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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Browsing Student Works by Title

  • 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 Alejandro Yara Valle, March 12, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Yara Valle, Alejandro (Narrator) ; Keyla (Interviewer)
    After going through the horrible night of September 2017 when Hurricane María made landfall on Puerto Rico, Alejandro had to go back to work. He faced different situations and needed to head back as soon as possible since he was the electrical engineer in charge of the generator from five hospitals. During this time, he also had to help several family members who were at the hospital and, tragically, he had to face the death of a loved one. This all lead him to be under a lot of stress, but right now, he is able to share his story. The audience can see how resilient and strong he was during these chaotic times.
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    Oral history interview with Alexandra Erazo Ramos, November 19, 2023
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Erazo Ramos, Alexandra S. (Narrator) ; Toro Padró, Nehemías (Interviewer)
    The interview is about Alexandra Erazo Ramos, her experience in the public education system and how it has impacted her later work in educational justice through the Center for University Access. Alexandra narrates some of her experience as a high school student and links it to how she worked as a tutor and mentor in the outreach program.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Alfonso Vélez Iturrino and Carmen L. Candelario Lugo, March 13, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Vélez Iturrino, Alfonso (Narrator) ; Candelario Lugo, Carmen L. (Narrator) ; Martínez Vélez, Estefanía Y. (Interviewer)
    In this interview Alfonso Velez and Carmen Candelario both talk about their difficult childhoods in Puerto Rico, creating their owns careers, and their rough experience with hurricane George. They talk about the aftermath of the hurricane and their experience with hurricane María.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Amanda S. Soto González, December 17, 2021
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Soto González, Amanda S. (Narrator) ; Estévez Quintana, Aleyshka (Interviewer) ; University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
    At the time of the interview Amanda Soto Gonzalez is a student at Universidad de Puerto Rico Mayaguez, and an activist who works in Alacena Feminista and Siempre Vivas. In this interview she explains how her degree in Biology and Microbiology help her view the social and political issues from a different context; explaining that the main goal of Alacena Feminista is to address needs of food security and food sovereignty. In her narrative she shares the events of summer 2020, Tropical Storm Isaias. What began as an act of solidarity to help the community becomes a larger organized permanent project, and Soto Gonzalez explains the logistics and planning that happens to sustain a mutual aid project like Alacena Feminista. Soto Gonzalez addresses the responsibilities of the government and how lack of funding, privatization of public services, rising poverty levels, climate crisis all contribute to lack of access in food and health for communities. While the focus of the project is food security, Soto Gonzalez describe intersectionality with other groups and activities to promote education through documentaries (Landfall) and other public events. The interview also describes educational methods, redistribution of resources, the Puerto Rico strikes of 2017 and 2019, Hurricane Maria, access to safe abortions and sexual education, the Covid-19 pandemic, and other events relevant to LGBTQ+ communities. Some organizations mentioned include, Siempre Vivas, Ache Top, Combahee River Collective, Matrilíneo, and Kilometro 0.
  • 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 Angel Gabriel Rivera García, November 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Rivera García, Angel Gabriel (Narrator) ; Torres Vega, Andrea S. (Interviewer)
    Angel Rivera García is a 20-year-old UPRM student studying Electrical Engineering. He loves to spend time with his family and has two younger siblings. Angel and his family were safe during the hurricane and nothing major happened to their house. The story contains an interesting description of how there was a sudden calmness during the natural disaster, which was the eye of the hurricane. During this, they were able to go out for a while and see how everything was around their neighborhood. After the hurricane, he and his siblings had to find ways to maintain entertained during the time with no phone service or power, by playing board games, like Monopoly and card games. He describes how he and his dad had to cut up all the trees and branches that were left in the ground around his neighborhood after the hurricane. Angel’s dad works in Claro, and he and the company put up the infrastructure of antennas to provide phone service to the community. He tells us how the families were so grateful to the workers after they regained communication with their loved ones. It was an emotional moment for his dad, and his sacrifice paid off.
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    Oral history interview with anonymous narrator, April 11, 2023
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Anonymous (Narrator) ; Anonymous (Interviewer)
    A social justice story told by an anonymous narrator. This interview is about a young student who describes two experiences that made them feel uncomfortable. Both times were in a restaurant, and both were with a person of color. The narrator discusses social justice issues related to people often making judgements based on skin color. The narrator also expresses having been the object of incorrect assumptions from others due to having unusually light skin for a Puerto Rican.
  • 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.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with anonymous narrator, November 18, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Anonymous (Narrator) ; A.C.M. (Interviewer)
    The narrator is a quality control technician at a medical manufacturer industry. She lives in Puerto Rico, but she was born in the United States due to her parents seeking a better opportunity of treatments because of a rare condition that affects the formation of the radius bones in her arms. Even though she was born in the United States, she is a Puerto Rican who is working hard every day to reach her dreams. The access to a good education, good healthcare and many other services with quality, is what people are looking for in this day.
