Outreach

Puerto Rico’s Immersive Marine Experience (PRIME) Workshop (July 2022)

Photos from the PRIME workshop held in July 2022: A. After a lecture by Tortugueros del Sur, students get a closer look at sea turtle specimens, B. Students lead through the Museum of Marine Invertebrates on Isla Magueyes, C. Students in lab learning about how to process samples for molecular work, D. Myself and students on the boat deploying a plankton net to capture samples that we then inspected under microscopes in the lab, E. Students on the reef practicing coral identification, and F. Miguel Figueroa from the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources leading students on a coral disease prevalence survey.

Description: Developed, organized, and conducted an 8-day workshop with colleague Kara Titus for 16 undergraduate students from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez and Inter Americana Barranquitas in July 2022. The workshop included lectures covering major topics within marine sciences in combination with field training (e.g., biodiversity surveys) on local coral reefs. PRIME also included professional development lectures that allowed students to better understand potential career paths in marine sciences and how to navigate next steps after graduation.

OWLS Outreach at Rice University (Spring 2020-Present)

Description: OWLS Outreach is a group of graduate students from diverse backgrounds passionate about communicating about life sciences to 5th-8th grade students. Our goal is to engage students with hands-on, mentored science and develop and make available tools that can be used by teachers to instill a passion for science in their students when we’re not around. During my time with OWLS Outreach, we have created several virtual educational lessons (owlls.blogs.rice.edu/virtual-modules/) to allow us to still make an impact during COVID19 pandemic and when possible visited local schools in the Houston area (owlls.blogs.rice.edu/modules/).

President of UPRM Department of Marine Science Student Organization (May 2017- May 2019)

Description: Organized and facilitated educational outreach to the local community promoting conservation of Puerto Rico’s marine resources. Specifically, I have organized outreach events at local schools and town squares, marine science symposiums and open-house events for the Department of Marine Sciences at UPRM.

Vice President of UPRM Department of Marine Science Student Organization (January 2017-May 2017)

Description: Organized and facilitated educational outreach to the local community promoting conservation of Puerto Rico’s marine resources.