Cynthia Ortiz graduated in December, 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychological Sciences, a minor in Spanish, and as a part of the Honors College. She was recognized as an Outstanding Senior in her last semester at NAU and was a member of the Vaping and Novel Substance Use Research Group under the direction of Sumner Sydeman, Ph.D. for several years before graduating.
Cynthia will be attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the fall of 2019 as a student in Clinical Psychology doctoral program. She is interested in researching substance use and treatments for polysubstance use in vulnerable populations. Cynthia eventually plans on using the knowledge gained from this program to work with substance use clients, as well as become a professor to continue her research and educate future psychologists.