Iñiguez lab recent news/events:
Our undergraduate student, Christopher Frausto, was recognized as an "URSCI (Undergraduate Research, Scholarly, and Creative Inquiry) Honors student" at the 2026 Honor's Convocation (April 12, 2026) - Way to go Chris!
Our undergraduate student, Jessica A. Garcia, was recognized with the "Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award" at the 2026 Honor's Convocation (April 12, 2026) - Way to go Jessica!
Anapaula Themann received the "Outstanding Graduate Student Award" at UTEP's 2026 Honor's Convocation (April 12, 2026). Congratulations, Anapaula!
Daniel Calvo was recognized with the "High Productivity Award" at the 2026 Honors Convocation for his research output during his MA training in the Iñiguez laboratory (April 12, 2026) - Felicidades Daniel!
Anapaula Themann successfully defended her Dissertation, entitled: Fluoxetine exposure during adolescence alters prefrontal cortex signaling and nociceptive-related behavior in adulthood (03/13/2026). Congratulations Dr. Themann, and best of luck at Harvard!
Anapaula Themann successfully defended her Dissertation Proposal (12/11/2025) - Congratulations on completing this milestone, Anapaula!
Daniel Calvo successfully defended his MA Thesis (11/06/2025) - Congratulations Daniel!
Our former undergraduate student Miguel Arenivar received the 2025 National Award of Excellence for Best Poster by a New Investigator (Basic Science) at the National Science Network on Drug Abuse (NHSN) conference in Miami, FL. Congratulations Migui!
Anapaula Themann received the 2025 Excellence in Research by a Student Award at the National Science Network on Drug Abuse (NHSN) conference in Miami, FL. Congratulations Anapaula!
Our undergraduate student, Christopher A. Frausto, was selected as a Fall semester NIH-SMART-MiND scholar at UTEP (September 2025). Congratulations, Chris!
Daniel Calvo successfully proposed his MA thesis project (06/02/2025). He will be evaluating the long-term effects of fluoxetine on serotonin transporter expression in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of male mice. Congratulations, Daniel!
Congratulations to Daniel Calvo for receiving the College of Liberal Art's Burmeister Summer Research Grant at UTEP (05/21/2025). Daniel will receive $1,000 dollars to fund his research during summer 2025!
Our graduate student Minerva Rodriguez successfully defended her Dissertation entitled "The bullied prairie vole: Modeling depression and anxiety through social defeat stress" (April 28th, 2025). Congratulations Dr. Rodriguez!
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Two of our undergraduate students were celebrated at UTEP's 2025 Honors Convocation (April 7, 2025). Paulina Vargas for her active research engagement (URSCI Honors), and Joselynn Reyes for receiving the Outstanding Senior in Psychology Award. Congratulations to you both!
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Congratulations to our undergraduate student Paulina Vargas for being recognized with the Outstanding Presentation Award (11/20/2024) at the 2024 Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium at Rice University!
Happy to announce that our graduate student Minerva Rodriguez is the recipient of the 2024 COGDOP William and Dorothy Bevan Scholarship from the American Psychological Foundation (10/29/2024) - Felicidades Minerva!
Minerva Rodriguez received the 2024 Excellence in Research by a Student Award from the National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) research conference (New Orleans, LA). Also, our undergraduate student Paulina Vargas was recognized as a 2024 Social Sciences Poster Winner at the conference! Way to go team Iñiguez!!
Congratulations to Minerva Rodriguez for successfully proposing her Dissertation Project (09/23/2024)!
Congratulations to Minerva Rodriguez and Anapaula Themann for being selected to receive the Diversity Scholars Travel Award ($1500 each) from The Office of Research Training, and Disparities (ORTDD) at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Congratulations to you both!
Congratulations to our undergraduate student Jessica Garcia on her Honorable Mention at UTEP's COURI summer 2024 research symposium (Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences category)!
Anapaula Themann was selected to receive the Department of Psychology's Student Research Endowment to conduct research during the 2024 summer months (June 13, 2024). Congratulations, Anapaula!
Our undergraduate student Jessica A. Garcia was selected as an NIH-RISE scholar at UTEP (06/05/2024). What a great way to start the 2024 summer!
