University of North Texas 
It was not my first time to sit down with Elliott, for I was fortunate enough to be in on her interview in Spring 2024 for Senior Mentor, which she ultimately ended up attaining. When asked how her wing was, Elliott replied, “it's a lot of fun, sometimes room checks take a lot longer than anticipated for they love to talk”. Elliott is also the President of JETS, (Junior Engineering Technological Society). JETS has the Science Adventure Camp scheduled for this semester. A great opportunity for families to bring their younger students to campus for a free immersive science camp experience on Oct. 19, Saturday. Elliott mentioned JETS has upped their game this year and have incorporated more dynamic experiments to wow the participants.
In addition to her student life leadership roles, Elliott is taking Organic Chemistry as her academic elective and is serving in Dr. Shengqian's laboratory. Her project focuses on carbon capture with metal frameworks to improve the environment. Elliott is traveling to M.I.T. for the Undergraduate Research and Technology conference this October presenting her research. Her path to Boston started last year when she first presented at the TAMS Fair in the fall 2023, then Ft. Worth Science Fair, then State Science Fair, a presentation in Dallas (American Chemical Society) and now in Boston. Elliott aspires to present at the International Science Fair in 2025. Her research has been published in the prestigious I.E.E.E. When asked about her academic goals, Elliott stated she is aspiring to be a Chemical Engineer.
Elliott is also involved with a local chapter of the Nightingale Advocacy's “Battling Barriers” that raises awareness and money to provide health services for individuals in the 13-19 year old range wrestling with chronic illnesses. Elliott's local chapter is aiming for a goal of $10K. Here is the GoFundMe link if you are interested in supporting Elliott's effort.
As we wrapped up our conversation I asked Elliott some quick tips for others:
Best cafeteria to eat on campus: Mean Green's
Where does she spend all her flex dollars: Café G.A.B. (located in the GAB). “BEST MATCHA!” Elliott states, “better than Starbucks!” Wow, what an endorsement.
What Elliot does for fun: Cooking with friends. It all started this summer during summer research when eating
in Bruce quickly became tiresome. Elliott and her buddies would routinely cook in
the Mac kitchenette. They called it “Culinary Research”. Elliott's specialty is Bulgogi,
a Korean burger fusion when Elliott makes it!
Elliott is a gem of a student. Actively making the TAMS community better and seeking to improve the world around her. I would greatly encourage all to cross paths with Elliott and get to know this outstanding individual.
Dear TAMS Alumni,
More than half of young-adult Americans suffer from at least one chronic or rare condition. To alleviate constant pain, these patients require ongoing and effective medication. However, outrageous drug prices and a lack of youth-tailored treatment evaluations make it incredibly challenging for these young adults to access the life-saving medication they need.
We are Nightingale Advocacy, a Texas-based, TAMS-student-run political coalition that drives youth toward progressive health policy reform. Via rallying together to take action on health policy issues plaguing our country, we aim to use our youth voices to make real change in U.S. health policy. This Fall, we are fundraising for Generation Patient: an organization geared toward fostering a more equitable healthcare system for youth with chronic and rare conditions. Generation Patient has hosted 500+ peer-support meetings for young-adult patients to share their unique experiences and cultivate self-advocacy skills. Moreover, they conduct health-policy work on the over-patenting of prescription drugs and the underrepresentation of youth in clinical trials—helping combat driving forces of inaccessible, expensive, and unsuited treatment. With your donation—even if it's just a few dollars—you have the opportunity to fund support spaces for these patients and to fuel advocacy for the quality care they need to thrive.
For more specifics on where these funds will go and what Generation Patient does, we encourage you to read Generation Patient's 2023 Report, with a detailed description of their mission, articles they have published, summits they have held, and so much more.
This fundraiser, which we have named “Battling Barriers,” is tax-deductible, and all funds raised will go directly to Generation Patient via this GoFundMe link. By the end of October, we hope to raise 10K+ for this crucial cause. Any amount you can donate helps us give back to our community and do our part in driving change in the U.S. healthcare system.
Warm regards,