University Communications

“I was so excited that Professor Foote — who is brilliant and well-respected in the scientific community — had accepted me into his group,” Sutton says. “I am thrilled to be working with him.”

In the midst of what appears to be an otherwise perfect situation, Sutton admits that her funding as a graduate student at a public university is a challenge.

“I may have received greater financial support at a private institution, and that would have made things a lot easier,” she says. “I always expected to be a poor graduate student, but the L.A. prices make it even harder.”

Sutton draws part of her income from a teaching fellowship provided by her department. And while she reports that “all the teaching I have had to do has allowed me to realize how much I love it,” that job cuts by one-half the time she has to conduct research. Furthermore, even after winning a prestigious Canadian federal scholarship last year, she found that she still wasn’t bringing in enough to live on, so this year she has taken on a second teaching job.

Financial hardships aside, Sutton says she has never regretted coming to UCLA.

“UCLA is the place I need to be to get my career established,” she says. “It’s very exciting to belong to a research group that is well-respected and doing research in interesting and relevant areas of chemistry. I know that the experience I’m getting here will genuinely help me in my future endeavors.”

— J.L.E.

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