Paul Barber knows what it means to have your worldview expanded. A Mexican-American kid from Arizona, he first defied the odds by graduating from college. Then he tackled graduate school, doing genetic research with desert frogs. Not until after he earned a Ph.D. did he delve into marine science and the coral reef environment that is now his passion. But exploring the Coral Triangle for himself wasn’t enough: Barber wanted to give other students from underserved communities the same chance to discover a bigger world. As his dissertation adviser and mentor used to tell him: “. . . if you do what I did for you for another person, I’ll consider the debt repaid.” Since 2004 Barber has been director of a UCLA program that takes undergraduates on a 10-week summer research intensive, suiting up to dive in places like Bali and French Polynesia. Back on campus, he also directs a program for first- and second-year science majors, preparing them for rigorous courses and research. In his own lab he mentors young scientists from Indonesia, as well as graduates of the Ivy League and California schools.