Former Scholars
Jordan Abney (2015-2017), email: jabney1993@gmail.com
Jordan worked with Dr. Eernisse and Dr. Vendetti to better understand the evolutionary relationships of an endemic land snail genus Helminthoglypta. Ecologically, his project focused on the historic and current distribution of these snails. His project also focused on the evolutionary relationship at a species level by using DNA sequencing. In addition to his research, Jordan also worked as an intern at Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control where he helped prevent the spread of West Nile Virus and other vector-borne diseases. Jordan is a middle school science teacher in Santa Ana.
Jackie Arroyo (2010- 2013), email: jarroyo4@csu.fullerton.edu Jackie worked with faculty mentor Jennifer Burnaford studying the invasive alga Sargassum muticum. In addition, she was interested in how the abiotic conditions vary between tide pools with the seaweed and tide pools without it. Jackie presented the results from the SCERP summer research on S. muticum at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA, and her own independent invsestigations on S. muticum, at the 2011 SACNAS conference in 2011, where she won an outstanding poster award for her work. Jackie participated in the teaching credential program at CSUF and was a scholar in the Teaching As A Primary Profession program, which is funded by NSF. Jackie is currently a high school biology teacher.
Cherise Austin (2016-2018), email: cherise22@csu.fullerton.edu
Cherise is interested in organisms in the rocky intertidal ecosystem and worked with faculty mentor Jennifer Burnaford. Her independent research project focused on how body temperature during low tide exposure affects the photosynthetic potential of the rockweed, Silvetia compressa.
Amy (Arispe) Bakchis (2005-2007), email: amybakchis@yahoo.com
Amy worked with faculty mentor Darren Sandquist and studied nitrogen fixed by microbial crusts that is subsequently used by desert shrubs. She presented the results of the summer group research at the 2006 annual meeting of the Southern Academy of Sciences. Amy received $1,000 from the CSUF Undergraduate Support Initiative in 2006. She worked at an environmental consulting firm in Rancho Cucamonga.
Arthur Barraza (2014-2015), email: adbm55@csu.fullerton.edu
Arthur worked with faculty mentor Kristy Forsgren studying the reproductive physiology of male black perch (Embiotoca jacksoni). Arthur presented the results of the SCERP summer research project on the demographics and movement of a sky-island population of Sceloporus occidentalis at the CSUF NSM summer research symposium and at the 2014 SACNAS conference in Los Angeles, CA. Arthur received Honorable Mention for his poster presentation at the 2015 Southern California Academy of Sciences conference for his independent research with Kristy Forsgren. He completed his M.S. degree in biology at CSU Long Beach, working with Dr. Chris Lowe, studying a local population of green sea turtles. Arthur is currently a Ph.D. student studying sea turtles at the Australian Rivers Institute - Toxicology Group, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Australia.
Cheryl (Sevilla) Birker (2010-2013), email: csevilla@rsabg.org
Cheryl worked with faculty mentor Darren Sandquist Darren Sandquist using hyperspectral sensing to determine the water status of the creosote bush, Larrea tridentata, in the Mojave Desert. She presented the results of her SCERP summer research on water relations in the desert shrub, Isocoma acradenia, at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA. In 2011, Cheryl received the Jewel Plummer Cobb Scholarship for academic achievement. She gave poster presentations of her independent research at both the 2011 and 2012 SCAS conferences, as well as the 2011 SACNAS conference in San Jose, CA, where she won an award for Outstanding Research Presentation, sponsored by the Botanical Society of America. During the summer of 2012, Cheryl interned for the DEVELOP National Program at NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia, where she worked on a project using the NASA Earth Observing System to assess deforestation in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil for advanced forest management. In 2013 Cheryl received the CSUF Rose Society of Saddleback Mountain Research Assistant Award in Plant Science and graduated Summa Cum Laude. She is now on contract with the Bureau of Land Management to collect seeds from native California desert plants for conservation, restoration, and research with the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Seeds of Success team.
Alexis Bueno Correa (2013-2015), email: alexisbuenoc@gmail.com
Alexis worked with faculty mentor Christopher Tracy investigating the effects of temperature on the metabolism and water loss rates of common chuckwallas, Sauromalus ater. She presented the results of the SCERP group summer research project investigating the effects of roads on vegetation, desert tortoises, and desert rabbits in the Mojave Desert at the 2013 SACNAS Conference in San Antonio, TX where she won for Outstanding Poster in Ecology. She also won for Outstanding Student Poster for this work at the CSUF Student Research Day. Alexis was awarded the 2014 CSUF Department of Biological Science Jewell Plummer Cobb Scholarship ($2,000). Alexis is in the Regenerative Studies Program at Cal. Poly. Pomona.
Andres Carrillo (2004-2007), email: an.carrillo@yahoo.com
Andres worked with faculty mentor Kathryn Dickson. He studied the kinematics of escape response by juvenile white sea bass. Andres traveled to Brazil as part of the CSUF-UConn FIPSE Brazil-U.S. Coastal Resource Management program in 2006. He won the Best Student Poster Award at the Annual meeting of the Southern California Academy of Sciences in 2005. As a SCERP scholar Andres worked at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium as an Aquaculture Research Assistant. Andres studied freshwater shrimp and talapia aquaculture in Thailand during the summer of 2007. Andres finished his M.S. degree in 2012 in biology working with Dr. Kathryn Dickson at CSUF studying delayed hatching in the California grunion. He is pursuing his PhD in Biology at UC Irvine, working in the lab of Dr. Mathew McHenry at the Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology. Andres received the WRPI/USDA Watershed Management Doctoral Scholarship to study the role of flow sensing during feeding in larval fishes. He also received a scholarship from the CSU Chancellor's Docroral Incentive Program to fund his research. Andres received his Ph.D. in 2019 and is the Research Curator at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. He also teaches Marine Biology and other topics at CSUF and Santa Ana College.
Ernesto Casillas (2008-2011), email: ernestobio@csu.fullerton.edu
Ernesto worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl studying metal loads in Kellet's whelk (Kelletia kelletii) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometery (ICP-MS). His study identified the tissues where metabolism occurs in this southern California gastropod. He presented results from the SCERP summer research on the effects of trampling on the aquatic invertebrate community in a southern California creek at the 2008 Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference in Salt Lake City, UT. He received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in 2009 and 2010 to study protein-protein interaction of thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase in an extremophile at Boston University. In the fall of 2009 he presented his independent research at the annual SACNAS conference in Dallas, Tx, and won an outstanding poster award in marine biology. He received a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to study health disparities and is conducting research in Maryland in 2011 and 2012. Ernesto won the CSUF Miles D. McCarthy Health Professions award in 2013. He graduated from the M.D. program at USC in 2017. Ernesto is an Internal Medicine Resident at USC.
Carina "Cory" Castro (2006-2009), email: carina_castro1@csu.fullerton.edu
Cory worked with faculty mentor Anne Houtman investigating song function in Anna’s hummingbird in southern California deserts. Cory was awarded a faculty-student research grant from CSUF and a CSUF Associated Students Inc. grant in 2006. She presented the results of her research at the 2007 Southern California Academy of Sciences meeting in Fullerton, CA, and the 2007 Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conference in Kansas City, MO. Cory won the 2007 SACNAS undergraduate student best poster award in ecology for her research. Cory completed her M.S. degree in Biology at CSU Fullerton in 2013 working with Anne Houtman studying song variation across populations of black-throated sparrows. Cory worked for several years at CSUB as a biology technician. She is currently an Instructional Laboratory Technician for the Biology Department at San Diego Mesa College.
Shannon Chou (2017-2020), email: shannonchou@csu.fullerton.edu
Shannon remains curious about a wide array of topics in biology and is especially interested in answering biological questions that require an interdisciplinary approach. Her preferred area of research lies in behavioural ecology (for any species and any ecosystem), particularly if interspecific interactions are involved. She worked with faculty mentors Dr. Jennifer L. Burnaford and Dr. Ryan P. Walter to investigate the differences between derived species richness and diversity levels in tide pools as interpreted from visual surveys versus environmental DNA analysis. Shannon was awarded a travel scholarship to attend the 2018 SACNAS conference.
