Sonoran Center Spotlight: Nadine's Journey to Becoming a Full-Time Research Assistant

After joining the Sonoran Center as a Research Assistant in 2021, Nadine Chau became an integral part of the Center. They provided their expertise and dedication to a diverse range of projects, including the Transition Ahead Roundtable and the Pregnancy & Parenting projects. Now, as they move forward in their career as a Project Research Assistant at Georgetown University, we look back on Nadine’s long list of accomplishments. We discuss how they began their work at the Center, the lessons they learned, what’s next, and the experiences at the Center that will stick with them for years to come. 

Please introduce yourself and talk about how you got started at the Sonoran Center. What interested you about it?

I am Nadine Chau, and I am affiliated with the Sonoran Center because during my undergraduate career at the University of Arizona I was a trainee and also worked as a research assistant there, so I’ve been a part of multiple different projects there. How I got started was… I was working as a research assistant in a lab and the lab mentor I had really wanted to help me to work on my professional development, establish career goals, practice resume writing, and stuff like that. A part of that was searching for different job opportunities that interested me. I looked online and saw the Sonoran Center and I used it as practice to write a cover letter. I ended up submitting it and it worked out pretty well. 

What kind of things did you do when you first got started?

When I first started at the Sonoran Center I started as a research assistant. One of the first projects I jumped on was the Transition Ahead Roundtable. I was helping to do interviews with parents and guardians of youth with disabilities who were part of the Roundtable. I would call up parents and guardians on the phone and ask them about their perspectives and goals of their family member and write down what they said, establishing that rapport. Eventually that branched out into multiple different projects that I've been a part of. A little before my senior year I applied to do the year-long certificate program, and that’s how I ended up being a trainee as well. 

Between getting started as a research assistant and where you are now, what were the steps along the way?

I wouldn't say it was easy. I did move to California after graduating and completing my certificate. I’m very grateful that the Sonoran Center supported me in remaining a part of this program and still doing the work I do in a remote capacity. In the meantime, I was looking for ways to continue growing my career and see the next steps as I move to California and see what opportunities I could get involved with here or that could support me remotely. A few months ago I got an email from the trainee/alumni listserv about a job opportunity as a project research assistant at Georgetown University. That’s the UCEDD at Georgetown. So, I applied to that and that’s where I am now. 

Can you tell me a little more about that?

I’m still pretty new. I started officially at the beginning of September. There’s the main organization and other smaller groups and projects within it. There’s Georgetown, then our UCEDD, and then the National Center for Cultural Competence, which I’m a part of. The project I’m working on specifically: we’re working with the state of New York, evaluating their service systems for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities - getting input and doing trainings for providers and people at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. My role right now has been helping with data evaluation: looking at the data we’ve collected and helping to summarize that. So far we’ve done a few trainings and webinars and modules for professionals and service providers. The next steps will be doing interviews and listening sessions for people and family members of people with disabilities, and getting their perspective of what it’s like to receive services in New York State. Our focus is evaluating how culturally and linguistically competent are their services. It’s a big project - great to be a part of it so far. 

I can see how your work on the Transition Ahead Roundtable could help with that - having that experience of reaching out to and talking with families about the services they are receiving or want to receive. Looking ahead, what plans do you have going forward? Will you be staying at Georgetown for a while?

I definitely plan to stay here for a while, especially within the disability field. I want to remain in this space - being part of the AUCD network has been great, and I like that I’ve been able to go from one UCEDD to another, just learning more about what people around the nation are doing. I’ll definitely stick with Georgetown in the future. They have so many research projects going on, so I’m sure I’ll be very useful [laughs]. Even if one project ends they’ll put me on another one, at least that’s what they told me. Just very much looking forward to continuing to be a part of different projects they have going on. 

I also see myself in the future continuing my educational career. I want to get a Masters’ at some point. I’ve been looking around at Masters’ in Public Health programs. I think it’s a good idea for me to get started in the field, just to see what people are doing right now, and asking how it can tie in to future education. 

Looking back on things you learned from the Sonoran Center, what sticks out to you?

There’s been so much. It’s been a great journey to be a part of. Before being affiliated with the Center I didn’t have much experience or knowledge of people with disabilities or the disability sphere in general. For me, what’s been really enriching has been being able to listen to and speak with people with lived experience and their family members and loved ones and hearing their experiences. Also volunteering at community events - I always loved being at ArtWorks and working with the people there. Taking the courses, too. We’d have guest speakers, and I think it’s so important to have people come in and talk about their experiences. It’s one thing to learn about disability from a lecture or a textbook, and hearing someone actually talk about their experiences. That’s what sticks out the most: hearing peoples’ stories, especially because everyone’s story is different. It’s been great being a part of this and learning more, and I will continue learning more in my current role, and I’m looking forward to that. 

The Sonoran Center really gets you out in the community and seeing what’s going on on the ground, and I agree that’s a great part of it. Were there any research projects or anything else that was particularly interesting?

Definitely the Transition Ahead Roundtable. I think it was such a great thing to start out with. Jumping in and immediately talking to parents was a little scary but also really helped me get into the field.

Another one that comes to mind is working on the Abuse and Neglect project. That one was a big deal because I presented some of our data to people from across the state. Also learning more about what people think, providers and people with lived experience, in terms of their experiences with abuse and neglect and what can be done, what can be improved, that sort of thing. It’s been enriching to hear people's stories. Again, I think that’s the big thing when it comes to the disability field, just listening to people and their opinions and thoughts. I’m also hoping that things will improve in the future. I think there’s a lot of work to do and I definitely learned a lot from that project and that whole experience. 

What was your favorite part of your time at the Sonoran Center?

Aside from some of the things I mentioned about learning so much and connecting with people, I think just being a part of the Center, because I feel like we’re like a little family. I always liked when we would spend time with each other - not just in the work environment, but like when we did our holiday parties. There was also an opportunity last year when I got to attend the [national] AUCD conference. That was super fun - it was my first time in Washington, DC and I got to be really immersed in that atmosphere and I really felt like I belonged. It was academic, but at the same time I felt like everyone there I could treat as my friend. Like I said before, I was a research assistant in a psychology lab, so the conferences and poster presentations I attended for those had a lot of dry academic jargon. Being at the disability conference felt a lot more warm and welcoming in my opinion. It felt like people really wanted the best for the disability community. I was there to present my work on the collaborative extension project in which we had an inclusive cooking class at Tucson Village Farm. I had not presented anything like that before, but we got really positive feedback and people were also telling me about their interest in doing something similar and listening to their ideas about how they want to serve the disability population. Seeing all the different research projects that feel like they’re working for the people. I saw so many things and met so many great people. 

Anything else you’d like to add?

I’d like to give a shout out to the Sonoran Center for being so supportive of me and giving me such a great starting point for my career. I didn’t have that much experience before joining, but now I feel like I’m so immersed and have so much knowledge. Disability is such a broad, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary field. It’s not just health-related - marketing, psychology, it’s so broad. It’s so broad, and people don’t know about it enough. An undergraduate, or any student or adult who has the opportunity to maybe be a part of the network or be a trainee should take it. It’s such an enriching experience. I know my particular cohort had a broad range of academic disciplines, but we still had that shared passion and interest even though we’d eventually pursue different things. It just shows how the disability field can encapsulate so much. It’s not just one thing. I also think when people think of intellectual and developmental disabilities they think of children or adolescents, but it spans across the whole life span. It’s a large population, and you can do so much. It’s a broad field, but not a lot of people are getting involved. I would say get involved! If there’s any students who are looking at this interview, I’d definitely recommend getting involved at a UCEDD. There’s at least one in every state!