UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Yuki Yoshida of State College, Pennsylvania, will be honored as the student marshal for the Penn State Eberly College of Science at the University’s summer 2024 commencement ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 10, on the University Park campus.
 
Yoshida will graduate with a 4.0 grade-point average and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. In 2023, Yoshida received the Evan Pugh Scholar Senior Award and the Goldwater Scholarship and earned first place at the Penn State Research Experiences for Undergraduates summer poster symposium. She was also a Schreyer Scholar and a member of the Dean’s List for her entire collegiate career.
 
“I was honored to learn that I would be representing the Eberly College of Science during commencement,” Yoshida said. “It’s all thanks to my amazing professors in the biochemistry and molecular biology and chemistry departments for giving me an amazing experience, the Millennium Scholars Program, Schreyer Honors College, and the Presidential Leadership Academy for their financial aid — and most of all, my parents and my younger brother for their unwavering support.”
 
Her research experience began when she was a senior at State College Area High School. She worked with Jian Yang, professor of biomedical engineering, for three years, and during this time she published a first-author review paper about recent advancements in nanomaterials engineering — an area of study focused on materials at a very small scale — to promote blood vessel formation in the body. Yoshida also worked with Squire Booker, Evan Pugh University Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with whom she completed her Schreyer Honors Thesis, on a project focused on preventing antibiotic resistance.
 
Yoshida was also involved in the Janelia-Meyerhoff Undergraduate Scholars Program in 2022, the National Science Foundation-funded Penn State Chemistry Research Experience for Undergraduates in 2023, and the college’s Science LionPride organization from 2021 to 2024.
 
During her time at Penn State, Yoshida said she learned a few lessons: “I think it’s important to dream big and to not be afraid to challenge yourself. I believe that a lot of the big dreams I had in college were achieved because I challenged myself, whether it be joining a great lab with wonderful mentors or seeking academic scholarships and opportunities. Penn State has a lot of these, and I’m glad I was able to attend Penn State for the past three years.”
 
Following graduation, Yoshida will work for two years as a postbaccalaureate researcher at Stanford University, in a lab that focuses on cancer-cell-signaling research, before applying to medical degree/doctoral degree programs.