Students and faculty representing the STEM disciplines attended the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) 2016 in Long Beach California. The conference ran from Oct. 13 through 15.
The SACNAS conference is the nation’s largest multicultural and multidisciplinary diversity in Science Technology Engineering and Math conferences. This year’s attendees included over 4,000 students and professionals in the field.
The purpose of the conference is to provide student’s professionals, and postdoctoral researchers support and opportunities as they transition towards positions of leadership in these fields.
Nine UOG undergraduate and two graduate students, accompanied by three faculty members, flew to the mainland to attend the conference.
The students represented majors including math, biology, and chemistry. Each student’s experience varies, but they all are exposed to different opportunities.
“I had the opportunity to share my summer research project with others. I had tons of fun talking about our Guam mantas and how unique they are in the way that they target fish spawning aggregations to feed off gamete clouds,” said attendee and UOG sophomore biology major Leilani Sablan.
Another student, sophomore biology, math, and chemistry major Joseph Lance Casila, also attended the conference.
“The conference provided me with a more accurate and in-depth insight as to what graduate school is like,” Casila said. “In addition, I was able to listen and be inspired by many of the research presentations during the conference. I particularly remember a very interesting presentation about synthesizing metal rods for cancer treatment.”
According to UOG College of Natural and Applied Sciences Assistant Professor Austin Shelton, Ph.D., “The SACNAS conference provides incredible opportunities at a national level for students to get experience presenting research, find valuable mentors, get into graduate programs, and even land jobs in STEM fields.”
Students who attended the conference spoke on these opportunities as well, and encouraged other students to follow in their footsteps.
“I recommend this experience for students looking to share their research with a diverse group of students or for those looking to network with people in their field of interest,” said Sablan.
“I would definitely recommend this experience to other students. It’s already a given that there will be research presentations and professional development talks that will extremely benefit every student,” added Casila.
Students interested in attending future conferences should know it is well within their reach.
Shelton recommends students visit www.sacnas.org for more information, and be aware abstract submissions and travel scholarship applications tend to become available in April each year. Shelton also encourages interested students to email him at Shelton@triton.uog.edu for any inquiries, as he is currently an elected member of the SACNAS Board of Directors.
