Deyanira Meraz

2025 Gilman Scholarship Recipient

Hometown

Highland, IN

Major

Pharmaceutical Sciences

College

College of Pharmacy

 

Established in 2001, the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is committed to sending American students of limited financial means from all backgrounds to study abroad.

 

A rising senior with a minor in Spanish for the Professions, Deyanira was awarded the Gilman Scholarship to hone her skills at Universidad de las Islas Baleares in Mallorca, Spain. In addition to improving her fluency and cross-cultural communication skills, Deyanira chose this summer study abroad program to incorporate a research interest in herbal and organic skincare ingredients found in Mediterranean plant life. The first in her family to pursue college, Deyanira will apply the lessons of managing the transition to college and the pressure to perform well in her classes to the challenge of study abroad. Eager to take advantage of this opportunity to study at the University of Balearic Islands, Deyanira looks forward to understanding Roman and Arab influences on society and investigating organic aloe vera farms across the coastline. Whereas Deyanira has grown up speaking Spanish at home, she will honor the local community, including a host family, by learning and speaking Catalan. At Purdue, she will share her experience through a follow-on project presented to the Leaders in Life Sciences (LLS), a professional development organization, where she currently serves as vice president.