Congratulations to Anapaula Themanmm for being selected as a 2024-2026 Neuroscience Scholars Program (NSP) Fellow by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) (05/06/2024). Anapaula is the 2nd graduate student from our lab to be recognized with such a prestigious fellowship from the SfN!!
Congratulations to Minerva Rodriguez for being selected as a 2024-2026 Neuroscience Scholars Program (NSP) Associate by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) (05/06/2024).
Our undergraduate student Paulina Vargas was selected as a 2024 Goldwater Scholar! She was the only one at our institution to receive this prestigious and competitive award (04/01/2024) - We are so proud of your achievements, Paulina!
Minerva Rodriguez was selected as the recipient of the 2024 Best Paper Award from the Department of Psychology for her recent publication in Journal of Affective Disorders. She will be recognized at The Honors Convocation annual celebration this April 7th, 2024 - congratulations Minerva!
Joselynn Reyes was selected to participate in the Michigan State University Summer Research Experience for Undergraduate Program (East Lansing, MI). Congratulations and best of luck this summer, Joselynn!
Our undergraduate student Paulina Vargas was selected to participate in the 2024 SURF program at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota). Congratulations and best of luck this summer, Paulina!
Our undergraduate student Joselynn Reyes was selected to participate in the RISE scholars program at UTEP (Spring, 2024). What a great way to start 2024, Joselynn!
Congratulations to Minerva Rodriguez for being selected (08/29/2023) as a recipient of the Society for Neuroscience's (SfN) 2023 Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA)! Best of luck at the conference in Washington DC Minerva!
Mirella Hernandez-Lima, a former undergraduate trainee from our lab, was awarded the competitive NIH Blueprint D-SPAN (F99/K00) Award (August 22, 2023). Congratulations Mirella - we are looking forward to your future research findings!
Congratulations to our incoming (Fall 2023) graduate student Daniel Calvo for being selected as a LSAMP Bridge to Doctorate fellow (2023-2025) at UTEP.
Our undergraduate student Paulina Vargas received (05/12/2023) the Travel Award to attend the SACNAS National Diversity in STEM conference in Portland, Oregon. Felicidades!
Israel Garcia Carachure was selected (April 29, 2023) as a 2023 SMDP Biotech Scholar (Scientist Mentoring & Diversity Program for Biotechnology). Congratulations Israel!
Anapaula Themann has been selected (04/28/2023) as a 2023 Summer Program in Neuroscience, Excellence and Success (SPINES; June 11- July 05) fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA) - Congratulations, Anapaula!
Our undergraduate student Joselynn Reyes was selected to participate in the SMART-MiND scholars program at UTEP (summer 2023). Congratulations, Joselynn!
Israel Garcia Carachure successfully defended his Dissertation entitled "Long-term effects of juvenile ketamine and/or social stress exposure on spatial memory in C57BL/6 mice" (April 10th, 2023). Congratulations to Dr. Garcia Carachure - the 2nd PhD from the Iñiguez Lab!
Dr. Iñiguez receives the 2022-2023 Distinguished Graduate Award from The Program in Neuroscience and Department of Psychology at The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (January 25, 2023).
Congratulations to Minerva Rodriguez for receiving the highly-selective National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) diversity scholars travel award to attend the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference (November 12-16, 2022). Felicidades Minerva!
Congratulations to our SMART-MiND summer student Paulina Vargas for winning honorable mention Best Poster Presentation at the UTEP COURI Summer Symposium in the Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences section (August 4, 2022). Way to go Pau!
Congratulations to Minerva Rodriguez, Anapaula Themann, and Israel Garcia-Carachure for being selected to attend the Visiting Future Faculty Program at the University at Buffalo. This program selects promising doctoral scholars to expose them to research and teaching opportunities (October 17-20, 2022), with the goal of diversifying STEM-related fields.
Former undergraduate Honors student Steven J. Nieto, currently a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA, receives (07/01/2022) the 2022 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Travel Award! This is an extremely competitive award - we are so proud of your accomplishments, Dr. Nieto!
Dr. Iñiguez is promoted to the rank of Professor at The University of Texas at El Paso (06/10/2022)
Israel Garcia-Carachure was selected to present his research at the NYU CoNNexINS 2022 Symposium (05/05/2022) in New York City, NY. We look forward to your presentation on June 16-17, 2022, Israel!
Minerva Rodriguez successfully defended her MA thesis at UTEP (04/26/2022)! Congratulations, Minerva!