Andres Cisneros (2011-2014), email: andrew_cisneros7@yahoo.com
Before joining SCERP Andres worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl. He studied larval settlement patterns in the Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida. As a SCERP scholar Andres is investigating the effects of a restored oyster bed on the local clam community. He co-presented work from the SCERP summer investigation on the effects of elevated low tide temperature on the risk of predation in intertidal turban snails, at the 2011 SACNAS conference in San Jose, CA, where he won the Outstanding Poster Award in Marine Biology.
Brittany Cook (2017-2020), email: bcook@csu.fullerton.edu
Brittany is interested in agricultural issues and environmental sustainability. She worked with faculty mentor Joshua Der identifying the genetic difference between Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples. She was the recipient of a STEER Scholarship at CSUF. She was the 2018 recipient of the CSUF Jewell Plummer Cobb Scholarship, and the A. James Diefenderfer Memorial Scholarship. She won the ASI Student Leadership award in 2019 as treasurer and secretary for the CSUF ASI Board of Directors. She is pursuing a graduate degree in Horticulture at Cornell University.
Shannon Crossen (2009-2011), email: shannoncrossen@csu.fullerton.edu
Shannon worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl studying oyster restoration techniques on the native Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida) populations in Newport Bay, Ca. Her study assessed the oysters' impact on local biodiversity and water quality and also helped to further develop oyster restoration efforts of this native species. Shannon presented results from the SCERP summer research on plant water relations of riparian and coastal sage scrub communities at the 2009 Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conference in Dallas, TX. She received the CSUF Rachel Carson Conservation Biology scholarship in 2010. Shannon presented the results of her independent research at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA. After graduating, Shannon worked for an environmental consultanting firm and from 2011 to 2014 she worked as a Biologist for Caltrans. She completed her Master of Science degree in Enviornmental Science at Montana State University and also works as a Senior Biologist for ICF International. At ICF Shannon conducts biological resources assessments reporting, endangered species consultations, and CEQA/NEPA documentation and is located in the state of Washington.
Carmen Cortez (2007-2009), email:cortezcj@gmail.com
Carmen worked with faculty mentor Darren Sandquist . She is interested in ethnobotany and has completed research investigating traditional use of the plant Hydrocotyle ranunculoides in the higher Lerma river basin in Mexico. As a SCERP scholar Carmen studied habitat restoration methods for the reestablishment of the endangered Santa Ana river woolly star (Eriasterum densifolia sanctorum). Carmen presented results from the SCERP summer research on Kellet's whelk larval behavior at the 2007 Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conference in Kansas City, MO. Carmen particpated in the 2008 NSF-REU program at the university of Cape Coast Ghana, West Africa. While in Ghana she studied the effect of pollintor limitation on fruit production of the cauliflorous Theobroma cacao and compared pollination efficiency of the major branch axis and trunk segments. She also participated in the 2008 Summer Undergraduate Research Program at U.C. Davis and worked with Dr. Kevin Rice identifying limitations to seedling recruitiment of native grasses in the Sierra Nevada grassland communities. She was also a CSUF McNair scholar. Carmen received a prestegious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and is pursuing her PhD at UC Davis where she was also an IGERT fellow.
Carrie De Jesus (2010-2012), email: cedejesus@pacbell.net
Carrie worked with faculty mentor Bill Hoese investigating how human-generated noise impacts song sparrow communication across a noise gradient in Orange County. She completed the Research Carrers Preparation program at CSUF. Carrie received a Faculty-Student Research Grant from the Faculty Development Center at CSUF and the Jewell Plummer Cobb Scholarship. She was on the Dean's list in Spring and Fall 2009 and Spring 2010. Carrie presented the results of the SCERP summer research on preliminary restoration efforts of non-native annual grassland to coastal sage scrub habitat at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA. She also participated in an REU at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory where she investigated how breeding bird density influences vocal individuality. After graduation, Carrie worked as a field biologist assisting with a project investigating West Nile virus in birds in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and then for Vector Control in San Diego. Carrie graduated from the M.S. program in Entomology at North Carolina State University in 2015; her thesis title was "What is the purpose of multiple lobed spermathcae in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus?" Carrie worked as a biologist for Delta Vector Control, in Visalia, where she conducted West Nile Virus testing and tracked mosquitoes. Work from Carrie's Masters thesis was published in Parasites and Vectors in 2016! Carrie worked as an entomologist, working with mosquitoes and Zika virus on St Croix. Carrie is a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida.
Allyson Degrassi (2008-2011), email:adegrassi@csu.fullerton.edu
Allyson worked with faculty mentors Steven Murray and Jayson Smith;exploring energetic performances of southern California's marine herbivores. She studied native and non-native macroalgal nutritional content and feeding patterns of native invertebrate consumers when fed native or non-native kelp. Allyson gave an oral presentation at the CSUF NSM Inter-Club Council Sixth annual symposium on the effects of delayed hatching on development of the California grunion in 2009. She also presented a poster on delayed hatching in grunion at the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research at Pomona, CA in 2008. Allyson was awarded the CSUF Rachel Carson Conservation Scholarship in 2009. She is founder of the Society of Multidisciplinary Researchers of Tomorrow (SMRT) club at CSUF. She is a transfer student from Saddleback Community College where she earned an Associates Degree in Environmental Studies. Allyson was chosen by the faculty of the Environmental Studies Department at Saddleback Community College to represent the department at the 2007 Dean's List Reception. Allyson presented the results of her independent research at the 2009 SACNAS conference in Dallas, TX. Allyson completed her PhD in ecology at the University of Vermont. In 2013 Allyson was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to conduct her work. She held a postdoc at the University of New Hampshire working with Dr. Rebecca Rowe (2016-18). She was a faculty member at Glenville State College in West Virgina. Ally is currently an Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies and Biology at Shenandoah University in Virginia.
Stephanie Diaz (2005-2008), email:stephanie.diaz25@gmail.com
Stephanie worked with faculty mentors Steven Murray and Jayson Smith monitoring the sale of invasive algae in the genus Caulerpa by southern California aquarium stores. She was a scholar in the FIPSE Brazil-U.S. Coastal Resource Management exchange program in 2006. As a 2007 REU scholar at the Environmental Science Institute at UT Austin, Stephanie studied nitrate dynamics in two river systems of southern Texas. Her many CSUF-sponsored scholarships include the 2007 Chicano/Latino Faculty and Staff Association Undergraduate Scholarship, and the 2007 Rachel Carson Scholarship in Conservation Biology. She also was awarded the 2007 Orange County Association of Environmental Professionals Undergraduate Scholarship. She presented her research at numerous scientific meetings, including the 2007 SACNAS conference. Stephanie was honored as a commencement speaker at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics graduation in 2008. Following graduation she worked in 2008-2009 as an intern at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Program. Stephanie is currently a graduate student in the PhD program in Earth Science at UCSB studying geochemical techniques to understand groundwater travel times. Prior to her first year in graduate school at UCSB, she was awarded an NSF Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Summer Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowship. In 2012, Stephanie was awarded a Lawrence Livermore Scholar Fellowship to continue her PhD research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA.
