, Cristian (Interviewer)
    Peter Torres was born to Cuban parents in Miami, Florida, and later moved to Puerto Rico with his family. He was educated in Catholic schools and eventually attended Loyola University in New Orleans. After graduating, he joined the National Guard and later pursued a career in mortgage banking. Peter's upbringing in Puerto Rico was filled with family traditions and delicious meals cooked by his grandmother. Going grocery shopping at a nearby agrocenter was an adventure, where live animals roamed freely and livestock were sold in the butcher's shop. Peter talks about his early childhood and, growing up in Puerto Rico.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Amelia Ruiz-Ruiz, September 28, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Ruiz-Ruiz, Amelia (Narrator) ; Feliciano Agostini, Naedra J. (Interviewer)
    Amelia Ruiz Ruiz is a farmer in Maricao. Since she was a child, agriculture has been a big part of her life. She is the tenth of eleven siblings. Since there were so many siblings and her father was the only source of income, they experienced poverty. But despite everything, they always managed to find something to fill their stomachs. Their main livelihood came from agriculture; from what his father grew on the farm. Amelia is a mother of four and grandmother of eleven. Throughout her life she has always carried on the recipes she learned from her mother. Recipes mostly made with ingredients she can find on her farm. Among her favorite recipes are: "vianda con bacalao”, "pasteles", coffee made from scratch, and "sorullos”. Amelia also tells us about the difficulties faced, as a farmer on the island. How difficult it is to work the land and how little they get monetarily. In addition to all this, there is the farmers' terror: weather phenomena, such as hurricanes and storms. With their strong winds and rain, they destroy the hard work, sweat, effort and take away the livelihood of many farmers. "The life of a farmer is difficult, very difficult." Note: The interview was conducted in Spanish.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with anonymous narrator, October 28, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Anonymous (Narrator) ; Anonymous (Interviewer)
    The narrator is a professional doctor and head medic in a clinic. Therefore, the narrator's services are highly important to many patients, especially the elderly and poor. The events of Hurricane Maria severely damaged the clinic and the workers’ routine; therefore, the work was not running well for weeks. Due to the power outages, the clinic lost its medications and vaccines; they were unable to fully help their patients in need. Mayagüez’s countryside roads were blocked with debris and some patients were also unable to walk, consequently, the narrator and her co-workers had to travel and visit these patients at their homes. They were able to complete these duties with the help of the national guard and the Mayagüez government. The narrator was astonished when visiting these places and describes the extreme poverty in these places and how people lost their homes and many other belongings. The points and details the narrator mentions in this interview demonstrate the financial crisis Puerto Rico is in and how unprepared the island is in case of a natural disaster.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Carmen Mojica Quiñones, November 17, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Mojica Quiñones, Carmen (Narrator) ; Roldán Arroyo, Andrea E. (Interviewer)
    Carmen Mojica Quiñones is a retired art teacher living in Barrio Voladoras Moca. She lives alone with her dog “Blacky”. Currently her favorite hobbys are going to the casino and going to eat with her family in different municipalities in Puerto Rico. Sometimes when she is alone in her house, she takes out her canvas, art brushes and paint and starts painting. When Carmen was young, she always loved school but when she fell in love, she was obligated to leave school for a while. Now at 81 years of age her perspective has changed since times have changed. Back then kids had to obey their parents in everything they said, so Carmen had to leave school so that she could learn what a housewife does for her future husband. Now she understands that what happened in high school, her leaving school just because she fell in love it was sexism by her mother. This was because back then women were supposed to stay home taking care of the household chores and taking care of their kids while their men worked. Nowadays we can see that a woman can do the same things a man can do and a man can do the same things the woman can.
  • Item
    Oral history interview with Gerardo Flores Colón, April 20, 2023
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Flores Colón, Gerardo (Narrator) ; Camacho Flores, Claudia S. (Interviewer)
    The interview follows Gerardo Flores Colón and his life growing up with 11 siblings. He was the first of his siblings to graduate from a university, and he describes the obstacles he had to overcome while getting his degree. He talks about how difficult it was for underprivileged youths to complete their degrees.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with José Rafael Cruz Ortiz, March 9, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Cruz Ortiz, José Rafael (Narrator) ; Cruz Ortiz, Juan Gabriel (Interviewer)
    José Rafael Cruz Ortiz, a 22 year-old student from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, tells us the story of how he endured the Hurricane Maria catastrophe, numerous protests, and the pandemic whilst still trying to succeed as a student.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Sofía Pérez Alers, April 2, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Pérez Alers, Sofía (Narrator) ; Derek (Interviewer)
    Sofia is a loving person with whom I was able to sit down with and listen to her story, which seemed like a Puerto Rican tragedy. Sofía lived in Barrio Victoria, in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, but currently resides in her daughters' house because her house was not suitable for an elderly person like her. She tells us her story of how she felt before, during, and after Hurricane Maria. Truly, she is a humble human being who really only cared about two things: the safety of her loved ones and her love of agriculture. She is a strong and independent woman who faced the reality of losing her home and everything in it. Despite this, she lives every day with a smile on her face, providing food to her neighbors and others straight from her yard.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with anonymous narrator, November 16, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Anonymous (Narrator) ; Y.R.A. (Interviewer)
    The narrator is a student of the UPR of Rio Piedras. Studies Natural Sciences. This interview addresses the year 2017. She was in high school and the Hurricane Maria was passing through Puerto Rico. Her family was crucial in this history, because she lived this whole catastrophe with them. The narrator saw first hand how people from rural areas have to wait more than others for services from the government. Most of the time, they have to help themselves.