  • 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 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 Aurea “Aggie” Hernández and Mirna I. Carlo, June 17, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Hernández, Aurea (Narrator) ; Carlo, Mirna I. (Narrator) ; Betancourt Malavé, Natalia M. (Interviewer) ; University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
    Aurea “Aggie” Hernández Rodríguez se mudó a Toa Baja a los catorce años, donde estudió antes de ir a la universidad a estudiar Historia. Su familia tiene un largo historial de trabajo comunitario en la iglesia, lo cual también la inspiró. Cáritas es una organización internacional sin fines de lucro subvencionada por la iglesia católica, y Hernández Rodríguez es la coordinadora de la organización en la Iglesia del Espíritu Santo en Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. El objetivo principal de esta entrevista es entender mejor cómo Cáritas ayuda y provee a su comunidad. “Compartiendo mi pan” es un programa de banco de alimentos que comenzó hace 10 años donde los miembros de la comunidad pueden donar alimentos frescos y artículos no perecederos a la organización. Tienen un gran armario de almacenamiento que usan para guardar suministros de comida, así como congeladores para los alimentos frescos. Las personas necesitadas pueden comunicarse con la organización o presentarse en la iglesia y ellos brindan provisiones de emergencia. Hernández Rodríguez describe el llamado a la acción que tuvo la organización tras el paso del huracán María. Comenzaron llevando a cabo un censo casa por casa para averiguar cuáles eran las necesidades y comenzar a repartir provisiones. Colaboraron con miembros de la comunidad para identificar a las personas con necesidades y llegar a ellas. Como afirma Hernández Rodríguez, “Cáritas se envuelve. Tenemos grupos dedicados a personas sin hogar, familias, niños. No discriminamos. Es para todos los que necesitan ayuda y todo tipo de ayuda”.
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    Oral history interview with Ángela Luisa Pagán Rosario, April 29, 2023
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Pagán Rosario, Ángela Luisa (Narrator) ; A.N.B.P. (Interviewer)
    The interview features Ángela L. Pagán, who was born and raised in the town of Aibonito and currently resides there. During the interview, her childhood was initially discussed, including her favorite hobbies from back then. Another event in her life that is discussed it’s her great love for music, leading her to become a music teacher and later a primary school teacher. The main purpose of this interview was to analyze the challenges that Ángela faced as a result of Hurricane María and her recent diagnosis of breast cancer. Her experience provides valuable information on the struggles that many Puerto Ricans faced during this time, especially those who were most vulnerable to social injustices. After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, the island was devastated and there was widespread damage to infrastructure, including the power grid. Much of the population was deprived of basic services such as electricity and running water for several months. The shortage of basic necessities such as food and medicine was severe, and access to critical services such as healthcare was severely limited. As a cancer patient, Ángela was particularly vulnerable to the effects of the storm.
  • Publication
    Oral history interview with Blanca Cruz Miranda, March 6, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Cruz Miranda, Blanca (Narrator) ; Cruz Pérez, Allan (Interviewer)
    My aunt, Blanca Cruz Miranda, lives in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, one of the cities of the metropolitan area in the island. This area is known for its high population and large amount of housing projects. Blanca is the mother of 3 young adults, which she cared for while being a teacher. During March 15, 2022, the magistrate of Puerto Rico had a protest march in the capital city, San Juan, related to their working conditions. This has been a problem for almost a decade, but this was the first time enough of them joined in to get attention from various media outlets.
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    Oral history interview with Blanca, April 14, 2023
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Blanca (Narrator) ; Rosario Portillo, Joelys Marie (Interviewer)
    The narrator is called Blanca. This 58-year-old woman has been through difficult times, and yet she is always willing to help people. Through her employment as a food attendant with the Head Start Program, she had the opportunity to meet many people whom she had the pleasure of helping by providing delicious food and much more. This interview spans from the lady's childhood to her time working at Head Start, as her upbringing influenced the quality of person she became. There should be more employees with the initiative that Blanca has to observe what happens to the people she works with and be able to notify the organization to help those people.
  • 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 Carlos Rodríguez García, March 11, 2022
    (Oral History Lab @UPRM, ) Rodríguez García, Carlos (Narrator) ; Claudia (Interviewer)
    In this interview, I sat down with Carlos Rodríguez García, and we talked about when Hurricane Georges hit Puerto Rico. At that time, he lived in Humacao with his wife and his son, who was about 9 months old. Carlos mentioned his experience and some social justice problems he and others were facing. Throughout the interview, Carlos talked about how scary it was when he heard a loud sound and when he went to his baby’s room, he realized that the window had broken because of the pressure of the air. He then realized that water was coming in. He mentioned how important the help of many private sectors and the Church were.
  • 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.
  • 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.