Sydnee Dunn (2018-2020), email: sydvicious1995@gmail.com
Sydnee worked with faculty mentor Dr. Bill Hoese characterizing the dialect of the brood parasitic songbird, the pin-tailed whydah (Vidua macroura). Her project focused on comparing the dialect of an invasive population in Southern California to its native population in Africa by recording and analyzing their songs at the syllable level. She received a registration scholarship to present this research at the 2020 SACNAS virtual conference. She also received a travel scholarship from SACNAS to present the 2018 cohort project focused on potential rodenticide exposure in native rodent populations conducted at Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary. Sydnee received multiple scholarship, grants, and awards including the Dan Black Student Award ($650), Dharm Vireo Pellegrini Memorial Research Grant ($1000), and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Workforce Scholarship ($6,500) in 2019. In 2020, she received the Dr. & Mrs. Donald B. Bright Environmental Scholarship ($2,500). In addition to her research, she worked as a technician for the Muli-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe) under Dr. Jennifer Burnaford, conducting long-term distribution and abundance surveys of intertidal organisms along the Southern California coast. She worked for Leatherman Bioconsulting Inc. as a brown-headed cowbird trap monitor in 2019. During the summer of 2020, Sydnee worked as an intern for USGS surveying the distribution and abundance of native and non-native plant species post-fire in the Owyhee Mountain Range, Idaho.
Susana Espino Hernandez (2002-2004), email: sespino@fullerton.edu
Susana worked with faculty mentor Darren Sandquist and studied the photosynthetic rate of Eriastrum densifolium ssp. sactorum in the presence and absence of competitors. Susana presented her work at the Desert Studies Symposium, 2004. Susana has received many awards including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund for $2,500 in 2003, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute for $3,000 in 2004 the CSUF Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for $3,000 in 2004, and the CSUF Alumni Association Natural Sciences and Mathematics Scholarship for $500 in 2005. Susana received her M.S. in Biology at CSUF in 2008 working with Dr. Jochen Schenk investigating hydraulic segmentation and axis splitting in desert shrubs. She has published multiple peer-reviewed papers on her work. She worked for several years as the manager of the Schenk lab. She a laboratory technician in microbiology at Santa Ana College.
Melissa Fowler (2002-2005 )
Missy worked with faculty mentor Paul Stapp studying the foraging behavior of Chaetodipus pocket mice in response to rattlesnake olfactory cues. She presented her research at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists at Southwestern Missouri State University, Springfield, MO. Missy received the CSUF Judith Presch Memorial Desert Research Scholarship for $250 in 2004 as well as the American Society of Mammalogists Undergraduate Student Research Award for $400 in 2005. Until 2009 Missy worked as a Research Associate at the Irvine Ranch Land Conservancy. She graduated with a Masters in Environmental Studies from CSUF in 2010. Missy is currently a Biologist at CH2M Hill where she prepares mitigation plans and conducts biological surveys.
Victor Galvan (2002-2005), email: vgalvan2000@gmail.com
Victor worked with faculty mentor Steven Murray. While a SCERP scholar Victor investigated the ecophysiology of the invasive red alga Caulacanthus ustulatus. He presented his work at the 2003 and 2004 SACNAS conference and at the 2004 meeting of the Phycological Society of America. As a SCERP scholar Victor was awarded a CSUF Alliance for Minority Participation award for $600 in 2004 and a CSU Los Angeles, CEA-CREST student experience award for $2,000 in 2004. Victor received his M.S. in Biology from CSU, Los Angeles and was awarded the Louis Stokes AMP fellowship. Victor served the Peace Corps working in the Dominican Republic (2008-2010) and is currently working in the Dominican Republic researching coastal marine environments.
Joseph Gamez (2015-present), email: gamez-flyrs201@csu.fullerton.edu
Joseph is an avid birder interested in traveling throughout Central and South America to study tropical species. He is working with faculty mentor Dr. Paul Stapp investigating the population spread, potential host species, and possible host song mimicry of the Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura), an exotic obligate brood parasite, in southern California. Joseph is a recipient of the 2016 Bloom-Hays Ecological Research Grant presented by the Sea and Sage Audubon Society with the objective to advance ecological research related to avian species and their natural communities.
Alejandra Garcia (2016-2018), email: alegarcia351@csu.fullerton.edu
Alejandra worked with faculty mentors Dr. Danielle Zacherl and Dr. Ryan Walter investigating the morphology and molecular genetics of native (Mytilus trossulus) and non-native (Mytilus galloprovincialis) mussel species in potential hybrid zones in southern California.
Anthony Garcia (2009-2011), email: siega@roadrunner.com
Anthony worked with faculty mentors Steven Murray and Jayson Smith. Anthony investigated human activity and impacts on Southern California Coastal Communities. He was also interested in testing the best methods for limiting human impact on coastal communities to maintain ecology and biodiversity without restricting sites from human usage. Anthony won the best poster in ecology award at the 2010 Southern California Academy of Sciences meeting at CSULA for the SCERP summer research project on predation risk in desert rodents. He won the outstanding poster in Marine Conservation award for his research on human impacts in southern California intertidal communities at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA. Anthony works as an environmental scientist for the California Department of Public Health, Food and Drug Branch, in Fresno, Ca.
Christine Goedhart (2003-2005), email: cgoedhart@citruscollege.edu
Christine worked with faculty mentor Jochen Schenk investigating axis splitting and root function in desert shrubs. She was a co-author with Dr. Schenk on her undergraduate research in a paper entitled "Hydraulic integration and shrub growth form linked across continental aridity gradients" in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in 2008, Vol 105, pp. 11248-11253. Christine received her PhD from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program at U.C. Irvine in 2011 working with Dr. Diane Pataki. Christine completed her Ph.D. in 2010 working with Dr. Diane Pataki in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program at UC Irvine. She taught plant physiological ecology during the fall of 2008 and field botany in the spring of 2012 at CSUF. She was a faculty member in biology at Citrus College. Christine is currently a Science Education Specialist at the University of British Columbia, in Canada.
Mauricio Gomez (2011-2014), email: mauriciomctgomez@gmail.com
Mauricio worked with faculty mentor Jennifer Burnaford studying the effects of heat stress on predation risk for intertidal molluscan organisms. He presented the results from the summer group research on elevated low tide temperatures and predation risk in intertidal turban snails at the 2011 SACNAS conference, in San Jose, CA, where he and his co-presenter won the Outstanding Poster in Marine Biology. During the summer of 2012 he pursued his independent research at Friday Harbor Labs, in Washington, where he worked with three limpet species and a sea star predator, investigating predation risk. Maurico was awarded a CSUF Faculty-student Scholarly and Creative Activities Grant in 2012. Since graduation Mauricio has worked for the Chambers Group, where he is now an Assistant Biologist. He has been featured in the CSUF Biological Science Alumni Spotlight: http://www.fullerton.edu/biology/careers/Alumni-Gomez.php
Patricia Gonzalez (2009-2012), email: pgonzalez@csu.fullerton.edu
Patricia worked with faculty mentor Jennifer Burnaford. She investigated the effects of temperature and salinity on respiration and filtration rates in the native and non-native oysters in Newport Bay, California. She also tested the accuracy of temperature loggers by comparing recorded data with actual oyster body temperatures. She presented a poster on oyster filtration rates at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conference in Dallas, Texas in 2009. In 2010 Patricia traveled to Friday Harbor Labs in Washington with Dr. Burnaford and helped run experiments investigating predation in sea stars, and host selection in parasitic pea crabs. Patricia presented her independent research on oyster filtration rates at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA.
Kyle Gunther (2016-2018), email: klg0514@csu.fullerton.edu
Kyle worked with faculty mentors Joel Abraham and Joshua Der to study allelopathy in fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and host specialization of desert mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum), respectively, with the goal of contributing to the ecological insight of CA native plant assemblages. Kyle presented his fennel research at the 2016 SACNAS conference and was awarded best undergraduate poster in Life Sciences: Botany. Kyle also presented his researh at the XIII Symposio Binacional de Botánica in Ensenada, Mexico. He gave his first-ever talk on the desert mistletoe work at the CA Botanical Society’s 26th Graduate Student Symposium, and won best poster for this work at the 31st Desert Symposium at the Desert Studies Center in Zzyzx, CA. He has grown to love the desert so much that he is now a founding member of the Desert Studies Docent program. Kyle is currently a graduate student in the M.S. program at San Diego State University.