Our undergraduate student Paulina Vargas was selected as a SMART-MiND scholar (summer 2022), and also as as BUILD fellow (starting Fall 2022) at UTEP (03/25/2022)! Congratulations, Paulina!
Congratulations to Anapaula Themann for being selected as a 2022 enhanced Interdisciplinary Research Training Institute (eIRTI) scholar. This program, from The University of Southern California (USC), promotes the career development of pre-doctoral scientists interested in conducting research on substance abuse.
Congratulations to Israel Garcia-Carachure for receiving the National Recognition Award from the Department of Psychology at UTEP (03/07/2022). He will be recognized for this achievement at the Spring 2022 Honors Convocation Ceremony.
Congratulations to Anapaula Themann for receiving the Best Graduate Thesis award from the Department of Psychology at UTEP. She will be recognized for this achievement at the Spring 2022 Honors Convocation Ceremony.
Former undergraduate Honors student Mirella Hernandez, now a PhD student at University of Michigan, was awarded an F31 research grant from NIH to complete her dissertation work (January 10, 2022)! - Congratulations Mirella, we are so proud of you!!
Congratulations to Anapaula Themann and Israel Garcia-Carachure for being selected among the TOP 5 Research Poster Presenters at the GradExpo event at UTEP (hosted by The Graduate School, December 6th, 2021)!
Congratulations to Anapaula Themann for successfully defending her MA Thesis (October 27th, 2021)!
Congratulations to Anapaula Themann for receiving the Best Poster Presentation Award at the National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) research conference (9/24/21). Way to go Anapaula!
Dr. Iñiguez receives the National Award of Excellence in Innovative Advances in Health Research from the National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) for the establishment of the vicarious defeat stress model in female mice (9/24/21).
Our 2021 undergraduate visiting SMART-MiND student, Elizabeth Diaz, received an Honorable Mention for her poster presentation at UTEP's 2021 summer COURI symposium (08/07/21) - Great job, Elizabeth!
Congratulations to our undergraduate student Carolina Amaya Licon for her acceptance to the Yale School of Medicine Program to Advance Training in Health and Science (PATHS) (07/01-2021). Congratulations, Carolina!
Congratulations to Israel Garcia-Carachure for being selected as a 2021-2023 Neuroscience Scholars Program (NSP) Fellow by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) (06/09-2021). Great way to represent UTEP and our lab - Felicidades!
Former undergraduate Honors student Steven Nieto, now a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA, gets his F32 grant funded from NIH! Congratulations Dr. Nieto!
Congratulations to Israel Garcia-Carachure for receiving the competitive Spring Dodson Research Grant from The Graduate School at UTEP (05/28/2021).
Esmeralda Aguilera (Texas Tech University student) joins our lab as a 2021 SMART-MiND scholar (05/24/2021). Welcome to the team, Esmeralda!
Congratulations to our graduate student Anapaula Themann on receiving the 1st Place and People's Choice Awards at UTEP's Three-Minute Thesis Competition! Two awards in a single event (04/15/21)! Way to go Anapaula!
Our undergraduate student Carolina Amaya Licon was accepted to attend the Post-Baccalaureate Program in Psychological Science at The University of California, Irvine Program (03/19/2021). We will miss you, Carolina!
Congratulations to Anapaula Themann for receiving the 2021 Early Graduate Research Award from the Department of Psychology at UTEP!
Congratulations to Israel Garcia-Carachure for receiving the 2021 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, and the Graduate Research Award from the Department of Psychology. Two awards in one year - way to go, Israel!
Our undergraduate student Marcela Tinajero-Ojeda was accepted to attend the Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program (LSSURP) at the University of Minnesota (02/25/2021).
Our graduate student Anapaula Themann successfully proposed her MA thesis project (12/10/2020) in the Department of Psychology at UTEP - Congratulations Anapaula!
Dr. Iñiguez is elected Full Member status (12/09/2020) at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP).
Congratulations to Israel Garcia-Carachure for winning the National Award of Excellence in Research by a Student from the National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) on Drug Abuse (10/16/2020)!
Miguel Arenivar, our former undergraduate UTEP-MERITUS scholar, will be starting the PhD program in Neuroscience at Brown University (Fall 2020). Best of luck Migui!
