• Full-time undergraduate student with a GPA of 3.0 or higher
• Valid US Passport
• Spanish language proficiency (speaking/reading/writing)  to meet research goals
• One reference letter from a faculty member
• Ability to travel during Summer 2025
• Commitment to present research findings at a Speaker Series in Fall 2025 or Spring 2026

To apply for the Robert Hildreth Award, please submit the following:

1. Letter of Intent:

Briefly introduce yourself, including your academic background and interests. Explain how the research project relates to your personal interests and goals, academic pursuits and coursework, and/or community engagement.

2. Research Proposal (2-3 pages):

Provide a clear description of the research project, including an abstract, introduction, literature review, research design and methodology, expected outcomes, timeline, budget, and references.

3. Detailed Budget: Complete the Hildreth Award Budget Template.
4. Detailed itinerary: Include a timeline of travel and research activities.
5. Sponsoring Organization Description: Provide information about the organization or institution abroad that will host your research.
6. Country Safety Profile: Provide a brief overview of the safety and security conditions in the country where you plan to conduct your research. This should include information on any travel warnings or advisories, local conditions, and your plan for staying safe while abroad.

• CIA: The World Factbook
• US Dept of State: Travel Advisories

7. Official Transcript: Include a copy of your official transcript.
8. Recommendation Letter: Arrange for a research mentor or faculty member to submit a letter of recommendation on your behalf. The letter should be sent directly to gastoninstitute@umb.edu

We have established partnerships with several institutions in Latin America, including:

• Colombia

 Corporación Vínculos, NGO

• Ecuador

Facultad Latinoamericana De Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO)

• México

Universidad Autónoma Del Estado de Quintana Roo

Sistema de Universidades Estatales de Oaxaca (SUNEO) 

If you're interested in conducting research in a different country, please contact us to explore potential institutional relationships.

2022

Beatriz Louzado

Beatriz Louzado is an alumna of UMass Boston. She graduated in June 2022 with a Bachelor of Science and double majored in biology and psychology. She was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and has lived most of her life in Worcester MA. Ever since she can remember she has loved how the human body and mind work as one and has so much adoration for the developing mind. In working as a resident assistant, volunteering at soup kitchens, and working at various internships, she developed skills and created relationships to help her pursue a career as a psychiatrist. She intends on continuing to help as many under-privileged people and struggling communities as she possibly can. Whether that be through clinical work, kind words, or through song as she loves to sing.

Brief Project Description

"Every day for the month of June, I had the opportunity to partner with the Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, FMABC School of Medicine, and dive into the wonders of medicine in one of the world's most populous cities, São Paulo, Brazil. Going into the project, I hoped to learn more about medicine in different fields from different people living in a third world country. As the project ended, I realized so much more than expected. In such a humbling experience, I got the chance to sit in on clinical appointments, hear stories of homeless citizens who found their way with the help of rehabilitation centers, spoke with doctors of different fields, and even witnessed births and neonatal care. The FMABC network ranges from emergency care to psychosocial care to occupational therapy and so much more. All free to the public, designed to help those who cannot afford healthcare and treatment for even the smallest of wounds. This immersive experience allowed me to put myself in the shoes of people of diverse backgrounds and struggles, helping me connect with patients in a much deeper sense then I would be able to in a regular check-up. FMABC welcomed me with open arms and with that I will forever take what they showed me and taught me throughout not only my professional career but for the rest of my life."

2019

Luidgi Lalanne

Congratulations Luidgi Lalanne, undergraduate student from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, awarded with the Robert Hildreth Latin America Internship Award 2019 to do research in Puerto Rico. His project is titled "Resolution to Colonial Echos: Afro-Latinidad Puertorriqueña on Colorism." Luidgi will travel in the Summer of 2019.

2017

Ashley Torres 

BA in Women's and Gender Studies and a minor in English. She became a part of Strong Women Strong Girl and received an Above and Beyond Mentor award. In 2016 she was elected to be a part of Beacon Voyager for Service: Borders and Immigration; a weeklong trip to Tijuana, Mexico. Her LLOP project explored how diverse Latinas at UMass Boston experience these intersectional domains, particularly complexities of gender, cultural backgrounds, race and nationality/migration status. She received The Robert Hildreth Award in 2017, giving her the opportunity to conduct an exploratory research project in Buenaventura, Colombia, where she worked with Afro Colombian women and girls with the project "Understanding Feminist Youth Development in Buenaventura, Colombia: Case Study of three NGOs."  She is also an outreach worker and transitional facilitator at Wayside Youth and Family networks dealing with HIV/STI prevention.  

