- A Utah teen plans to make her mark on the world in the field of breast cancer research.

While Utah has been known to have a low number of women participating in STEM, that stands for science, technology, engineering and math, she joins quite a few who aim to change that.

(group applauds) (group cheers) - Mercedes Claire Randhahn.

Mercedes will be attending MIT.

- My name is Mercedes Randhahn.

Many of you probably know about me, but very few of you actually know me.

Yeah, I'm going to MIT.

- Well, Mercedes is gonna cure cancer for sure.

I already know that.

She's already done research trying to cure cancer.

- Mercedes is an incredibly unique individual based upon the focus of her current project, which is really to help women in underdeveloped countries be able to treat breast cancer with plant extracts that are readily available with common everyday items - In many places, some people say that Utah is 20 years behind the rest of the world, especially places like New England, which is part of why I'm excited to attend MIT.

Understanding that women have exactly the same capabilities as men, especially in regards to the STEM field, will only help further the fight for environmental justice and for healthcare reform.

- Trying to figure out how to get more women into STEM is something that us teachers have been trying to do for years and years and years.

I found the best way is to like, let them show you how they can succeed.

And when they see themselves succeeding in a class that is typically male-dominated, they realize they can do it.

- It may be difficult for some young women to see themselves pursuing a professional degree and having a family at the same time, but I think the number of of role models that maybe students, young women in Utah have is a little bit lower.

And so maybe they don't see that that's as much of a possibility as it really is.

- I competed in the 2022 International Science and Engineering Fair, which was held in Atlanta, Georgia, and the project that I presented at that time was I compared two different efficient methods of extract methodology for the production of a Centella asiatica, which is a plant native to Central Asia extract.

And essentially what I did is I took those two different extracts that I created and I tested them on this strain of triple negative breast cancer cells to decipher which extract methodology was more potent and more able to induce death to those cancerous cells.

- You know, you meet resistance as somebody who is a female scientist, and I feel that it's critical to support women who are interested in pursuing careers in the sciences.

- In the purified extract procedure where I used a centrifuge and a crude extract procedure, I used a salad spinner to model centripetal acceleration.

So essentially, they both had the same procedure, but it was made using different equipment.

And after the culmination of my experiment and upon analyzing results, I found that the crude procedure was actually far more efficient at inducing demise to the cancerous cells than was the expensive one.

- That sort of focus of her research leads me to believe that she'll continue in that sort of altruistic path to try to make the world a better place.

- Whatever she does, it will be amazing.

I know it for sure.

- Oh, I think the sky's the limit for Mercedes.

- Yeah, well, Mercedes is pretty rocking, so.

(laughs) Wow, so many vibrant colors and characters who warm my hearts simply by sharing their story.

And we want to hear your journey.

To chime in on this is Utah's Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages.

Hit the like button, share a comment, and don't forget to subscribe!

Until next time, I'm Liz Adeola and this is Utah.