CSU Monterey Bay students took a first-place award and two seconds at the recent conference of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.

SACNAS is a 40-year-old nonprofit organization that fosters Hispanic/Chicano and Native American scientists from college students to professionals.

The annual conference – funded in large part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health – is the society’s showcase. It brings together students and professional scientists from around the country as well as university representatives there to recruit students for their graduate programs.

This year, about 3,000 students and 1,000 scientists gathered in Los Angeles; 1,200 students presented the results of their research.

CSUMB was represented by 15 undergraduates, four graduate students and four students from other schools who were part of last summer’s Monterey Bay Regional Ocean Science Research Experience for Undergraduates based at CSUMB. They presented research posters in ecology and evolution, general biology and marine biology.

Earning awards were:

• Alison Aceves, marine science major and McNair Scholar, took first place in ecology and evolution. She spent last summer working at the Hatfield Marine Science Center at Oregon State University, studying host-parasite interactions of salmon in the Columbia River.

• Emily King, marine science major and McNair Scholar, took second place in marine biology. She also spent the summer at the Hatfield Center, researching larval fish behavior.

• Briana Becerra, biology major and McNair Scholar, took second place in ecology and evolution. She spent the summer at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, researching forest ecology.

• Danielle Perry, a participant in last summer’s Ocean Science REU at CSUMB and a student at the University of New Haven, took first place in marine biology. She spent the summer working at Elkhorn Slough.

All of the students took advantage of professional development opportunities at the conference and attended scientific sessions.

“The conference attendees I spoke with were highly complimentary of our students in how they presented their research, the quality of their work and their overall professionalism at the conference,” said Dr. Corey Garza, associate professor in the Division of Science and Environmental Policy, director of the Monterey Bay Regional Ocean Science REU and the university’s SACNAS chapter adviser.

Learn more about SACNAS

Learn about the McNair Scholars program and CSUMB’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center

Learn more about the Ocean Science REU at CSUMB

*Photos courtesy of Dr. Garza Top, left to right: Alison Aceves, Briana Becerra, Emily King and Danielle Perry Bottom: CSUMB's contingent at the SACNAS conference*