In the Summertime!

COVID Hasn't Disappeared &

Neither Has The Research

The current health crisis affected many of our students' ability to conduct the kind of research they were really hoping to do this summer. Many REUs and summer programs were either cancelled or postponed, leaving many eager undergrads wondering how they were going to spend their summer. Fortunately, thanks to dedicated CSUMB faculty and community partners, we were able to provide virtual opportunities for many students this summer. Here are what some of our undergraduate researchers are up to.

Tackling the Covid Response

Over the past couple of months, amid the current crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, UROC Scholar Amelia Parker and UROC McNair Scholar Jesus Sanchez-Orozco, have been collecting data from different colleges’ response to the pandemic and their methods in informing their campuses of actions being taken. They plan to analyze and compare the rhetoric used through their communication to students, parents, and the community. By collecting and logging emails, social media posts, and interactive video streams, Amelia and Jesus are looking to understand the effectiveness of specific crisis communication methods towards the different communities based on their demographics. 

Studying the Outdoors Indoors

Saul Garcia was looking for a change in scenery, so he sought an experience working in land conservation in the Monterey region and landed an internship with the Santa Lucia Conservancy. Working with Dr. Christy Wyckoff, Saul has gained knowledge and skills in the field of conservation assisting with surveys on the Preserve working with Sudden Oak Death sampling sites. Fortunately, he was able to continue his work remotely with the Conservancy’s camera project, “Where the Wildlife Wanders”, as an undergraduate summer research project. The focus of the project is assessing how the rise in recreational activities on the trails—as the population on the Preserve has nearly tripled with members staying home—could be affecting the spatial and temporal distributions of the wildlife sharing the Preserve.

Saul hails from the lower Central Valley of California and transferred to CSU Monterey in fall 2019 to pursue a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Evolution, Ecology, and Organisms.



As Sauls wraps up his senior year in 2021, he expects to work in stewardship in the area as he prepares to attend Oklahoma State University’s Integrative Biology graduate program.

After spending some time volunteering in our local oak woodlands, Alicia Khoun expressed an interest in continuing to work with wildlife. Two years later, she has worked with the Santa Lucia Conservancy under the mentorship of Dr. Christy Wyckoff working on various projects including butterfly surveys, vegetation surveys, tricolored blackbird banding, weed management, pond sampling and so much more.

Unfortunately, due to social distancing protocols, Alicia is unable to continue her current research studying tricolored blackbird observation, banding, and acoustic recording; so instead she will be shifting her focus on the phenology of the wildlife on the Preserve. Alicia will be reviewing wildlife photos (that include bobcats, coyotes, deer, and turkeys), document the species observed, and evaluate the phenological trends the team can measure in the project data. Of particular interest is how these patterns may change from year to year and if they can correlate those changes with climatic patterns. She will be evaluating differences on how weather affects animals who are diurnal vs nocturnal. The life cycle of a species is important because it can act as an indicator to determine environmental impacts affecting these species.

Alicia is a transfer student from San Joaquin Delta College born and raised in Stockton, CA. Originally, she was planning to pursue a career in speech therapy but after spending some time volunteering with the Fort Ord National Monument during her service-learning course, Alicia quickly realized learned that being inside a classroom was not for her.

Alicia will be graduating next spring with B.S. in Environmental Science.

Special thanks to Deputy Director / Interim Executive Director Dr. Christy Wyckoff and the Santa Lucia Conservancy for their continued support during these unprecedented times.

Alumni: Where are they now?

After graduating from the CSUMB UROC Scholars program in May 2018, Madison Heard pivoted slightly from research to explore an interest in science education. She found the perfect outlet on Catalina Island where she worked as a Divemaster for Catalina Sea Camp and continued at the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) as a Marine Science Instructor in Fall 2018 and Spring 2019. While outdoor education was incredibly fulfilling, Madison dearly missed the research community and returned to Monterey in Summer 2019 as the Intern Logistical Coordinator at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) to co-lead the program and work as a Science Communication Intern. After 10 weeks of blending research with communication, Madison headed back to Catalina Island for her final season as a Marine Science Instructor. She was eager to gain more experience in science communication but from a different perspective. So Madison traveled to Tel Aviv, Israel where she researched environmental issues and wrote newspaper articles as an intern with the Israel Society for Ecological and Environmental Studies (ISEES) from January to March 2020. She now prepares to begin her PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara in ecological physiology with Dr. Erika Eliason. Her project is currently on hold due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, but when the time is right, she will travel to British Columbia to study the physiological mechanisms different salmon populations use to cope with natural and anthropogenic environmental stressors.

