Coby Garcia

IUPUI Upward Bound | Indianapolis, IN

Coby Garcia, a rising senior studying Biomedical Engineering and Government with a secondary in Education, is a dedicated advocate of educational equity.

This summer, he will work with Upward Bound, the oldest federally funded program aimed at improving high school and postsecondary graduation rates. Coby is an alumnus of Upward Bound. He will manage curriculum, expansion, and professional development projects affiliated with the Indiana-University-Indianapolis Upward Bound Summer Academy, and coordinate with other universities to establish new chapters. 

Other local projects Coby has also been involved in include Hope For Tomorrow, a local nonprofit assisting the Burmese refugee community, earning him the Abe Lincoln Scholarship Award in 2021 and an speaker’s note at Our Narratives '22 at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. He helps direct Harvard CIVICS, an Institute of Politics program that organizes undergraduates to teach civics in Boston area classrooms, for which he received the IOP’s Changemaker Award in 2023. 

Coby has done research in adolescent violence at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit in South Africa, won the Amgen Scholarship to research with Duke's Meyer Lab, and contributed to a publication in Nature Communications with Massachusetts General Hospital's Chao Lab. He has presented his findings at the New England Science Symposium and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists.

His passions lie at the intersection of education, healthcare and academia in determining how to support young learners in achieving their highest potential. In his free time, Coby is involved in the Harvard Club Swim team, Harvard Ghungroo, the Asian American Dance troupe, and the Harvard Political Review.