Panamanian Doctoral Student Finds Success, Life Skills at U of A

Cassandra Thomas

Jossie Santamaria Archbold with his adviser, Gisela Erf.

"If you want to grow, if you want to expand your skills, if you want to become more competent, if you want to improve your ability to think and speak with precision — I would recommend pursuing a Ph.D. degree with a huge smile."

This is what third-year Ph.D. student Jossie M. Santamaria had to say of his program and the U of A in an interview on his experiences as an international graduate student.

Santamaria could not contain his excitement when speaking of the research he is conducting on poultry immunology and of his love for the Department of Poultry Science.

"The research that we perform is on avian models that manifest spontaneous autoimmune diseases, specifically, scleroderma, vitiligo and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. We take care of them; we maintain the breeding lines, and we study the role of the immune system in the pathology and development of these diseases," he said.

Hailing from Panama, Santamaria said that there were multiple factors that aided him in choosing to study at the U of A.

"I decided to come here because of the robust program in agriculture. The University of Arkansas is very well-known in business and in agriculture, and it is surrounded by these big companies that support animal research, like Tyson Foods." He continued, "There's a big exportation of chicken products, and Arkansas is the top producer of rice in the country. So, it was some of those things that helped me decide to study at the University of Arkansas."

However, it was not only the robust agriculture program or the U of A's renown in these fields that factored into Santamaria's decision, for former students and his parents were also rather influential.

"I talked with other students from Panama who highly recommended studying here," he said. "My father also played a big role in my decision. I grew up on a farm taking care of cattle, pigs and chickens, and my father taught me everything I needed to know about them."

He learned other important life skills, saying, "My father instilled in me the drive to care for these animals, which is necessary for my research because it highlights their importance in research. My father gave me the work ethic to care for them, and my mother encouraged me to pursue challenges I can learn from."

The drive and work ethic his parents instilled in him aided in his journey to the U of A, where he has been able to "expand his toolbox" and interact with individuals he may not have otherwise. He also has found encouragement and success in studying under his adviser, Gisela Erf, an immunologist in the Department of Poultry Science.

"I am just overwhelmed with gratefulness, honestly," he said. "My adviser really cares about my success. It's overwhelmingly positive to have people truly care about my success and movement forward in my career. It plays a huge role on how you perform, so she's encouraged me tremendously, and so have other professors."