Elizabeth Ramsay is a researcher at the University of California Davis and NOAA’s Marine Pollution Laboratory. She conducts toxicology experiments alongside a team of fellow researchers, adding to established, long-term data sets. The data collected is then used to inform management and policy regarding the entirety of the California Coast. Elizabeth started her journey to graduate school and beyond in her second year of undergraduate school at CSU Monterey Bay. She was accepted into the UROC Scholars program where she quickly learned crucial skills to set her on a trajectory towards graduate school and worked as an undergraduate researcher in the lab, The Institute or Applied Marine Ecology. This connection led her eventually to Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML). Elizabeth made the shift to MLML at the end of her junior year, where she worked with a graduate student mentor. She helped the graduate student collect her thesis data while also conducting her own capstone research. Over time, Elizabeth fell in love with the rigorous program at MLML, and when the time came, she applied and got into the Phycology Lab at MLML for graduate school. Elizabeth also expanded on other avenues in her field while at MLML. She worked at Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions as a Communications Intern, where she gained insights on proper science communication. Elizabeth officially completed her Masters at MLML in late 2019 and started her job with the Marine Pollution Lab in April 2020. Elizabeth truly feels that her experiences at CSUMB and UROC shaped the path leading to where she is now, working her dream job in a beautiful place.

Breanna Machuca's time as a UROC student started when she was accepted for the CSU-LSAMP Costa Rica Summer Research Program, where she conducted an experimental research project on tropical damselfish. Once back in California, she went straight to work as a UROC Researcher at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Working at the Pacific Shark Research Center, Breanna assisted her mentor with her thesis on mercury accumulation and maternal offloading of coastal sharks and rays. After graduating with a B.S. in Marine Science, she was fortunate enough to be accepted into the graduate program at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in the Pacific Shark Research Center under the greater Ichthyology lab. Breanna continued her research focusing on sharks and rays in an estuarine environment, and studied the trophic ecology of leopard sharks, bat rays, and thornback rays in Elkhorn Slough. Just like most research, she hit a few obstacles with her project and changed her thesis to focus on fish tissue contaminants and mercury accumulation from agricultural lands. Nevertheless, Breanna would graduate with an M.S. in Environmental Science. She decided to switch gears a bit and focus her time on communicating science to the public and younger generations. This past year, she joined the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History as the Community Science Specialist where she work with various educational programs, such as LiMPETS (Long Term Monitoring and Experiential Training for Students), Watershed Guardians, and Monarch Monitors. Breanna is able to take her research experience combined with her outreach experience to educate future generations on the importance and value of marine and freshwater ecosystems and scientific research.

We want to hear from you!

We are still brimming with joy from the time we were able to bring seven McNair Alums together for our first ever McNair Alumni Panel last December -- that's because we absolutely love hearing from our alumni!

Did you get into the grad program you worked so hard to get into? Maybe you decided to join the workforce? Or perhaps you're married and have some future UROCkers on the way. Whatever it may be, email us and let us know what you've been up to since graduating from CSUMB.

2019 UROC McNair Alumni Panel (from left to right): Emily King, Abel Duarte, Karina Ruiz, Malachi Alexander, Alexandria Cervantes, Ari Perez, Kevin Johnson

Helpful Articles

There has been a lot happening in the world as of late, from the pandemic to the movement against racial injustice. Now, more than ever, it is important that we stay informed and be openminded. Here are some helpful articles on how to continue remaining safe and healthy as shelter-in-place orders slowly lift, and stories that advocate for a more inclusive science field.

Self-care tips during the Covid19 Pandemic

The Digital Migration: Lessons from Open Science Rising from the Covid19 Crisis

The Quarantine Files: Thinkers in Self-Isolation

Seeing himself in the Science

Researchers around the world prepare to #ShutDownSTEM and "Strike for Black Lives"

Folio Lab: Your Digital Portfolio

June 26, July 31 1pm-2pm

Social Justice Dialogue

July 1 5:15pm-6:15pm

Local Histories of Racism

July 8, 10, 22, 24 1-2

Goldwater Scholarship

Friday, July 10 12pm-1pm

Trivia Night with Eric

July 17, 31 4:30pm-6pm

Udall Scholarship

July 24 12pm-1pm

Knight-Hennessey Scholars

Information Session Offered All Summer

(Only for Stanford University) Website

Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship

Website