City Nature Challenge
The City Nature Challenge is global initiative that engages people around the world in citizen-science through a biodiversity identification competition. In 2018 I joined forces with Anne Haywood - the initiator of the project in Miami, and co-led the Miami City Nature Challenge (CNC). We worked together to cultivate partnerships with local nonprofits and environmental organizations. In addition to partnership cultivation, I developed marketing materials, created and managed a webpage and digital content for the Miami CNC events, and coordinated 2 events in the city with close to 100 participants. My involvement in the Miami CNC continues to this day, both as a volunteer and organizer. |
Million Orchid Project
The Million Orchid Project, an initiative by the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, is aimed at restoring native orchid populations that been displaced by urban development. The project is grounded on strong community partnerships and citizen-science. In 2017 I received a Tropical Conservation Fellowship/Internship and had the opportunity to work with teams at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden and the GIS Center at FIU to map and track growth of native orchid populations. The core component of my project was assisting with the development and testing of a mobile application, Tracking One Million Orchids, that allows community residents, students and interested stakeholders to “scan” orchids, input data and be part of the restoration effort by monitoring progress of orchids in their communities. |
Our Common Future
As program Manager for the School of Environment, Arts and Society (SEAS) I organized a major public lecture, that attracted an audience of approximately 500. The SEAS Our Common Future Lecture Series brings renowned speakers to discuss the critical environmental issues facing the world today with the citizens of South Florida. In 2017, I organized and managed all aspects of the Our Common Future: Urban Resilience to Extreme Events Lecture, from finding and communicating with the speaker, to coordinating all marketing, planning and logistics of the event. I also proposed and organized various peripheral events around the speaker’s visit, such as a Women in STEM Roundtable and meetings with local government officials working on Miami’s climate resiliency plans. An important innovation that I brought to this program was the incorporation of an art contest that served as a marketing tool and most importantly, took the event beyond a lecture and transformed it into an opportunity for students and the community engage in solution-thinking through art. |
Red Tide Panel .
In the summer of 2018, the west and east coasts of Florida were severely affected by a harmful algal bloom that had devastating impacts to marine life, public health and the local economy. When the red tide started to impact beaches in South Florida, FIU’s president called on our team to plan a public forum with chemists, marine scientists, and public health and economy experts to inform stakeholders and media representatives about the possible effects of this phenomenon in our communities. I played a key role identifying panelists, managing event logistics and coordinating the dissemination of information to relevant groups. The panel was broadcasted in several media outlets and led to important discussions with business communities and water management entities to manage the situation and ignite solutions. |
NSF CREST CAChE Student Engagement Programs
The NSF CREST Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment (CAChE) is a hub for environmental contamination research. CAChE is focused on student training, and seeks to increase the number of students pursuing STEM degrees, especially those from underrepresented communities. In 2017, the Center hosted its first cohort of undergraduate students from all over the US, who conducted research with our scientists and learned about environmental issues in South Florida. As Science Communications Coordinator for the Center, I played a key role in co-developing programming and worked with the mentors and the Center’s leadership to design strategies and methods to ensure meaningful experiences for the students, brining insights from my experiences from a similar program that I participated in at Princeton University in 2016. The Center has continued to successfully host research experiences for undergraduate students and was recently awarded an NSF grant to expand this work |
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