Elizabeth Hessom (2008-2010), email: ElizabethCHessom@gmail.com
Elizabeth worked with faculty mentor Jochen Schenk studying embolism repair within two chaparral plant species, Malosma laurina and Ceanothus crassifolius. She studied whether embolism repair is affected by diurnal and seasonality changes. Elizabeth presented results from the SCERP summer research on honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) at the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research in Pomona, CA in 2008. She was also awarded an educational scholarship from the Orange County Chapter Association of Environmental Professionals in 2009. Elizabeth was the Coordinating Chair for the CSUF Environmental Advocacy Committee, and was an officer in the Society of Multidisciplinary Researchers of Tomorrow. She was a member of the Finish-In-Four Advising Program and minored in chemistry. Elizabeth won an outstanding poster in plant biology award at the 2009 SACNAS conference in Dallas, Texas, for her research on embolism repair. Elizabeth graduated from the M.S. program in Environmental Science at UC Riverside in 2012; as a graduate students she received the UCR Dean's Scholarship to fund her education. She worked as a research associate at Syngenta in northern California (2012-2015). Elizabeth is currently an Environmental Scientist for the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento where she works on instream flow water conservation projects all over the state.
Robin (Keber) Hoang (2003-2007), email: robinkeber@gmail.com
Robin worked with faculty mentor Sandra Banack. She studied the effects of invasive artichoke thistle on hummingbird nesting success. She was awarded two Strategies for Ecology Education, Development, and Sustainability (SEEDS) Student Travel Awards to present at the 2005 and 2006 Ecological Society of America annual meetings. Robin was Chair of CSUF Natural Sciences and Mathematics Inter Club Council, 2006-2007. She was a cowbird trap monitor for Leatherman Bioconsulting, Inc. in 2006. She was awarded the CSUF Library Prize for her research in 2007. Robin traveled to Thailand to study biology during the summer of 2007. She worked on San Clemente Island in 2008 studying an endangered sparrow population. Robin worked for Back to Natives Restoration, a non-profit conservation agency in Orange County, as an Avian Biologist (2008-2010). She worked as an Associate Biologist for the Chambers Group, Environmental Consulting.
Daniel Jaques (2017-2019), email:drj300@csu.fullerton.edu
Daniel is passionate about habitat restoration and plants in general. He works with faculty mentor Joshua Der. Daniel is also on staff at the Tree of Life Nursery, which specializes in California native plants. He volunteered with Channel Islands Restoration on San Nicholas Island to further their conservation efforts. As a SCERP scholar he will be developing microsatellite genetic markers in multiple California endangered plants with implications for conservation efforts. Following graduation, Daniel worked as a biologist, collecting seeds from native California plants.
Andrew Jaramillo (2018-2019), email: andrewjayyyy@csu.fullerton.edu
Andrew's primary research interests lie in the area of terrestrial animal behavior. He will be conducting independent research in Dr. Kristy Forsgren's lab. Andrew was awarded a travel scholarship to attend the 2018 SACNAS conference. Andrew works at Inside the Outdoors, with Orange County Department of Education, teaching elementary students about ecology, biodiversity, and other biology concepts.
Amber Jolly (2017-2018), email: amberjolly@csu.fullerton.edu
Amber is interested in rocky intertidal ecology and water quality and worked with faculty mentor Jennifer Burnaford. She examined the influence of urban freshwater runoff in Southern California Marine Protected Areas on the distribution, abundance, and physiology of four rocky intertidal species (Tetraclita rubescens, Chondracanthus canaliculatus, Pterocladiella capillacea, and Ulva californica). Amber graduated with her M.S. degree in Biology from CSU Los Angeles; she was awarded an LSAMP Bridges to the Doctorate fellowship for her graduate studies. She published her M.S. research in Frontiers in Plant Science, Leaf Venation and Morphology Help Explain Physiological Variation in Yucca brevifolia and Hesperoyucca whipplei Across Microhabitats in the Mojave Desert
, CA.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.578338. Amber is currently a Ph.D student at UC Irvine, conducting research and working as a Teaching Associate.
Chris Kehrier (2003-2006), email: ckehrier@fullerton.edu
Chris worked with faculty mentor Mike Horn studying the role of the Newport Bay estuary as a nursery for fishes. He presented the results of his research at the 2004 annual conference of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. He was awarded the CSUF Rachel Carson Scholarship in Conservation Biology. Chris completed his M.S. degree in 2012 studying the physiology of endothermic fishes with Dr. Kathryn Dickson at CSUF. He worked as a field biologist for local environmental consulting firms and taught at local community colleges. He also worked as a lecturer at CSUF. Chris is a faculty member in biology at Long Beach City College.
Serra Kelley (2007-2009), email: serraandbrent@earthlink.net
Serra worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl and studied larval yolk variation in Kelletia kelleti, Kellet's Whelk, across ranges, geographic regions, within sites, and across seasons. Understanding maternal yolk contribution provides insight in to how much parental investment is being put into these larvae and thus how successful they may be as adults. Serra presented the results of SCERP summer research on Kellet's whelk larvae diel vertical migration patterns in response to light cues at the annual meeting of the Western Society of Naturalists in Ventura, CA in 2007. She also presented her work at the 2009 Southern California Academy of Sciences meeting.
Eric Kessler (2012-2015), email: ekessler@csu.fullerton.edu
Eric worked with faculty mentor Kristy Forsgren studying endocrine-disrupting compounds in urban runoff and their impact on the reproductive physiology and social behavior of the arrow goby. Eric is also studying the effects of exposure during embryonic development of the endocrine-disrupting compound, 4-nonylphenol, on subsequent reproduction in zebrafish. Eric co-presented a poster from the summer group project investigating predation risk of artificial bird nests in coastal sage scrub and associated edges near natural and suburban habitats at the 2012 SACNAS conference, in Seattle, WA. Eric won an outstanding poster award in Physiology/Pathology at the 2013 SACNAS conference in San Antonio, TX, for his independent research on the effects of 4-nonylphenol on arrow gobies from Morro Bay.
Kimi Koval (2018-2019), email: mkimkoval@csu.fullerton.edu
Kimi is interested in terrestrial animal behavior and carnivore impacts on trophic levels. She is working with mentor Dr. Jennifer Burnaford on aggressive behavior in the anemone Anthopleura elegantissima. Kimi was awarded a travel scholarship to present the summer rocky intertidal SCERP project on the effect of desiccation and heat stress on intertidal species at the 2018 SACNAS conference. Kimi was selected to be a CSUF LSAMP Research Scholar for the 2018-2019 academic year and will receive support to conduct her independent research with Dr. Burnaford. Following graduation, Kimi worked as a USGS intern in Michigan.
Loralee Larios (2003-2005), email: Loralee.Larios@ucr.edu
Loralee worked with faculty mentor Paul Stapp. She investigated invasive plants and arthropod diversity in Southern California grasslands. As a SCERP scholar Loralee worked as a student naturalist at CSUF Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary. She was the recipient of a Strategies for Ecology Education, Development, and Sustainability (SEEDS) field experience award in Alberta Canada in 2004. She was a CSUF President's Scholar and was on the Dean's list fall 2002, spring 2003, fall 2003, spring 2004, and fall 2004. Loralee worked as the ecology laboratory manager for Dr. Katherine Suding at U.C. Irvine for two years. She received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2008. Loralee graduated with a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley in 2014. She returned to CSUF and served as a coordinator for the 2014 Problems in Environmental Biology course and helped the new SCERP scholars investigate functional traits in plants. She received an NSF postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Montana. As a postdoctoral fellow she co-taught one week of the SCERP summer course at Starr Ranch; her challenge problem focused on functional traits in native and non-native plants. Loralee is a tenure-track faculty member at UC Riverside in Botany, http://llarios12.wixsite.com/lariosecology.
