Dec 14, 2022 Student research at Northen helps launch recent alumnus Hope Lopez into PhD program Northern New Mexico College offers extraordinary undergraduate research opportunities. That immersion in world-class research helped Northern alumna Hope Lopez obtain a post-baccalaureate internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and enter a PhD program at University of Utah. Hope graduated Summa Cum Laude with her Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2023. She was applying for master’s programs when The U evaluated her credentials and accepted her into their PhD program instead. She will begin that program in August 2024.