Congratulations to Israel Garcia-Carachure for successfully defending his MA Thesis, entitled "Ketamine pre-exposure does not influence later-life responses to reward-related stimuli in female C57BL/6 mice" (August 4th, 2020). Way to go, Israel!
Our graduate student Anapaula Themann was featured in El Faro 2020 (National Hispanic Science Network). Check out the newsletter in the following link: https://www.the-nhsn.org/NewsAndMedia/ElFaro/docs/El%20Faro%20NewsLetter_06.08.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1wFqrtWMCKahLROBLywyJGaHr_cPevzLDZROgESOabakTfAY0mGYDdHMI. Congratulations, Anapaula!
The Iñiguez lab is proud to announce that Francisco Flores successfully defended his Dissertation entitled "Juvenile Fluoxetine Treatment Mediates an Anxiogenic Phenotype that is Ameliorated by its Re-exposure in Adulthood" (May 26th, 2020). Francisco will be joining The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA) in Fall 2020 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Congratulations to Dr. Flores-Ramirez - the 1st PhD from the Iñiguez Lab!
Bryan Cruz, a former undergraduate Iñiguez lab member, successfully defended his dissertation (PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience) from the Department of Psychology at UTEP (05/22/2020). Congratulations to Dr. Cruz and his graduate advisor Dr. Laura O'Dell!
Former undergraduate lab member, Chien Originales, completed the Doctor of Pharmacy degree (PharmD) from the School of Pharmacy at the Keck Graduate Institute (Claremont, CA). Congratulations, Dr. Originales!
Graduate student Francisco Flores receives the "High Impact Research Award" from the Department of Psychology at UTEP (05/13/2020). Great way to represent our lab, Francisco!
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Jorge Sierra-Fonseca, will start a tenure-track faculty position (Assistant Professor of Neuroscience) at Chatham University (Pittsburgh, PA), in Fall 2020. Congratulations, Dr. Sierra-Fonseca!
Former undergraduate student Raisa Felts successfully defended her dissertation (PsyD in Counseling Psychology from Northwest University). Congratulations Dr. Felts!
We are happy to announce that three graduate students from our lab (Israel Garcia and Anapaula Themann) received Travel Awards to attend the 12th Annual BBC (Behavior, Biology, and Chemistry: Translational Research in Addiction) research conference in San Antonio, Texas (Feb 29th – March 1st, 2020).
Congratulations to our graduate student Israel Garcia for being selected as the recipient of the "Most Productive Graduate Student" Award at the UTEP Honors Convocation (April 28th, 2019)!
Former undergraduate Honors student, Steven Nieto, gets his Ph.D. from The University of Houston (11/19/2019), and is now off to a postdocoral fellowship at UCLA. Congratulations Dr. Nieto!
Our graduate student Israel Garcia was featured in the El Faro 2019 issue (from the National Hispanic Science Network). Check out the newsletter in the following link: https://www.the-nhsn.org/NewsAndMedia/ElFaro/docs/Newsletter.pdf - Congratulations, Israel!
Congratulations to Francisco Flores for receiving the Outstanding Associate Instructor Award for the 2018-2019 Academic Year in the Department of Psychology at UTEP.
Former Undergraduate student, Norma Zamora, gets her Ph.D. from The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (2019). Congratulations Dr. Zamora!
Congratulations to our SMART-MiND summer student Diamond I. Pardo for winning Best Poster Presentation at the UTEP COURI Summer Symposium (August 3, 2019)
Minerva Rodriguez receives The Doctoral Excellence Fellowship from The Graduate School at UTEP to complete her graduate training in the Department of Psychology (2019-2023) - Congratulations, Minerva!
Francisco Flores receives the competitive Summer Research Fellowship from UTEP's Graduate School - Summer 2019
Dr. Iñiguez is awarded The 2018 Clever Systems Early Career Investigator Award from the American Psychological Association (San Francisco, CA).
Dr. Iñiguez receives the 2018 National Award of Excellence in Mentorship from the National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) on Drug Abuse (Rockville, MD).
Congratulations to Israel Garcia for being selected to receive the LSAMP Bridge to Doctorate fellowship (2018-2020) to fund his doctoral studies in the Iñiguez Lab at UTEP.
Dr. Iñiguez receives the 2017 Mentoring Award from the NIH-BUILDing Scholars Program at UTEP.