Leslie (Buena) Levy (2004-2005), email: lesliebuena@gmail.com
Leslie worked with faculty mentor Sean Walker. Her research investigated the influence of female chemical cues on male behavior in the field cricket (Archeta domesticus). She won second place for her presentation at the 2007 Orange County Graduate Women in Science conference. She published results from her SCERP research, Buena, L.J. and S.E. Walker. 2008. Information asymmetry and aggressive behaviour in male house crickets, Acheta domesticus. Animal Behaviour 75:199-204. Leslie completed her M.S. in Biology at CSU, Fullerton in 2008, and she worked as a Stewardship Associate for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy (http://www.pvplc.org/). She was a staff biologist at the Chambers Group, Environmental Consulting and worked for Vector Control. She worked as an Environmental Engineering Specialist with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and is an Associat Planner at the Riverside County Flood Control and Water District.
Taylor Naquin (2019-2020), email: taylorenaquin@gmail.com
Taylor worked with Dr. Kristy Forsgren to investigate the sexual maturity of first year male dwarf perch through paraffin wax histology and various staining techniques. She received funds from the Biology Department to help conduct this research. She presented the SCERP summer project on comparing genotyping methods and characterizing two novel microsatellite markers in Syngnathus at Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research in 2019. She presented her independent research with Dr. Forsgren virtually at Society for American Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science in 2020. In addition to her independent research, she was hired with Dr. Forsgren’s NSF grant to perform paraffin wax histology and stage coho salmon ovaries. She worked with Dr. Burnaford’s Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network grant, assisting with data collection in the field for a long-term monitoring project of our rocky shores. In 2021, she was awarded the Libbie H. Hyman Memorial Scholarship to take the marine invertebrate zoology course at Friday Harbor Laboratories during Summer 2021. Taylor worked as a research technician in the spring of 2021 where surveyed grasslands and monitored the giant kangaroo rat at the Carrizo Plain National Monument. She plans to attend graduate school in the fall of 2021.
Kim Nelson (2007-2009), email:nelson_kimberly_j@yahoo.com
Kim worked with faculty mentor Paul Stapp. She investigated how reducing anthropogenic water flow in to natural southern California riparian habitats affects how the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) impacts native arthropod diversity. In addition, she surveyed the distribution of the Argentine ant in riparian habitats at Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary in Orange County, CA. She received honorable mention for her poster presentation at the 2008 Southern California Academy of Sciences conference. In 2013, she completed the M.S. program in biology at CSU Fullerton working with Sean Walker studying fire ants in Orange County, CA. Kim works as a vector ecologist for the San Gabriel Vally Mosquito and Vector Control District.
Emily (Nguyen) Wieber (2010-2012), email: phuongwieber@csu.fullerton.edu
Emily worked with faculty mentor Jochen Schenk investigating embolism repair in citrus. She was interested in agricultural issues related to embolism repair and crop yield. She received a CSUF-STEM transfer scholarship in 2009, and a CSUF Science Education teaching scholarship in 2010. She was a CSUF McNair Scholar, 2010-2012. Emily presented results from the SCERP summer research on preliminary restoration efforts of annual grassland to coastal sage scrub habitat at Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary at the 2010 SACNAS conference, and her citrus embolism research at the 2011 SACNAS conference. Emily completed her M.S. in Biology at CSUF.
Vy Nguyen (2012-2015), email: vynguyen313@csu.fullerton.edu
Vy worked with faculty mentor Jennifer Burnaford examining the effects of low tide conditions on the photosynthetic health of Egregia menziesii. She examined how photosynthetic potential changes are related to visible tissue damage and biomass loss. In the summer of 2013, Vy participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) program at Friday Harbor Laboratories studying the effects of low tide exposure on the photosynthetic health of Saccharina sessilis. She presented her REU project at multiple conferences including SACNAS, the Western Society of Naturalists, and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Vy received several travel scholarships to present her work at these conferences. She also investigated choices that sea stars make as the tide goes out. In particular she examined whether sea stars chose to be exposed to the sun with access to food during low tide, or remain protected from intense sunlight without access to food. As part of the sea star project, Vy received the FDC-Faculty and Student Scholarly and Creative Activity grant in 2012. She also presented the results of the summer SCERP group project investigating techniques to survey clams on a restored oyster bed in Newport Bay, CA at the 2012 SACNAS conference in Seattle, WA. Vy was awarded the CSUF Rachel Carson Scholarship in Conservation Biology in 2014. Vy received a CSU COAST travel grant to present her independent research at the 2015 SICB conference. Vy worked as a CSU STEM Volunteer in the Service to America (VISTA) program at CSU Long Beach where she helped with STEM recruitment efforts, assists in developing STEM outreach, recruits students from community colleges, and developed peer mentoring programs for STEM transfer students. Vy is currently enrolled in a Physican's Assistant program.
Daisha Ortega (2007-2010), email: aficky2@yahoo.com
Daisha worked with faculty mentor Jochen Schenk comparing water relations of two halophytic desert shrubs, Atriplex hymenelytra (desert holly), and Isocoma acradenia (alkali goldenbush). Both shrubs differ in their photosynthetic pathways, (Atriplex, (C4; Isocoma, C3) which allowed her to test if their pathways have any effect on the way these plants use water. She presented the results of the SCERP summer research on water relations in Atriplex and Isocoma at the annual SACNAS meeting in Kansas City, MO. She presented reslts of her independent research at the 2008 SACNAS meeting in Salt Lake City, UT and at the 2009 SACNAS meeting in Dallas, Texas. She won the CSUF Judith Presch Memorial Scholarship in 2007. After graduating Daisha worked as an EMT. Daisha attended the MEDPATH Postbac program at Ohio State University School of Medicine in 2014-2015, and graduated from the Ohio State University School of Medicine with her M.D. She is currently a medical resident in Glendale, CA.
Velvet Park (2013-2016), email: velvet.park@hotmail.com
Velvet works with faculty mentor Kristy Forsgren investigating the potential effects of endocrine disrupting compounds on Pacific Sanddab (Citharicthys sordidus) reproductive health. Velvet applied for and was awarded the Jerome Wilson Memorial Scholarship in 2014. She presented her independent research at the annual conference of the Western Society of Naturalists, 2014, in Tacoma, WA. She received travel funding from COAST to present her research at the 2015 annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, in Washington, DC, where she won an Outstanding Poster Award in Marine Biology for her work. Velvet is in the M.S. program in Environmental Studies at CSUF, working with the Orange County Water District investigating microplastics in wastewater.
Eric Peralta (2006-2008), email: peraltaerics@gmail.com
Eric worked with faculty mentor Sean Walker studying the reproductive behavior of crickets. He presented results of the summer field course investigating the effects of invasive periwinkle on arthropod communities in riparian habitats at Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary as a poster at the 2006 SACNAS conference in Tampa, FL. He also presented this work at the 2006 Southern California Academy of Sciences annual conference in Fullerton, CA. Eric finished his M.S. degree in biology in 2013 at CSUF working with Sean Walker. Eric was the natural resources intern for the Orange County Water District at the Prado Wetlands where he assists in habitat and wildlife management. Eric worked for Vector Control in the Inland Empire. He is currently a USDA APHIS wildlife biologist working at LAX to prevent aircraft strikes of wildlife.
Meredith (Raith) Arakelyan (2006-2008), email: raithm@yahoo.com
Meredith worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl where she investigated the feeding ecology of the sea slug Aplysia. She also studied growth of the native oyster (Ostrea conchaphila) in Newport Bay. She spent a semester studying at the Wrigley Marine Institute on Catalina Island. Meredith was a research intern at Friday Harbor Laboratories in the San Juan Islands, WA during the fall of 2008. She completed herM.S. degree in 2013 at CSUF studying the biogeographic distribution and genetics of the native oyster with Danielle Zacherl and Doug Eernisse. Meredith works at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Program.
