When she was an undergraduate, Jaya Sicard ’25 (physics) served her country in the Nevada Air National Guard. As a staff sergeant, she led a team of 30 geospatial analysts and, before the end of her service, earned recognition as the 2023 Nevada Air National Guard Noncommissioned Officer of the Year. She has since brought her commitment to service, discipline and grit to her studies and research related to nuclear energy.

“I was drawn to the University because of its status as an R1 Research Institution,” Sicard said. “But I only had a nebulous idea about what research really was.”

Discovering research at Nevada

Through her participation in the McNair Scholars Program, she was able to explore what research really looks like and what it means to perform it. When she was applying to participate in research projects, she made a connection that shaped her academic and professional career.

“I was interviewing with professors, and that’s when I met Dr. White,” Sicard explained, referring to Clemons-Magee Endowed Professor in Physics Thomas White. “He was doing research on warm, dense matter, and specifically what it can help us understand about the interior of planets.”

While Sicard was interested in the subject matter, it was White’s enthusiasm and personal investment that set the tone for her experiences in research.

“When I asked him what he does, he got really excited and said, ‘We shoot really cool things with big lasers,’” Sicard said with a laugh. “I have nothing but great things to say about Dr. White. He invested his time, research and money. Under his tutelage, I grew as a researcher.”

Sicard’s experiences in the Nevada Air National Guard shaped her experiences in the lab.

“I learned discipline, attention to detail, and how to be a good mentor,” she said. “I also learned how to plan long, involved projects, which are exactly the skills you need to do research and excel in graduate school.”

Opening doors through research

Under the guidance of White and with the support of the McNair Scholars Program, Sicard presented research for the first time. She earned a Nevada Undergraduate Research Award from Undergraduate Research, and presented at the Nevada Space Grant Symposium. An honors student, she was also the president of the Society of Physics Students. Additionally, she credits White with helping her land, first, an internship and now a position with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

As a result of these professionalization opportunities, last year, Sicard earned a spot in the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, a highly competitive and prestigious honor that provides funding for students to pursue a doctoral degree in STEM.

Even as a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley and an employee at LLNL, Sicard has stayed connected with the McNair Scholars Program. She serves as a mentor to two current McNair Scholars and even arranged for a tour of LLNL for the current cohort.

“National labs are hidden gems,” Sicard said. “They bridge the gap between academia and industry, and they invest in you as a researcher. They’re deeply interested in student success.”

Sicard ensured the McNair Scholars saw many different areas of research on the tour of LLNL, and afterward, the heads of the various units “unanimously spoke about how engaged the students were, asking good questions, and now they want to know if [the McNair Scholars] will be applying to internships at LLNL. That’s super exciting.”

A family of support

As Sicard pays it forward, she also reflected on the importance of the McNair Scholars Program and the members of the First-Gen Center: “[Project Coordinator, TRIO Programs] Jarell Green and [Associate Director, First-Generation Student Center] Heather Williams were such an amazing support system. Jarell met with me monthly, and he was always such a breath of fresh air,” she said. “He’s like a big brother to me. McNair—and the First-Gen Center—feel like a big family.”

These personal investments are the markers of the University at large, for Sicard.

“What I learned as an undergraduate — and appreciate so much — is the engagement from the department and professors. They really made space and time to invest in students. Even though he was busy, Dr. White always wanted to hear from you,” Sicard said. “It’s not always like that in schools.”