Student Spotlight: Jacinda Wood

When Jacinda Wood, a student at Coffeyville Community College, applied to a summer REU program led by Kansas NSF EPSCoR, she hoped to gain research experience. She left with lifelong friends and a renewed confidence in pursuing a career in academia.

Wood is currently studying sociology with the ultimate goal of earning her PhD and becoming a professor. As one of three social science students in the ARISE Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, she realized early on that there were mostly science, technology, engineering, and math majors in her 18-student cohort, but enjoyed bringing a social science perspective to the program.

Wood worked alongside University of Kansas Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, Joel Mendez. Together, they examined how buyout of electric utilities by private equity firms impacts customer reliability metrics and their pricing.

“Our project is going to be the first of its kind, which made things a lot harder because when you're doing a literature review, if nothing exists, you kind of have to make stuff up as you go,” Wood said. “It was a learning experience.”

Wood was able to learn the behind the scenes of research while exploring what she likes and doesn’t like, research-wise. This included feedback from her mentor, which reassured her capabilities as a student.

“At the end of it, he [Mendez] told me, ‘Well, you've been doing the work of a PhD student, and I haven't treated you any differently, and you did great,” Wood said. “That was really reassuring to hear because I'm only a sophomore, and I've got so much time to improve past that.”

With the help of her mentor, experience of research itself, and the community of academia, the REU program solidified the path she wants to pursue in the future.

“When we were doing our elevator pitch, nobody was being mean to people when they would flip over their words or mess up. We were all very supportive of each other, even though it was nerve-wracking,” Wood said.

Those connections have stayed with her since the program ended.

“I miss it so much. It was amazing. We’ll be friends for life,” Wood said.

Beyond the research skills and connections, Wood said the experience taught her more about herself.

“Honestly, the biggest takeaway isn’t really research specific. It was my first experience being on my own, because again, I live in my hometown and I go to a community college. It’s that I’m competent. That was one of the biggest takeaways, if I ever doubt myself, I just remember that I was fine.”

The ARISE REU program is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation EPSCoR award number OIA-2148878, with matching support from the State of Kansas through the Kansas Board of Regents.

Learn more about the summer program and see full 2026 cohort list. 

—Story by Valeria Solis, KU Junior