Meet Lilly Kanishka! She’s a third year student with a major in Kinesiology followed by a minor in Chemistry, and she’s one busy bee! She is the Director of the Diversity Board for ASUU, along with interning for the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics for two years, and she is also the Co-President of an organization, known as, United in Service for Humanity! Want to find out more about her roles? Keep reading!
ASUU Involvement
Her Campus: What is your role as the Director of Diversity?
Lily Kanishka: As Director, I facilitate Diversity Educations for all ASUU officials and promote inclusion in the office and throughout campus. My board and I are involved in student outreach and we also present the C.O.D.E. (Conference on Diverse Excellence) in the Spring.
HC: How does the Diversity Board help others on campus?
LK: The aim of my board is to nurture inclusion and give a voice to underrepresented students. This year, I really want to be hands on through intimate conversations with student groups and find out how I can promote their voice and represent them properly in student government. I also want to achieve a level of education throughout campus that shows students that we are truly enriched through our social interactions and that we should celebrate the incredible amount of diversity we have on our campus.
HC: What’s your favorite part of being the Director of Diversity of ASUU?
LK: I have already learned so much from all the incredible, diverse, and uplifting students involved on campus, and I have been very humbled by the voice I can potentially give in support of their events, programs and initiatives. I am excited to continue to expose myself and others to the diverse excellence that the University is lucky to hold.
The Eccles Institute of Human Genetics
Her Campus: Could you give us some background on what the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics is about at the University of Utah?
Lily Kanishka: The Eccles Institute of Human Genetics is a research facility on upper campus. I personally have been working on the metabolism floor in a research project under a PhD candidate for two years now. The research that is conducted in my lab involves Type II Diabetes, and how the potential deletion of a protein receptor can reduce the chances of someone with a predisposition to the disease from obtaining it.
HC: What is your entire job at the Eccles Institute?
LK: As an intern and lab assistant, I have been trained and certified to work in the Emma Eccles Jones Medical Facility, where I have bred mice with our gene of interest. I have been involved in the maintenance, dissection, weaning and NMRing of the mice in our study. I also work in our laboratory, running polymerase chain reactions, identifying the genotypes and observing the histology of our mice. I have presented at lab meetings as well as the University’s Undergraduate Research Symposium.
HC: How did you earn this incredible internship?
LK: I interviewed for the position during my freshman fall semester, and I have continued to work there throughout the academic years and summers.
HC: How has your internship with the Eccles Institute helped yourself and the community around you?
LK: This experience has taught me how to act in a professional setting and it has showed me the value of patience and hard work. I have learned so much from working in a research lab, from attention to detail to adjusting your plans and procedures as you go. Hopefully, in the future, the research being conducted in my lab can help patients with genetic predispositions to Type II Diabetes.
United in Service for Humanity
Her Campus: What is your position with the United in Service for Humanity?
Lily Kanishka: I am the Co-President of the student organization, along with my close friend, Sanga Mohmand.
HC: How did you get involved with this organization?
LK: The President of the organization is a close friend, who encouraged us to start our own chapter on campus. I had been involved with the parent organization for events in the past, so I was excited to help bring these opportunities to students at the U.
HC: How does United in Service for Humanity get university students involved?
LK: We reach out to students on campus to become members and volunteers, and we present events throughout the year that allow students to give back to their community as well as do global outreach. We held a quilt making event for the homeless population on campus, we collected and donated over 2,000 hygiene kits to the homeless, and we held a Skating for Syria event, where the proceeds were donated to the Children of Conflict foundation.
Fun Facts!
Favorite music: I can jam out to anything from the 80’s and I have a guilty pleasure for Rap.
Favorite color: Black and baby blue.
Biggest pet peeve: When professors try to stuff important information in during the last ten seconds of class.
Fun fact about yourself: I have a fear of drowning but I rode a 50 mph jet ski in the middle of the ocean while i was in the Bahamas because ‘yolo’ was a thing then.