Graduation Ceremony: Estuary & Ocean Science Center (22 May 2019)

Exactly one week ago I attended the graduation celebration at San Francisco State University’s Estuary & Ocean Science Center in Tiburon. I had already finished my degree in December and moved to the Seattle area shortly thereafter, so it was amazing to see my former professors and classmates. It was also the day my boyfriend met many of my friends and his mother met my mother, so on a personal level it was quite a momentous day!

Below are pictures by Wil Matthews Photo:

In particular, it was lovely to see Dr. Kathy Boyer, whose wetland ecology class I took two years ago. Weeks after I finished her class she took me on in her lab as a volunteer assistant and then began paying me a couple months later. By the time I left her lab this past February, I had been working in her lab as a Fisheries Technician paid for my work through the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Besides Kathy it was particularly great to see my lab mates from the Boyer Lab again. For nearly my entire time at the Boyer Lab, I was the only person in the lab who wasn’t a woman. It was a wonderful experience to be surrounded by so many intelligent, friendly, knowledgeable, hard-working, and badass women, and I’m deeply privileged to have had them as my mentors, co-workers, teachers, and friends.

Below are some photos taken at the graduation celebration by my good friend, filmmaker Beth Pielert:

As an older, non-traditional student who had faced a lot of struggles in my past attempts to complete my dream degree (of a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology), it was really emotional to finally be able to celebrate. And I double majored in Biochemistry as well, which wasn’t even something I had in mind when I transferred to SF State a few years ago! I’m so happy to be done with this chapter of my life and to be starting my graduate program this summer with a five-week intensive course in marine disease at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories.

Graduation Ceremony: Chemistry and Biochemistry Department (26 May 2019)

Probably the main reason I even bothered to attend the departmental graduation ceremony for San Francisco State University’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Department was to be able to see Dr. Pete Palmer again.

Under Dr. Palmer’s guidance I completed an independent project for the Biochemistry portion of my Bachelor of Science degree in which I tested lead levels in household paint and dust using MP-AES (microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy) during my final semester last fall. He also helped me test soils at Oyster Point Marina in South San Francisco for arsenic and other heavy metals in a separate class.

Every semester Dr. Palmer tries to work with high school students from the economically depressed Fruitvale neighborhood in Oakland to test their dwellings for lead and inform their families on how to mitigate potential harm if the levels are dangerously high. He’s a great example of a person who uses their scientific expertise to empower people in underserved communities and advance environmental justice. He was also a great advisor and helped me navigate the system in order to graduate with Biochemistry as a second major to Marine Biology.

Thanks to my mom and to Bradey for taking the photos above, and to my friend Sabrina who recorded the entire graduation ceremony! The video is below:

Incentivizing Adoption of Living Shorelines and Nature-Based Approaches

I had a great time serving as a volunteer note-taker Thursday afternoon for the 2nd Annual Living Shorelines Tech Transfer Workshop. I was only able to attend for the afternoon session, but I felt like I learned a lot and it was great to hear about the work being done across the country on wetland restoration and shoreline restoration in general.

I did leave feeling concerned that the conference was not racially diverse at all. (It was great to see a majority of women in the session I attended though, and there was quite a strong showing from LGB people overall.) I didn't feel out of place or excluded, but I definitely have reservations about the fact that the overwhelming majority of attendees, who represent a broad spectrum of experts, regulatory agencies, non-profits, researchers, consultants, and more do not reflect the broader community or communities where restoration work needs to be done. One of the things we discussed at our workshop was the need to have "trusted ambassadors" who can work with communities to get their buy-in on living shorelines projects. I wonder how much easier obtaining such trust would be if government bodies, NGOs, and research centers had more people in their employ who came from those communities and understood their concerns firsthand. Efforts to create shoreline resilience will not be successful in the long-term unless the entire community feels included in the process at all its many levels.

Overall I had a great time at the conference and my only regret is that I couldn't attend the whole two-day conference due to scheduling conflicts. Great snacks too! :)

For a copy of the detailed notes I took and submitted to the event organizers, including a more in-depth analysis of what was discussed at the session, please click here.