Evelyn Bonilla

With a BA in Anthropology and minors in both Spanish and Latino Studies, her LLOP research project focused on an exploratory study. During this study, we looked at ways in which we could cultivate Latinx student educational success at UMass Boston. Along with Maria Barrow and Ashley Torres, they conducted interviews based on Paulo Freire and PAR research methods. This LLOP project allowed her to view education from a different perspective and become more aware of minority groups who struggle to have educational success due to the education policies brought up by the university. She also received the Robert Hildreth Award in 2017, focusing on exploratory research on "Cultivating Student Education among Afro-Colombians in Buenaventura, Colombia." She is currently mentoring for the CLA First! Program here at UMass Boston and interning at the Gastón Institute where she works on current research projects.

2016

Norma Fuentes

Norma is the daughter of immigrant parents from El Salvador. She was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in Somerville, MA. She is an undergraduate majoring in Anthropology. At the Gastón Institute she participated in carrying out community-based projects, including Por Ahí Dicen, and Todos Juntos con Seguro. She is deeply engaged in working with the immigrant community of Waltham, MA, on issues of public health, education, and other civil and human rights. She is a recipient of The Robert Hildreth Latin American Internship Award and traveled to Colombia in 2016 to conduct her undergraduate global research project, "Youth Visual Ethnography in Colombia." This was a participatory action research project, conducted in partnership with Corporación Vínculos (CorpVin), a non-governmental community organization in Bogotá, Colombia, to explore how youth experienced the post-conflict transition. 

Stephanie Valerio

Stephanie majored in mathematics and minored in psychology (BS 2016). Her project focused on a photo-voice project to display the experiences with community violence and promoting a culture of peace from the point of view of young adults in Bogota and Barranquilla. Receiving the Hildreth scholarship gave her the opportunity to witness firsthand the revolutionary ideas of Paulo Freire in Latin American. Through her work with the Gastón Institute and volunteership with Corporación Vínculos (CorpVin), Stephanie developed a strong interest in working with the community and students, learning the importance of considering and collaborating with the goals and objectives of each individual. Stephanie is currently in the Teach Next Year — a one year accelerated masters in secondary education that partners with Boston Public Schools.

2015

Allan Ordoñez

Allan is a rising senior at UMass Boston majoring in Biology. In the summer of 2015, he was awarded the Robert Hildreth Travel Internship and he was able to conduct the exploratory research project, "Social perception of Cancer in 3 Mayan Mexican communities" which focused on researching the ways indigenous and oncological doctors treated cancer. Allan did an internship at the Dana-Farber Institute and at Harvard Institute of Medicine, where he was researching about a potential drug that can serve as a radiation enhancer towards cancer cells while protecting the normal cells from radiation. In addition, he is currently the community relations director for the Hispanic Television program Boston al día.

C. Armando Vizcardo

Armando majored in economics with minors in both psychology and sociology (BA, 2017). The Robert Hildreth Latin America Internship Award gave him the opportunity to conduct his own exploratory research, “Micro-Entrepreneurship Strategies of Maya Migrants", where he assessed the experiences of Maya migrants who establish micro-enterprises in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico, documenting their entrepreneurial strategies and migration story. In addition, he had the chance to explore and experience the culture of Chetumal, as well as lead English roundtable discussions with college freshman students from the University of Quintana Roo. With this award, he was able to get hands-on experience managing his own project, while simultaneously advancing his interests in community development, research and public policy. He is currently working as the project assistant in the Office of Community Partnerships (OCP) at UMass Boston. Prior to joining OCP, Armando worked with the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, the Children’s League of Massachusetts, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. 

2014

Andrea Ornelas

Andrea graduated from UMass Boston, May 2015 with a BA in Italian Literature and minor in Economics. As a Robert Hildreth Recipient, her project was focused on, "The Effects of Globalization on Maya Women in Quintana Roo". Last November she received an award as one of 30 under 30 most influential Latinos of Boston. Andrea is currently working for a Greenberg Traurig Law Firm as an International Immigration Coordinator and she works closely for the Latin American Association on Latino youth leadership programs in Atlanta, GA. She is a public narrative coach for ARC Leadership that travels nationwide teaching workshops leadership tools such as Public Narrative and Community Organizing.

Please send your proposals and/or questions to the Institute by email.