Undergraduate Research Opens Doors to Confidence and Belonging

Growing up with lifelong health challenges that were often poorly understood, rising senior, Kaia Mount became fascinated not just with why conditions happen, but how scientists investigate the unknown.

Two months into her first year at the University of Arizona, she joined a muscle filament lab. Something clicked immediately.

"I fell in love with the process of discovery," she said. "Even when experiments failed, it still felt meaningful."

That early experience led her to the Capaldi Lab, where her work on cellular communication pathways has implications for cancer, metabolic disorders, and neurodegenerative disease. Along the way, PI Dr. Andrew Capaldi and graduate mentor Stephanie Gastelum shaped both her scientific development and her confidence.

Not every experiment succeeded. A project lasting several months, with repeated redesigns, extensive troubleshooting, never produced usable data. But with the support of many different mentors across programs and labs, Kaia reframed the setback.

"Biology is difficult, failure is common, and meaningful science requires resilience," she reflected.

That resilience showed up at her first independent poster presentation. Standing beside a poster built from months of experiments, troubleshooting, and persistence, she realized for the first time that a future in research felt real.

Through the Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP), Kaia completed a fully funded summer of independent research. This summer, she takes that momentum to Brussels, Belgium, through the Biology Research Abroad: Vistas Open (BRAVO!) program at Institut de Recherche LABIRIS.

“As a feminine woman who doesn’t fit the traditional stereotype of a scientist, I’ve had moments where I felt out of place,” Kaia shared. “But over time, I’ve learned that what unites us in research isn’t how we look or where we come from. It’s our shared curiosity and commitment to discovery.”

At the University of Arizona, that's not the exception. It's the goal. By opening research to students at every stage and surrounding them with mentorship, guidance, and community, the university transforms curiosity into confidence, challenges into growth, and participation into belonging.