Elaine Ramos (2008-2010), email: misselaineramos@gmail.com
Elaine worked with faculty mentor Bill Hoese. She investigated the acoustic dynamics of a chaparral environment and the after-effects of fire on the propagation of sound. She presented the results of this research at the 2009 SACNAS conference in Dallas, TX. She was a recipient of the ASI Student Research Grant and the Faculty Student Creative Activity Grant in 2008 for her research. Elaine presented results from the SCERP summer research on honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) at the 2008 SACNAS conference in Salt Lake City, UT. She also participated in the 2009 NSF-REU program at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. In Alaska, she worked in the anadromous waters in the Bristol Bay region and was part of an EPA funded survey of the Yukon River. Her REU research project examined lake sediment cores to investigate historical abundances of a nuisance diatom, Didymosphenia geminata in the Brooks River. She was a CSUF President's Scholar. Elaine presented the results of her independent research at the 2009 SACNAS conference in Dallas, Texas. Elaine received her Doctor of Optometry degree at the Southern California College of Optometry. She is currently an optomitrist and faculty at Western University School of Optometry.
Dylan (Tennant) Replogle (2011-2013), email: dylantee@csu.fullerton.edu
Dylan worked with faculty mentor Paul Stapp investigating the foraging behavior of nocturnal, granivorous rodents in the Mojave Desert through the use of infrared wildlife monitoring cameras. She was particularly interested in how varying amounts of seed affect the number and duration of visits to seed trays made by kangaroo rats, and how that variation affects estimates of seed removal rates. She presented the results of the SCERP summer research on the recovery of a burned site in the Mojave Desert at the 2011 SACNAS National Conference in San Jose, CA. She received the Judith A. Presch Memorial Scholarship for her proposed research in the Mojave and presented preliminary findings at the SCAS Conference in Eagle Rock, CA. Dylan completed the single subject teaching credential program in Biology at CSUF and is currently working as a high school biology teacher. She has been featured in the CSUF Biological Science Alumni Spotlight: http://www.fullerton.edu/biology/careers/Alumni-Replogle.php
Cristy Rice (2012-2015), email: cristyrice47@csu.fullerton.edu
Cristy worked with faculty mentor Kristy Forsgren developing a dichotomous identification key for southern California pipefish using morphological and genetic tools to aid in accurate and faster identification. Cristy presented the results of the SCERP group project investigating habitat partitioning by Mojave Desert rodents at the 2012 SACNAS conference in Seattle, WA. She presented her independent research at several conferences, including SACNAS in 2013 and 2014, WSN in 2013, SCAS in 2013 and 2014, and SWOB in 2014. She received a grant for her research from the Southern California Academy of Sciences, and won the best student poster award for her pipefish research at the 2013 annual meeting of the academy. In 2014, she won the honorable mention for her oral presentation as SCAS. Cristy works as a wildlife biologist for an environmental consulting firm.
Robert Rodarte (2002-2005)
Robert worked with faculty mentor Sean Walker investigating wolf spider reproduction. As a SCERP scholar Robert worked as a naturalist at CSU Fullerton Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary. Robert was awarded the CSUF Judith Presch Scholarship for $300 in 2003.
Albert Rodriguez (2004-2006), email: thevilgenius@msn.com
Albert worked with faculty mentor Doug Eernisse investigating the comparative phylogeography of limpets and chitons in southern California. As a SCERP scholar Albert was a Blinks Fellow in Science, University of Washington, Friday Harbor Laboratories, 2005. He also received a CSUF Faculty-Student Development Research Award for $1000 in 2004. Albert presented his research as a poster at the Western Society of Naturalists conference in 2005. He gave an oral presentation of his work at the Western Society of Malacologists in Seattle in 2006. Albert worked at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium as an Education Assistant. He was an MBRS-RISE M.S.to Ph.D. scholar in Biology in the M.S. program at CSU Los Angeles. Albert currently works for the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner as an Agricultural Biologist Inspector.
Melissa (Romero) Montanez (2004-2006), email: melissar20@aol.com
Melissa worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl investigating the growth and development of Kellet’s Whelk. Melissa won a student award at the 2006 SACNAS meeting for her poster presentation on her SCERP research. She was an exchange student in the CSUF-UConn FIPSE Brazil-U.S. Coastal Resource Management program in 2006. She was a summer intern in 2008 at Friday Harbor Laboratories. Melissa was a CEA-CREST scholar in the M.S. program at Cal State University Los Angeles with advisor, Dr. Patrick J. Krug. She successfully defended her M.S. thesis, "Nitric oxide signaling regulates larval metamorposis in a host-specialized sea slug," in 2009. Melissa was awarded a Sally-Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholarship at CSULA. Melissa worked for several years as a part-time faculty member at CSUF teaching Biology 101L and Biology 101.
Evelyn (Ruelas) Bond (2014-2016), email: evelynruelas@csu.fullerton.edu
Evelyn works with faculty mentor Kristy Forsgren studying the effects of endrocrine disrupting compounds on the reproductive physiology of black perch (Embiotica jacksoni). Evelyn presented the results of the summer group project at the CSUF, NSM summer research symposium. She presented her research at the 2015 annual conference for the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science in Washington, DC, where she won an Outstanding Poster Award in Marine Biology. Evelyn spent the summer, 2016, at Friday Harbor Labs where she took the fish course in preparation for starting the M.S. program at CSUF. She is investigating the reproductive morphology of surf perches. Evelyn received a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to conduct her graduate work.
Lily Sam (2005-2009), email: lasam22@gmail.com
Lily worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl exploring the larval settling ecology of the native Olympia oyster (Ostrea conchaphila). Lily received a CSUF Inter-Club Council travel award to attend and present group summer research at the annual meeting of the Western Society of Naturalists in 2005. Lily was a student intern at the Los Angeles Sanitation District. In 2011 Lily worked as a Laboratory Technician for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. She currently works as a biologist for a local environmental consulting firm.
Ariana Sanchez (2018-2019), email: ariana6896@csu.fullerton.edu
Ari is passionate about restoration ecology. She is working with mentor, Dr. Danielle Zacher, on her independent project, which is focused on understanding the dynamics of eelgrass and oyster restoration in intertidal systems. Ari received a travel scholarship to present the summer SCERP group project comparing plant diversity in burned and unburned areas in the Mojave Desert at the 2018 SACNAS conference.
Emily Sanchez (2013-2015), email: emilysanchez@csu.fullerton.edu
Emily worked with faculty mentor Christopher Tracy and is studying the sex-based differences in daily activity of the common chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater) across seasons through thermoregulatory behavior. This information will help project how chuckwallas and other lizards might respond to rising temperatures as a result of climate change. In 2013, Emily presented a poster at the SACNAS conference in San Antonio, TX, on the summer SCERP group research investigating water stress in coast live oaks at Starr Ranch Sanctuary. She gave a poster presentation, on her independent research on sex-based differences in chuckwalla thermoregulatory behavior, at the 2014 SACNAS conference in Los Angeles, CA. Emily is currently a graduate student in the M.S. program at CSUF and is continuing her studies of thermoregulatory behavior in chuckwalla. She spent the spring and summer observing and radiotracking chuckwallas at Deep Canyon U.C. Reserve. She has been featured in the CSUF Biological Science Alumni Spotlight: http://www.fullerton.edu/biology/careers/Alumni-Sanchez.php. Emily is a project manager for the Nonpoint Source Pollution (NPS) program working to prevent or abate urban nonpointsource pollution in Texas waters.
Yareli Sanchez (2007-2009), email: sanchezyareli@gmail.com
Yareli worked with faculty mentor Amybeth Cohen. She studied the population genetics of the endangered Santa Ana river woolly star (Eriasterum densifolia sanctorum) in San Bernardino County. Yareli won a best poster award in biology at the 2008 annual SACNAS conference in Salt Lake City, UT for her independent research. She attended SDSU for her M.S. degree in Biology where she studied trace gas emissions from mangroves. She is at UCLA pursuing a PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering studying the impact of flooding on salt marsh plants. She received a Cota Robles Fellowship to support her work at UCLA. In 2016 she served as a Knauss Fellow Washington, DC. Yareli is a Senior Scientist at teh Council for Watershed Health in Los Angeles.
