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Outreach

I am passionate about helping/teaching others and strive to balance my studies with community service.

2011-2013

Fine Jewelry Instructor

For two years I assisted Rare Earth Studio in teaching US Virgin Islanders in the creation of fine jewelry. The purpose was to train locals so that they could sell their wares to tourists..

2014

Career Day Speaker

At Harden Middle School's annual career day, I talked to students about my career as a student and marine biologist.

2014-2015

Student Body Treasurer

Moss Landing Marine Laboratories's Student Body has an annual budget for outreach events, seminars, and other student activities. As treasurer, I made sure that all students were reimbursed and that sufficient funds existed for our community events such as Open House.

2014-2015

Advertising Committee Chair

Moss Landing Marine Laboratories's annual Open House is a large undertaking and consists of many committees. As chair of the advertising committee, it was my duty to ensure that the event was properly advertised in local newspapers, radio shows, etc.

2014-2017

Seaweed Educator

During MLML's Open House, all laboratories are made accessible to the public. As part of the phycology lab, I was in charge of teaching visitors about important concepts in phycology such as the major groups of seaweeds, prominent seaweeds in Monterey bay, and algal products used in everyday products (like toothpaste!).

2017

Career Day Speaker

I was fortunate enough to be invited to talk to 3 Hispanic middle school students at the Seaside Middle School about my experience in marine science. As part of this event we discussed my journey as a budding scientist and talked about their aspirations. I encouraged them to do well in school, take a SCUBA diving class, and start thinking about volunteering with a local marine scientist.

2016-2018

Mentor

Within my master’s thesis, I have been mentoring Lourdes Gomez, a community college student. She has been an intricate part of my research. I have taught her how to extract/quantify algal pigments, measure seaweeds, create a database, and statistically analyze this data. Our interactions have inspired her to apply to multiple universities and summer research programs for which I served as a letter writer and editor. I am delighted to report that she was accepted into the Community College Research Internship for Scientific Engagement (CC-RISE) at UCSC. Furthermore, she was accepted as an undergraduate at UCSC where she is presently continuing her passion for science.

2017-2018

Educator at EYH

The Expanding Your Horizons event at Hartnell community college is a one-day event that exposes middle school girls to the exciting world of science! Within our groups, we explored density concepts, the greenhouse effect, and encourage students to create and test their own hypotheses through interactive experiments. 

2017-2018

C.O.R.E member

The UCSC Ocean Sciences department has a Communicating Oceanography Research Effectively (CORE) organization. CORE's aim is to enhance science communication by giving participants an opportunity to receive feedback on their presentations prior to speaking in public. CORE also has communication workshops. As a CORE member I've helped improve talks and have written a blog post about the benefits of giving a CORE talk.

2017

Saratoga High School Ocean Plastics Documentary

I volunteered to be interviewed as part of a short documentary about ocean plastic pollution and its impact on the food web by high school students of Saratoga High. This video will be used to encourage their classmates to recycle plastics and think more critically about the impacts of single-use items on the environment.