{"id":143895,"date":"2022-11-28T11:44:59","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T18:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=143895"},"modified":"2022-11-28T11:45:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T18:45:01","slug":"forging-a-new-path-kayla-waterman-vandiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=143895","title":{"rendered":"Forging a new path | Kayla Waterman-Vandiver"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kayla Waterman-Vandiver working in a lab at the Hybl Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Kayla Waterman-Vandiver remembers the day in college when her dream career changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had planned to be a medical doctor from a young age and, with this in mind, was studying biology at UCCS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she began to consider a research career after a class in skeletal muscle physiology where Professor Robert Jacobs opened her eyes to new possibilities. Waterman-Vandiver says her \u201caha\u201d moment came when she received particularly affirming feedback on an assignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProfessor Jacobs told me he could see me flourishing as a scientist,\u201d Waterman-Vandiver says. \u201cThat really was a pivotal moment for me because he was telling me I was on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacobs’ confidence in Waterman-Vandiver’s academic abilities factored heavily in her decision to pursue postgraduate study in the biosciences rather than applying for medical school. Her new dream is to obtain a PhD and research type 2 diabetes, women\u2019s health or sports medicine with a focus on female athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know that six additional years seems like a really long time and people ask me why I want to stay in school,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I say, \u2018Why not stay in school?\u2019 Why not enjoy yourself along the way and learn as much as you can so you can make a bigger impact when you graduate?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helping Students Reach Their Full Potential<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Scholarships have made it possible for Waterman-Vandiver to stay in school and reach her goal of earning an advanced degree, a path no one else in her family has taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI push myself because my mom in particular always felt like she had the potential to do more,\u201d says Waterman-Vandiver, the youngest of six siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an undergraduate, she qualified for the Bruce and Anne Shepard Reach Your Peak Scholarship which covered most of her tuition costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe scholarship was really helpful during my undergraduate years,\u201d Waterman-Vandiver says. \u201cIt was my largest scholarship and it let me walk away with much less college debt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other scholarships, such as the UCCS Chancellor\u2019s Award and the UCCS Graduate Research Fellowship, also helped cover the cost of her undergraduate and graduate education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding Motivation Through Athletics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Waterman-Vandiver flourished at UCCS both as a student and a track-and-field athlete. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, the team won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships. Because of her outstanding performance, after her first year, Waterman-Vandiver was awarded an athletic scholarship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really love track because it shows you a different side of discipline and determination than schooling and academics,\u201d Waterman-Vandiver says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waterman-Vandiver and her teammates found their home at the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse. Made possible in part by donor support, the facility became a home base for the UCCS track-and-field team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was awesome to be able to be done with our running workouts and go straight to the weight room,\u201d Waterman-Vandiver recalls. \u201cHaving that one facility for all of us made us feel like more of a team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring a Passion for Research<\/h3>\n\n\n
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UCCS graduate student Kayla Waterman-Vandiver at the Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center on Monday, September 26, 2022. (Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for the University of Colorado)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Being part of an athletics team also piqued Waterman-Vandiver\u2019s interest in women\u2019s health, which is now a focus of her research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating magna cum laude with her bachelor\u2019s degree, Waterman-Vandiver hit the ground running as a graduate student. With Jacobs as her thesis advisor, she is working on two research projects, one which focuses on mitochondrial function in aging and type 2 diabetes and the other relates to treating hot flashes in menopausal women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI realized last year that there are very few women studied in scientific research,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, I want to contribute to our understanding of women\u2019s health by doing more research with female participants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacobs attributes Waterman-Vandiver\u2019s growth and success at UCCS to her work ethic.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer tremendous academic efforts at UCCS have allowed her the opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree in one of the nation\u2019s preeminent laboratories studying human bioenergetics,\u201d Jacobs says. \u201cI am sincerely excited to see what Kayla\u2019s future brings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the original article from CU here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kayla Waterman-Vandiver remembers the day in college when her dream career changed. She had planned to be a medical doctor from a young age and, with this in mind, was studying biology at UCCS. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":143896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[86,332,60,279],"class_list":["post-143895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","tag-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences","tag-more-news","tag-student-success","tag-william-j-hybl-sports-medicine-and-performance-center"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/6352a77847309c31b4793766_IR22-UCCS-06-p-1600.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-BqT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=143895"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143901,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143895\/revisions\/143901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/143896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=143895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=143895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=143895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}