Join us and Hispanic Access Foundation for a Latino Conservation Week tweetchat
On Thursday, July 19, join us for a tweetchat in celebration of Latino Conservation Week.
Latino Conservation Week, July 14 through 22, is an initiative of Hispanic Access Foundation. This week celebrates the Latinx community’s role in the outdoors and encourages the community to get outside and protect our natural resources. Join current and former Dr. Nancy Foster Scholars for a tweetchat about opportunities for Latinx people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and in ocean conservation.
Tweetchat details
- Who: Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar Alexandra Avila and alumnus Dr. Jan Vicente
- What: Tweetchat. Dr. Jan Vicente and Alexandra Avila are available to talk about their experience as Latinos in ocean science....ask them anything!
- When: July 19, 2018, at 2:30 p.m. ET.
- Where: Follow the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries on Twitter
Meet the scientists
Alexandra Avila, current Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar
Alexandra Avila is a fisheries Ph.D. student and a NOAA Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar at Oregon State University’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Her research will examine the effects of nearshore currents and downwelling patterns on the dispersal of China rockfish (Sebastes nebulosus) from marine protected areas along the Oregon and Washington coasts, including Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Alex has worked in many coastal areas in the United States and in Ecuador. She has studied the genetic diversity and conservation of the misty grouper (Hyporthodus mytacinus) in the Galapagos Islands, conducted environmental impact research in the Amazon, researched the oyster (Crassostera virginica) and blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) populations in the Chesapeake Bay with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and helped in assessing the salmon habitat in Oregon with the U.S. Forest Service.
Dr. Jan Vicente, Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar alumnus
Dr. Jan Vicente is an National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow investigating cryptic sponge communities throughout remote archipelagos around the Pacific Ocean at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. He uses autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS) to collect sponges confined to the interstices of the reef that can account for up to two thirds of the entire diversity in coral reef ecosystems. The sponge communities settling on ARMS in O'ahu, Hawai'i have revealed over 100 new species records for the Main Hawaiian Islands. Jan is currently describing new species, studying their connectivity throughout the Pacific, and investigating ecological factors affecting their distribution. Jan is a Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar alumnus and previously obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.