Kricia Ruano Espinoza, a first-year master’s student in physics in the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-PhD program, is straddling the worlds of medicine and physics by working on radiation sensors, which can reveal important anatomical information about patients and are widely used by the Transportation Security Administration and in outer space as well.

Ruano Espinoza traveled from El Salvador to the U.S. with her younger sister when she was 11 years old. They were both detained at the border. “I vividly remember a pregnant woman in my cell with thorns in her feet, blood dripping on the floor,” she says. “That image is forever engraved in my memory.” DACA allowed Ruano Espinoza to obtain a double major in chemistry and physics from Willamette University. As a current graduate student, she faces new challenges with the potential end to DACA. “No one wants to live in fear of deportation when they are just entering their grad programs.” Ruano Espinoza aspires to pursue an MD/PhD after getting her degree.