  • Item
    Oral history interview with Juan Antonio Vélez Feneque, April 17, 2023
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Vélez Feneque, Juan Antonio (Narrator) ; Chaparro Vélez, Glerysbeth Alanis (Interviewer)
    Juan Vélez Feneque, also known as Tony, was born and raised in Rincón, Puerto Rico. He was an orphan and the youngest of all his siblings. During the mid-1900, Juan Velez decided to migrate to the United States as a way to help his mother make ends meet. Living in "The City That Never Sleeps" can come with its ups and downs. There were instances where Tony found himself lost while traveling on public transportation, as well as overcoming difficult obstacles, such as searching for a job at the age of sixteen while still learning English. Throughout this journey he experienced many social injustices such as racism and discrimination. As a minority, he had to witness countless gang fights that have impacted life in many ways. He used them as a learning experience as a way to achieve the American dream.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Estrella Pagan Wiscovich, November 8, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Pagán Wiscovich, Estrella (Narrator) ; Rodríguez De Jesús, Malik (Interviewer)
    Estrella Pagán Wiscovich is a nice and sweet 70 year old lady who shares her journey of life with us. She starts by talking about her childhood. Estrella came from a poor family. Her father was in the military and took care of his parents and Estrella, with only one job that didn’t pay much. Estrella got treated like a soldier, she had a lot of chores and had to walk three kilometers to school. Growing up she decided she was going to be a doctor, so she could come out of the poverty. During elementary school and high school, Estrella, had some help from teachers that made an impact in her life, and created an internal love for helping others. After graduation high school, Estrella went to college where she started studying Biology, but found that it wasn’t her passion. In her second year of college, Estrella fell in love, got married and had three kids. Estrella had a very delicate body, so her first pregnancy was so dangerous, she ended up being in a comma for almost one month. Short time passed and things did not go well for Estrella and her husband, so they decide to get a divorce. At this point, Estrella finds herself alone, working a night job with three kids to feed. She then moves back with her father and starts helping the kinder-garden teacher where her children studied. She decides to become a teacher and goes back to college. After she gets her degree she finds a job at a school in a poor sector of Cabo Rojo, she identified with the people there, because they grew up like her. She worked for thirty-six years which were the best of her life.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Fabiola N. Oliveras Rosa, October 8, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Oliveras Rosa, Fabiola N. (Narrator) ; Negrón Valentín, José J. (Interviewer)
    The narrator is Fabiola N. Oliveras Rosa. She is a 22-year-old girl born in Manatí. She lives in Monte Bello, a rural community within the town of Manatí. The topic touched on during the interview covers the events that Fabiola experienced during Hurricane Maria. In the interview, topics such as the difficulties faced by the rural population of Puerto Rico as opposed to those faced by the urban population are discussed. In the same way, the issues of injustice are touched upon when it comes to accessibilities to the opportunity for services. Fabiola manages to offer the public a new point of view of what it is like to go through these needs when living in the rural area of ​​the island.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Diego Andrés De Sevilla Acosta, March 4, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) De Sevilla Acosta, Diego Andrés (Narrator) ; Acevedo Martínez, Valerie Marie (Interviewer)
    The government of Puerto Rico has treated education as a secondary option for students. Budget cuts have been made around various educational institutions, but mostly focused on the public school system. This includes universities, high schools, elementary schools, primary schools, etc. These reductions have caused emotional and financial damages to the employees, teachers, and students. The reductions have even caused the closures of many schools. As the child of a public-school teacher, Mr. De Sevilla talks about the effects it has had in his family, and what his point of view is on the topic.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Luz María Merle Rodríguez, November 12, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Merle Rodríguez, Luz María (Narrator) ; Santos Perez, Daniel Enrique (Interviewer)
    Luz María Merle Rodríguez has lived her entire life by the beach, “Los Almendros”, in Rincón. Where once there stood an entire neighborhood on the beach with an active community full of people and a fishery, is now a thin, empty, sandy shore next to the ocean. As time passed, coastal erosion destroyed these houses and businesses, meanwhile others were offered deals to sell their beachside plots of land. The loss of fishing in the wake of Hurricane Maria also led to the decline of the fishing community at the beach. Luz describes how this beach has changed over her lifespan and gives insight into the community, the traditions and the people that she had growing up and how they too have changed in the wake of coastal erosion.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Carlos Rodríguez Quintero, November 4, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Rodríguez Quintero, Carlos Samuel (Narrator) ; Montalvo Torres, Amanda (Interviewer)
    Carlos Rodríguez Quintero is a 22-year-old Mechanical Engineering Student at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. He was born and raised alongside his sister and cousins in Ponce, Puerto Rico. From his early years he was interested in many extracurricular activities like sports, music, designing and cars. His passion for cars has motivated him to study and work towards starting his own business in the future. In 2017, he graduated high school and started studying at UPRM when Hurricane Maria impacted the island in September of that same year. Hurricane Maria caused the death of 4,645 individuals and it had a devastating impact on the island causing estimated damages of millions of dollars. The government response to this natural disaster was slow and people were not prepared for the aftermath. Carlos speaks about the days following the Hurricane and how hard it was obtaining necessities like food, water, and gas, while also waiting every day for the electricity, water, and communication services to come back. Cooperation and companion from family and neighbors helped him overcome these though times. He recounts his transition from the University at Mayaguez to his house in Juana Díaz during the storm, and back to the University the weeks after the passing of the Hurricane. When he went back to Mayaguez, he faced the many new challenges of being a student at the time. Today, Carlos is doing an internship at Eaton Electrical in Coamo, Puerto Rico and is expecting his graduation in May 2024. Note: The interview was conducted in Spanish. Spanish transcription of audio file is available.