Cambria Alpha

Undergraduate Student
Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Hispanic Studies major
Martel College
Current Research Project: Research on Scapharca hemoglobin, analyzing ligand movement in native and recombinant proteins
Graduation Date: May 2008

When asked why she chose Rice, senior Cambria Alpha enthusiastically responds without skipping a beat: “Rice offered amazing facilities and faculty for Natural Sciences yet also allowed studies in the Humanities. I could pursue my love of biochemistry but also languages and study abroad.  Rice is a paradise in the center of Houston. The University provides a great setting for learning, with boundless opportunities easily available right outside the hedges.”

It is this positive, enthusiastic sense of energy that has made an impression on her fellow students and professors on campus since she arrived in the fall of 2004. “Cambria can do anything, from powderpuff football at Martel College to protein engineering in my laboratory. She is a woman for all seasons and is guaranteed to be a great success in graduate school,” states John S. Olson, Ralph and Dorothy Looney Professor of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, and head of the lab in which Cambria is completing her research.

Cambria spends about 20 to 25 hours a week in Dr. Olson’s lab, conducting research on oxygen binding rates of recombinant hemoglobin. She is helping with a grant to develop the stereochemical theories for ligand capture and bond formation in the Scapharca inequivalvis Hb, as a representative example of invertebrate hemoglobin. She first became interested in this research after attending Dr. Olson’s lectures on kinetics in BIOS 302 and later, after investigation, becoming fascinated by the hemoglobin work being performed in his lab.

Cambria represents a perfect example of the Rice student that can easily master both scientific and non-scientific academics. Another well-known Rice professor, Dr. James Castañeda, Professor of Spanish, adds, “Cambria is one of the most enthusiastic students it has ever been my pleasure to know. She has been an outstanding student in my classes on Spanish Golden Age Literature, I frequently see her at the Rice fitness center, she has traveled extensively and has wide-ranging interests, and I have been honored to write letters of recommendation to graduate programs, four of which—among the most prestigious—have just offered her admission. She is extremely appreciative of any and all gestures to help and support her in her studies. I think she is wonderful!” 

Cambria is a native of Grand Junction, Colorado. In addition to Rice University, Cambria has attended International Universität in Bremen, Germany and Universidad de Salamanca in Spain. 

Outside of her studies, Cambria is a Rice Student Ambassador, Rice Study Abroad Student Advisor, Martel Powderpuff Team member, Rice University Peer Academic Advisor, and a Martel Mentor.