Dina Elisa Cianca Castillo

• Hometown: Panama City, Panama
• Languages Spoken: Spanish and English
• Declared Major(s): Life Sciences Communications and Molecular and Cellular Biology
• Declared Certificate(s): Biology Core Curriculum Honors Certificate

Q and A with Dina:

1. Are there specific issues in poverty alleviation or development that you would like to work on or are currently addressing?

One of the issues that I would like to continue working on is the accessibility of education in Panama, specifically from the public politics perspective. Back in Panama, I’m involved in an organization called Youth United for Education which through youth participation in public politics and spaces where decision-makers have dialogues we bring our proposals to the prominent issues of education in Panama. In the future, I would like to work on science policy to increase the accessibility to areas of STEM in Panama to all kids and young adults. As well as increase the awareness of how science can help us develop our potential not just as individuals but also as a country.

2. Why is being a King-Morgridge Scholar important to you?

Being a King-Morgridge scholar means family and the opportunity to change your community. It allows you to explore from different perspectives issues that are rooted in your country, learn it and how to tackle it. Also, it is a synonym for responsibility, honesty, and a social collective to make a difference in the world.

3. Why is having the King-Morgridge Scholars Program at UW-Madison important to the institution, state, and world?

The King-Morgridge Scholars Program at UW-Madison is an opportunity to amplify the voices of those who don’t have one and allow us to expose those issues that are not well-known in our communities. It is important to the institution because it opens doors for dialogues and allows us to find new ways to tackle those issues from a macro perspective not just looking at the surface but rather going deeply into the causes of those issues. The King-Morgridge scholarship program is important to the world because brings multiple perspectives from different countries their realities and how we are more related than we would think. Understanding international perspectives allows us to tackle issues from the bases of responsibility, honesty, objectivity, and cooperation bringing excellence and commitment to be the voices of those who do not have it.

4. What is a fun fact about your hometown?

Panama has the most diverse seafood gastronomy. We have one of the best sweet corn drinks that you can drink either cold or hot.

5. What research experience do you have in the Plant Pathology Department?

I worked as a Research Assistant in the Koch Lab, where I focused on generating over-expression lines for multiple genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. This involved cloning and analyzing gene expression to better understand plant-pathogen interactions.