Matt Scanlon (2013-2015), email: matt_scanlon12@gmail.com
Matt worked with faculty advisor Kristy Forsgren, studying the developmental reproductive physiology of California halibut (Paralichthys californicus). He investigated how juvenile halibut reproductive physiology varies across gradient of anthropogenic influence in southern California. Matt presented a poster at the 2013 SACNAS conference in San Antonio, TX, from the SCERP summer group research examining the effects of urban runoff on rocky intertidal organisms in Orange County. He presented results from his independent research project at the 2014 SCAS meeting in Camarillo, CA. He won an Outstanding Poster Award in Marine Biology (sponsored by Maryland Sea Grant) at the 2014 SACNAS meeting in Los Angeles, CA. In July, 2015, he participated in the annual NOAA Juvenile Shark Abundance Survey, and collected data on the nervous systems of pelagic sharks and opah. Matt completed his M.S. in Biology at Georgia Southern University investigating elasmobranch sensory systems and bycatch prevention techniques.
Nicole Sandoval (2010-2011), email: nicolesandoval@csu.fullerton.edu
Nicole worked with faculty mentors Melanie Sacco and Darren Sandquist studying the genetic basis of pathogen resistance in the plant Encelia thaliana. She investigated DNA isolation and amplification techniques to measure genetic polymorphism in populations of this species. Nicole presented results of the summer SCERP field research on invasive Sargassum muticum at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA.
Stacy Schkoda (2015-2017), email: stacyschkoda@csu.fullerton.edu
Stacy works with faculty mentors Dr. Kristy Forsgren and Dr. Garrett Struckhoff evaluating effects of phytoestrogens found in brewery wastewater on the reproductive development of zebrafish (Danio rerio). She has received funding support from the California State University Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST), numerous department research grants, and scholarships for her work. In the summer of 2016, she completed an REU at Oregon State University with Dr. Robert Tanguay, where she examined developmental toxicity in zebrafish exposed to aromatic hydrocarbons. Stacy was awarded the 2016 undergraduate scholarship from the Orange County Association of Environmental Professionals. Stacy won the 2016 CSUF Rachel Carson Scholarship in Conservation Biology. She was the CNSM 2017 Commencement speaker. Stacy is currently a Ph.D. student in the Toxicology Program at North Carolina State University.
Erin Seale (2004-2007), email: esea07@yahoo.com
Erin worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl. She studied the factors influencing settlement in the native Olympia oyster (Ostrea conchaphila) in two southern California estuaries. She received multiple scholarships including the CSUF Jewel Plummer Cobb Scholarship for $500 in 2006, the CSUF scholarly and creative activities undergraduate and faculty award for $1,000 in 2005 and the CSUF Department of Biological Science research award for $100 in 2005. Erin won an award for her poster presentation on her research at the 2006 SACNAS conference in Tampa, Florida. Erin worked during 2008 for the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) in Oregon. Her SCERP research appeared in the Journal of Shellfish Research in 2009, "Seasonal settlement of Olympia oyster larvae,Ostrea lurida, in two southern California estuaries." She is also author on a paper in Fisheries Oceanography, "Effects of ontogeny, temperature, and light on vertical movements of larval Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus)."
Sarah (English) Seifert (2006-2008), email: sarahseifert424@gmail.com
Sarah worked with faculty mentor Anne Houtman studying the effects of environmental noise on song production in Anna’s and Costa's hummingbirds. Sarah presented the results of her research at the 2007 annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science in Kansas City, MO and the 2007 annual meeting of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. Sarah received a CSUF faculty-student research grant in 2006 for $1,000. She has also received funding from the Department of Biological Science, and the CSUF Associated Students Incorporated. She received two scholarships from the San Diego Police Officers' Association in 2004 and 2006. Sarah completed her Master's degree in Environmental Engineering at National University in 2012. She worked as a Project Administrator for Terra Nova Technologies in San Diego, CA. In 2015 Sarah started work as an environmental engineer at Amec Foster Wheeler, San Diego in their stormwater division.
Prarthana Shankar (2014-2016), email: prarthana@csu.fullerton.edu
Prarthana works with faculty mentors Kristy Forsgren and Jennifer Burnaford and is interested in understanding the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on mussels in southern California. She won an award for Outstanding Poster in Marine Biology Award (sponsored by Maryland Sea Grant) at 2014 SACNAS conference in Los Angeles for the 2014 SCERP summer group project on the potential effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on fish populations. She won the best student presentation at the Society for Integrative and Comparitive Biology Southwestern Organismal Biology conference for her work. Prarthana is pursuing her Ph.D. in Molecular Toxicology at Oregon State University.
Lauren (Dorough) Simpson (2011-2013), email: ldorough@csu.fullerton.edu
Lauren worked with faculty mentor Paul Stapp studying the effects of urbanization on the activity and diversity of bats in southern California. Her study used acoustic techniques to record bat echolocation calls in order to assess the bat activity levels and species compositions at four sites throughout the east San Gabriel Valley. She was interested in determining how the levels of human impact affects bat activity and diversity. Her broader interests include conservation and population studies of terrestrial vertebrate species. Lauren presented the results of the SCERP summer research on the comparison of community structure between a burned and unburned Mojave Desert site six years following fire at the 2011 SACNAS conference in San Jose, CA. She presented a poster of her independent research at the Southern California Academy of Sciences conference in Eagle Rock, CA in 2012. Lauren received the CSUF Dr. and Mrs. Donald B. Bright Environmental Scholarship in 2012. She won an Outstanding Poster in Ecology Award at the 2012 SACNAS meeting in Seattle, WA for her poster investigating bat diversity in southern California. She received a travel fellowship to present her work at the annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists in 2013. Lauren graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2013 and currently works at an environmental consulting firm in southern California.
Romeo Sison (2003-2006), email:romeosison13@hotmail.com
Romeo worked with faculty mentor Sean Walker examining interactions among brittlebush, its pollinators and crab spiders. Romeo received the Best Student Poster award for his presentation at the 2004 Southern California Academy of Sciences meeting. He served as a field assistant for Drs. Jones and Walker sampling insects to determine pollinators of the San Fernando Valley Spineflower, Chorizanthe parryi in 2004.
Jeremy Smith (2005-2008), email: jjsmith2239@yahoo.com
Jeremy worked with faculty mentor Jochen Schenk. He studied axis splitting and hydraulic redistribution in three coastal sage scrub plant species, bush sunflower (Encelia californica), coyotebrush (Baccharis pilularis), and sagebrush (Artemisia californica). Jeremy is currently working at the Chambers Group, environmental consulting firm in Orange, County, CA.
Sara (Pfremmer) Snipes (2009-2012), email: sarajennie@csu.fullerton.edu
Sara worked with faculty mentor Danielle Zacherl. Sara's research focused on the only native oyster to the west coast of the U.S., Ostrea lurida. This oyster was abundant in the 1900s, but due to over-harvesting and pollution, oyster populations dropped dramatically. Currently, multiple researchers in Washington, Oregon, and northern Califonia are researching how to restore this oyster to the west coast. However, not much is known about settlement factors. Controlling settlement dynamics can lead to natural settlement that may aid in restoration of this species. Sara's research investigated factors influencing natural settlement in Newport Bay, CA. She presented the results of the summer SCERP group research on oyster filtration rates at the Southern California Academy of Sciences conference at CSULA in 2010. Sara won the best poster in Marine Biology award for her indepenent research on Ostrea lurida settlement dynamics at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA. She received a CSUF-ASI Titan Bookshops textbook scholarship for fall 2010. Sara moved back to Minnesota where she is working at the Mayo Clinic in their Cancer Research Center.
