California Pre-Doctoral Program

Sally Casanova Scholars receive: 

• $5,000 to be spent on any of the following: travel to visit U.S. doctoral-granting institutions and/or to attend professional conferences appropriate to the student's development; student membership in professional organizations and subscriptions to journals; graduate school application, transcript, and test fees; GRE preparation; and the cost of minor research materials.
• A Summer Research experience at a University of California campus or other major research university, fully funded by the Pre-Doctoral Program, so that the Scholar can participate in doctoral-level research.
• Fee waivers to all University of California doctoral programs and selected other programs
• Mentorship by a CSUN faculty member for one year

Learn more by visiting the CO’s website.

Eligibility

• Eligibility is limited to junior, senior and graduate students who are enrolled in a degree-seeking program at any one of the CSU campuses at the time of application. At the time of award, applicants must be matriculated into a degree program and be enrolled in one semester or two quarters during the award year. For the Spring 2026 application cycle, that means you must be enrolled in a CSUN degree-granting program in Spring 2026 and you must be enrolled at CSUN for at least one semester of the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

Not Eligible

• International students
• Current or previous California Pre-Doctoral Scholars
• Students interested in obtaining professional degrees (law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, or an MBA degree) are not eligible.

Selection Criteria 

• Awards are based on competitive review of student applications and given to current upper-division or graduate students who, in the judgment of the review panel, demonstrate academic excellence while experiencing economic or educational disadvantage, as well as committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level.
• Each applicant must have a faculty sponsor who will be available for the duration of the plan specified in the application.

How to apply
Before starting your application, please visit the Chancellor’s Office website to review the Application Components, Selection Criteria, Submission Information and Tips for Applicants. Doing so will help ensure you understand all requirements and submit a complete application.

• Chancellor’s Office website: Application Components, Selection Criteria, Submission Information and Tips for Applicants
• 2026-2027 Application 
• Due Date to the CO's Office: Friday, February 13, 2026 at 5:00pm
• The announcement of selected Sally Casanova Scholars and Honorable Mentions will be made in June 2026.

Interested in learning more about this program and speaking with someone from the Chancellor’s Office? Select Info Session below to register for an upcoming workshop.

REGISTRATION LINKS:

• Monday, January 26, 2026, 3-4 p.m.

Interested in receiving feedback on your Statement of Qualifications and Collaborative Plan before submitting them to the Chancellor’s Office? Students can submit both documents for feedback using our Applicant Canvas Course once their documents have been approved by their Faculty Mentor. Please select Canvas course to request access. Students will be added to the course on a rolling basis as requests are received.

2025-2026 Sally Casanova Scholars Bio’s

Iyahna Boyd               
Department: Public Health   
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kacie Blackman 

My name is Iyahna Boyd, and I am an MPH candidate at CSUN, concentrating in Community Health Education. In the past, I have conducted research on student experiences within the College of Health and Human Development under the leadership of Dr. Augustin and Dr. Kim, which connects to my passion for improving college student health. Through the Pre-Doctoral Program, I am excited to expand my research interests across multiple areas under the mentorship of Dr. Kacie Blackman. Some of my current interests include college student health and food policy, and I look forward to exploring additional areas in public health. After completing my MPH, I plan to pursue work in health policy, with the goal of creating healthier and more supportive environments for students and communities.

Susette Favela Hernandez                
Department: Psychological Science  
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Que-Lam Huynh            

Susette is a first-generation college graduate from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She earned a bachelor's degree in Psychology and is currently a student in the master's program in Psychological Science at CSUN. She is part of the UPLIFT (Uniting, People, Leveraging Identities, and Furthering Talent) Collaboratory, under the guidance of Dr. Que-Lam Huynh and Dr. Angela-MinhTu D. Nguyen, where she studies how people of color heal from racial, societal, and structural injustice. Susette is a recent recipient of the Alma Empowering Minds Scholarship & Mentorship Program.

Ruiting Jia      
Department: Psychological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Que-Lam Huynh

Ruiting Jia (she/her) is a Masters student in the Psychological Sciences program at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology with a minor in Cognitive Science from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her research focuses on culturally responsive, evidence-based approaches to mental health care, specifically in addressing disparities among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) immigrants and refugees. She is particularly interested in identifying protective factors within disaggregated AAPI communities and translating these insights into community settings. At CSUN, Ruiting is currently a Graduate Data Intern at the Office of Institutional Research and was the first-place recipient of the Creative Endeavors Award from Spring 2025.

