Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship

March 19, 2025

Isabel Angres has been selected by the Department of Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB) as the 2024-2025 Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship recipient. Congratulations, Isabel!

Isabel Angres is a third-year student (graduating this spring) double majoring in Human Biology and Society and Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology as well as minoring in Biomedical Research.

Isabel's research in the Clark lab focuses on the development of germ cells in the early human embryo. Isabel also leads LAUSD high school students through educational STEM labs. She is a Managing Editor for the UCLA Undergraduate Science Journal. Isabel is extremely passionate about human genetics and expanding scientific access/communication with the public.

This award is made possible by the generosity of donors to the Division of Life Sciences.

When MCDB graduate Kristen Hanson passed away in 2012, her friends Courtney Cochran, Sarah Wagman Ellenbogen and Jennifer Cohen Bogan raised $25,000 to dedicate a bench at the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden in her honor.

That experience inspired further philanthropy and the group then raised $100,000 to endow the Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship, which further extended Hanson’s legacy by awarding a scholarship to a Life Sciences student each year, chosen by a committee of faculty. This award honors an undergraduate who exemplifies the positive traits that Kristen embodied, which include not only academic accomplishment and a passion for science, but also well-rounded interests, leadership, originality and commitment to engage with the world.

To donate to the Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship, please visit this link: https://giving.ucla.edu/Standard/NetDonate.aspx?SiteNum=319

Previous Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship recipients:
Gianna Colombo
Avril Rincon
Zoe Ge
Daniela Wong
Laila Sathe
Pagé Goddard
Esmeralda Isabel Villavicencio González
Elsa Couvillon