Graduate Oscar Lujan: First-generation student finds his place in the lab and the LSU – The …

Oscar Lujan is the first member of his family to pursue a degree in higher education.When Lujan received the Lumberjack Scholarship in 2015, he decided to take the first step of his college career by moving away from his hometown of Phoenix to Flagstaff. Upon his arrival, he joined the Successful Transition and Academic Readiness (STAR) program.“I had no idea what to expect from college, especially at the university level,” he said. “Not only did the STAR program connect me with other students who were facing similar concerns, but I felt confident in myself that I could be the first in my family to complete a college degree.”During Lujan’s freshman year, he was accepted into the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD) program—a program funded by the National Institutes of Health that allows undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds to work in a lab while getting paid. Lujan applied to join the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (TERM) lab run by Robert Kellar, associate professor of practice in the Department of Biological Sciences.“I had a high school background in science and no laboratory experience, yet Dr. Kellar took a chance on me and allowed me to join his lab,” Lujan said.He…
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