Ethan Molina
Department: American Indian Studies          
Faculty Mentor: Alesha Claveria       

Ethan Molina is a proud Indigenous and queer Student leader. On campus, they are the president of the American Indian Student Association, where they work to connect more students. Ethan is also a proud EOP student born and raised in Pacoima and has worked towards trans upliftment in Pacoima. Off-campus, they are a youth coordinator for the Two Spirit Initiative (TSI), where they work with Native youth all across the so-called United States. At TSI, they work in cultural exchange and cultural revitalization that focuses on Queer Native youth and art collectives. They also make the two-spirit padlet website, which is now used at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles for transgender and two-spirit individuals. Over the summer, did research at UCSD to focus on the impact of colonial borders on all Indigenous people. Post grad, they hope to become a college professor in Indigenous and border relations.

Dawn Russell 
Department: Social Work      
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Moshoula Capous-Desyllas      

Dawn Russell is a Master of Social Work student at CSUN. As a system-impacted survivor scholar and mother, her work is grounded in lived experience and a deep commitment to community healing. Her research explores how food justice, green space, and gardening interventions can support the mental health of underserved communities. Under the mentorship of Dr. Moshoula Capous-Desyllas, Dawn is developing community-based participatory research tools and preparing for doctoral study focused on environmental equity, behavioral health, and place-based interventions.

Seth Sangalang          
Department: Clinical Research - Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Jill Razani    

Seth graduated from CSUN with a major in Psychology, and is currently a student in the master's program in psychology for Clinical Research. His work focuses on investigating predictors of cognitive and functional ability among aging adults. Seth is particularly interested in applying advanced statistical methods to examine potential protective factors, such as a person's cultural attitudes and experiences, that may offset the effects of cognitive decline. At CSUN, he is co-lab manager of the Neuropsychology, Dementia, and Multicultural Research Laboratory, and is the recipient of various awards including the Presidential Scholar Award and Outstanding Graduating Senior Award.

Ariana Kim
Department: Developmental Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Sara Berzenski

Ariana graduated from CSUCI with a major in Psychology, and is currently a second year Master’s student at CSUN’s Psychological Sciences Program. Her work focuses on what factors lead to greater social and emotional competences in children, and how these pathways lead to greater resiliency in emerging adulthood. At CSUN, she is part of the Researching Emotions Across Childhood (REACH) lab and is currently a teaching associate for an upper-division Research Methods Course. She is also a recipient of the Graduate Equity Fellowship program and Teaching Pedagogy Fellowship program.

Guadalupe Martinez
Department: Child and Adolescent Development and Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado

Guadalupe Martinez is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing a double major in Child and Adolescent Development and Psychology at California State University, Northridge. She is currently a research assistant in the Culture, Health, and Development Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado, where she contributes to research on the role of cultural mismatch (a misalignment between home and academic cultures) in historically marginalized students’ health and academic wellbeing. Her research interests center on exploring Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005) and how it utilizes cultural processes as a protective factor in mental health outcomes among first-generation college freshman students. Specifically, she is interested in investigating how Social Capital influences first-generation college freshman mental health and success as they transition into university. She intends to pursue a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology to become a tenure-track professor. Her goal is to inform institutional policies and systems that will promote and improve first-generation college students transition into college.

Ronald Gutierrez
Department: Psychological Science  
Faculty Mentor: Stefanie Drew

Ronald graduated from CSUN with a major in Psychology, and is currently a master's student in the Psychological Science program. His research interests fall in the intersection between cutting edge technology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and improving quality of life. His master's thesis investigates the effects of a guided mindfulness meditation delivered through virtual reality with supplemental, visualized neurofeedback from a mobile electroencephalogram and visualized breathing cues with the aim of reducing anxiety and improving mindfulness. Through his research, Ron aims to examine how we can leverage technology to improve domains of cognition such as motor skills, attentional control, executive functioning, and emotional regulation. At CSUN he is a Project Manager for an interdisciplinary research grant titled Mind, Machine, and Motor Nexus (M3X) where he works collaboratively between research labs in the Kinesiology and Mechanical Engineering department, and is a recipient of the Graduate Equity Fellowship.

The 2026-2027 Sally Casanova Scholars will be announced in Summer 2026.

For more information, please email our office at GradCenter@csun.edu.