During the months of March and April, read all about our fabulous and hard-working student employees and what they’re working on at the library and beyond. This week meet Nydia, who is working on a scoping review project for the Research, Education, and Clinical Information Services (RECIS) department. 

 

Nydia Villezcas is a project assistant in the RECIS department. She is enrolled in the Public Health master’s program for Epidemiology and says her proudest academic accomplishment is being asked to present at the 2022 Midwest Stream Forum for Agricultural Worker Health in Austin, Texas last month. Nydia presented abstract posters on a couple of projects that she was working on as a Research Assistant in association with the COPH Assessment, Planning, and Evaluation team. After graduating from UNM she plans to pursue a PhD in Epidemiology and would also like to conduct research for the Department of Health, specifically on food insecurity and obesity.

Nydia has only been working at the library for a few months, but says she has learned a lot. Her favorite task is learning how to use new databases and navigating through new research materials. She is part of a scoping review team at the library focused on understanding the role of academic health sciences libraries in engagement and outreach to Native American communities. She's contributed to the scoping review by parsing through various websites and abstracts to research the topic, and by translating and researching terms in Spanish for a full analysis.  

In her spare time Nydia is an avid hiker and backpacker, teaches yoga, and volunteers with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. She enjoys how comforting a bowl of soup is and makes a delicious green chile stew. She has two rescue pups: Benjamin and Jake. Benjamin is a 3-year-old Poodle/Westie mix who love to hike Wheeler Peak and lounge in a hammock (Nydia says he’s an old soul). Jake is a 2-year-old Aussie/Catahoula Leopard mix and is big and energetic. He loves to hike, run in the snow, and is always ready for a snack.