Joshua has held a variety of positions in both volunteer and paid work. He was a host at a Japanese restaurant, a situation where he had to both manage guest exceptions and coordinate with staff. He has also worked as a tutor and caretaker for a family’s grade-school children. At Pasadena City College he was active in the Environmental Sustainability Club. Their priorities were “decarbonizing our campus and advocating for divestment from war through collaboration with the Anti-War Club.” This involved working with fellow volunteers and both government and academic boards. These activities have helped hone his leadership, communication, teamwork building and organizational skills.

At UC San Diego he is a member of the Tau Sigma Transfer group and is on track for the Cognitive Science Honors program. He hopes to have a career “researching nutrition and metabolic health as a social cause.” To that end he will need to “draw on cross-disciplinary interests — cognitive science, sociology, and nutrition.” This is personal to him because several of his family members have suffered from cancer or metabolic diseases such as diabetes. He has learned how “small, evidence-based changes can restore wellbeing” in ways that respect the community culture.

Joshua is passionate about nutrition not just at the individual level, but as a matter of public health. He hopes to develop “culturally tailored nutrition education projects” and translate “findings into accessible resources that fight misinformation.” He is enrolled in Seventh College.