It’s a pretty safe bet that when Justin Wimmer (BSc ’24) and Ricardo Alva Oropeza (MSc ’24) weren’t busy in a Brock lab or classroom, they could be found making a difference in the lives of local youth.

The Faculty of Mathematics and Science graduates were honoured for the community contributions during Brock University’s 115th Convocation on Friday, June 14, each receiving the Board of Trustees Spirt of Brock medals for their leadership, courage and community contributions.

Wimmer, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, dedicated much of his time to volunteering with local organizations that serve youth with similar life experiences to his.

As a member of the Hamilton Children’s Aid Society Youth Advisory Committee, Wimmer draws on the 15 years he spent growing up in the foster care system to advise organizational leadership.

“A lot of foster parents don’t really understand the struggles children go through while in care, and because of that, certain mental health issues are overlooked,” he says. “Our current project informs foster parents of these difficulties so they can identify them early and get youth the help they need so they can have a better experience in foster care.”

Wimmer also shares his time with charities supporting youth mental health. As a volunteer with Pathstone Mental Health’s Rotary House group home, he provides companionship to youth who are temporarily living away from their families to receive mental health treatment.

“Reflecting on my own pain, I can see it in other youth and know what they need to help them through their issues,” he says. “It is really fulfilling to turn my negative experiences into a positive for other people.”

Through his studies in neuroscience and cognition, Wimmer’s fascination with human perception — and with how experiences shape perception — has repositioned how he views his own childhood upbringing.

“What I experienced then is a completely different world than how I look at it now,” he says. “Perception forms your reality, and everyone’s perception is different.”

Wimmer has been involved in neuroscience research throughout his undergraduate studies, earning undergraduate student research funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, which is supported by the Government of Canada.

He is currently preparing a first author scientific publication exploring memory processing under the supervision of Gaynor Spencer, Director of Brock’s Centre for Neuroscience. His undergraduate thesis project, which examined the effects of retinoic acid on the electrical communication between brain cells, culminated in a second authorship on another scientific publication.

He plans to continue his research in computational cognitive neuroscience and will eventually study at the post-graduate level.

Brock University Board of Trustees member Arti Freeman (left) presented Biological Sciences master’s graduate Ricardo Alva Oropeza (MSc ’24) with the Spirit of Brock medal Friday, June 14 during the University’s 115th Convocation.

Like Wimmer, Alva Oropeza dedicated much of his time volunteering with communities he felt connected to.

Inspired by his mother’s work as a scientist, Alva Oropeza has mentored dozens of children and youth through Brock’s Let’s Talk Science and Lab Links programs and judged biology experiments at the Niagara Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

“I enjoy teaching young students how to do science in real life — beyond the books, with a practical approach — so they are inspired to continue further,” he says. “That’s the goal: to create future scientists.”

Fuelling his passion for science communication, Alva Oropeza volunteered with Graduate Mathematics and Science Students (GRAMSS) as a seminar co-ordinator and communications officer.

“Most graduate students aren’t sure what other students are working on in different labs and departments,” he says. “The GRAMSS Seminar Series was a great opportunity for everyone in our Faculty to be exposed to the research of all of our peers.”

Alva Oropeza’s research interests are in mitochondrial biology and cell biology. Under the supervision of Biological Sciences Professor Jeff Stuart, he investigated the impact of oxygen levels on cells grown for use in cancer research.

“In my thesis, I found that oxygen levels in cultures affect cancer cell metabolism, growth, migration and gene expression” he says. “Atmospheric oxygen levels in a lab environment are much higher than physiological oxygen levels.”

Regulating oxygen levels to more accurately resemble the conditions within the human body will improve how science experiments within cancer research are conducted, he says.

“Drug trials conducted with cancer cells in vitro can be more accurate at predicting what could happen in an actual patient,” he says.

While at Brock, Alva Oropeza published four scientific papers and has presented his work locally and internationally. He has recently been hired as a Biological Sciences instructor at Brock and hopes to pursue a PhD focusing on research that investigates metabolic diseases at the molecular level.

He is thankful to his supervisor and fellow students for contributing to his positive graduate student experience.

“It’s such a collaborative and positive environment in which we all support each other,” he says. “Doing my graduate studies at Brock was amazing. I wouldn’t dream of having done my master’s anywhere else.”