Diana Cantú-Melo is a Chancellor’s Science Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience with a Minor in Arabic. A graduate of Raleigh Charter High School and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Online Program, Diana is currently working in the Berg Lab, primarily focused on the Age-Based Genomic Screening Project under the mentorship of Dr. Laura Milko. She is an active member of the Community Engagement and Education Committee, where she leverages her fluency in Spanish to help bridge language barriers within Spanish-speaking populations. Diana’s prior research experience includes participation in the Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics program, where she investigated cataract formation in zebrafish embryos using CRISPR-Cas9 under the mentorship of Dr. Ying Wang at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
A passionate language enthusiast, Diana is bilingual in English and Spanish, with professional proficiency in French, which she developed over four years of study in high school. She also began learning Arabic through a fully-funded scholarship from the U.S. Department of State, participating in the National Security Language Initiative for Youth exchange program in Amman, Jordan.
Outside of academics, Diana is an active volunteer and dancer. She is involved with several ºÚÁÏÍø student organizations, including the Modernextensions Dance Company and the Campus Y First Year Council.