Caitlin Stapp (2016-2018), email: caitlinstapp@yahoo.com
Caitlin was motivated to study fish biomechanics after completing the SCERP marine summer research project. She worked with faculty mentor Dr. Misty Paig-Tran to investigate denticulation and functional anatomy of the reproductive organs in cartilaginous fishes (sharks and rays). Caitlin is currently a M.S. student at CSU Long Beach investigating armadillo armor.
Holly Suther (2017-2019), email: hollysuther@csu.fullerton.edu
Holly is working with faculty mentor Dr. Kristy Forsgren studying the reproductive morphology of rockfish. Her research hopes to describe the genital papilla of male rockfish in order to better understand their cryptic copulatory behaviors. She's interested in marine biology and worked at the Roundhouse Aquarium in Manhattan Beach as an aquarist. Holly was awarded a travel scholarship to present her independent reaserch on rockfish reproductive morphology at the 2018 SACNAS conference. After graduation, Holly worked as a long-term substitute teacher at Legacy College Prep school in Santa Ana.
Nick Tran (2011-2013), email: lnickos@hotmail.com, nqtran83@gmail.com
Nick worked with faculty mentor Sean Walker studying prostaglandin E2 hormones in the context of sexual behavior of Achetus domesticus, the house cricket. He investigated the effect of male senescence, male size, and female mating status on sperm allocation. He has made the Dean's list every semester at CSUF. He was awarded an LSAMP travel award in 2012. Nick was awarded the CSUF "A. James Diefenderfer Award" in Spring, 2012. Nick served as a STEM^2 research mentor, providing advice and guidance for 3 community college students who conducted independent summer research at CSUF, during summer 2012. Starting in fall 2012 he became the Vice President of the CSUF Biology Undergraduate Club, and serves as the Biology Editor for Dimensions, the CSUF NSM Undergraduate Research Journal.
Tracie Treybig (2008-2010)
Tracie worked with faculty mentor Kathy Dickson. She investigated the effects of delayed hatching on larval development and swimming speed of California grunion. Specifically, she examined red and white muscle and skeletal development by comparing 14 and 30 days post-fertilization larvae. She worked for several semesteras as a Student Instructor in CSUF introductory biology courses. She was awarded a student research/creative activity grant in 2007. She presented a poster on grunion development at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conference in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2008. She presented the results of her independent research on grunionat the Southern California Academy of Sciences, the southern California Chapter of the Graduate Women In Science conference in 2009, the annual SACNAS conference in Dallas, Texas in 2009, and the annual Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology conference in Seattle, WA in 2010. Tracie worked as a Biologist for Southern California Edison on the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project. Tracie served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador.
Nicole Tronske (2012-2014), email: ntronske@csu.fullerton.edu
Nicole worked with faculty mentors Danielle Zacherl and Kristy Forsgren studying densities and habitat distributions of oysters in southern California. She investigated the reproductive potential of the Japanese oyster (Crassostrea gigas) using paraffin histological techniques. Nicole presented her work at the 2012 SACNAS conference in Seattle, WA where she won an Outstanding Poster Award in Marine Biology. She received the CSUF Rachel Carson Scholarship in Conservation Biology in 2012 and the CSUF Jewell Plummer Cobb scholarship in 2013. She received the COAST student travel fellowship to present her work at the 2013 Western Society of Naturalists conference. Nicole was the 2013-14 Undergraduate Biology Club Event Coordinator. Nicole worked as a high school science teacher in 2014-2015. She studied in the Masters program in Biology at California Polytechnic University Pomona.
Tracy (Valentovich) Popiel (2003-2007), email: tracy_valentovich@yahoo.com
Tracy worked with faculty mentor Darren Sandquist. She investigated the phylogeography of Joshua Trees (Yucca brevifolia). Tracy presented her research at multiple conferences including the the 2005 Ecological Society of America meeting in Montreal, Canada. Her many scholarships include the CSUF Presch Memorial Desert Studies Center Scholarship in 2004, the CSUF David A. Walkington Memorial Scholarship for $700 in 2006, and the CSUF Boeing Scholarship for Biological Science for $1,000 in 2006. In 2006 she participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Tracy worked at the USGS in Menlo Park in 2007-2008 as a GIS technician. She is pursuing her Masters degree in Geography at CSU Northridge. Tracy works as a Biologist and GIS Specialist at Aspen Environmental Group where she collects biological resource survey data, writes environmental documents and creates maps in support of ongoing projects.
Fernando Vargas (2010-2013), email: fernandov@csu.fullerton.edu
Fernando worked with faculty mentor Kathryn Dickson investigating the effects of delayed hatching in the California grunion. He was particularly interested in how temperature affects development. He presented the results of the SCERP summer research on water relations in the desert shrub Isocoma acradenia at the 2010 SACNAS conference in Anaheim, CA. Fernando spent the spring of 2012 studying and conducting research at Western Washington University's Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes, WA. Fernando received his teaching credential in 2016 and is currently a high school biology teacher in San Bernardino. He has been featured in the CSUF Biological Science Alumni Spotlight: http://www.fullerton.edu/biology/careers/Alumni-Vargas.php
Nathan Vega (2015-2017), email: nathanvega@csu.fullerton.edu
Nathan studied plant population genetics and ecology and worked with faculty mentor Joshua Der. He developed microsatellite genetic markers in multiple California endangered plants with implications for conservation efforts. Nathan won an Outstanding Poster Award in Botany/Plant Sciences at the 2015 Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conference in Washington, DC, for his presentation on the summer SCERP group project investigating foliar uptake of water by coastal sage scrub plants in southern California. During the summer of 2016 Nathan participated in an REU at the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University where he investigated cuticle formation in tomatoes subject to various water regimes. Following graduation, Nathan worked as an intern at Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden. Nathan also worked as a biology consultant for an environmental firm in southern California.
Maria de Lourdes Vega Velez (2002-2006), email: mvegavelez@sbcglobal.net
Maria Worked with faculty mentor Bill Hoese and used benthic macroinvertebrates to assess the health of southern California streams. She was a student intern on the Los Angeles Water District Clean Water Team. Maria received the CSUF Dorothy M. Hagan and Juanita W. Hicks Achievement Scholarship for $1,000 in 2006. After several years away from school, Maria returned and completed her B.S. degree in 2012.
Ignacio Vera (2012-2016), email:ignacio-vera@hotmail.com
Ignacio works with faculty mentor Darren Sandquist comparing seed viability and yield of the federally endangered Santa Ana River Wooly Star. He co-presented a poster from the summer group SCERP project investigating predation risk of artificial bird nests in coastal sage scrub and associated edges near natural and suburban habitats at the 2012 SACNAS. His one year seed collection project was presented at SCAS (Southern California Academy of Sciences) 2013 and SACNAS 2013. This project evolved with another year's collection and compared seed viability and yield across two years at SCAS 2014. He won the Best Poster Award in Ecology at the Botany Conference, 2014.
Lauren Velasco (2006-2009), email: lauren.velasco@email.ucr.edu
Lauren worked with faculty mentor Jochen Schenk studying differences in drought tolerance and embolism repair in two closely related Salvia species at Black Starr Canyon, Orange County, CA.. Lauren presented results of the summer field course research on the effects of a road on the productivity of creosote bush in the Mojave desert as a poster at 2006 SACNAS conference in Tampa, FL. Lauren worked at the Petrified Forest National Park during the summer of 2008. She received the best poster in plant biology award at the 2008 annual SACNAS conference in Salt Lake City, UT for her independent research. Lauren was in the PhD program in Plant Biology at the University of California, Riverside.
Bryan White (2009-2012), email: bpcwhite@gmail.com
Bryan worked with faculty mentor Paul Stapp. His interests included the evolution of animal behavior and intelligence, and conducted a project to test the effects of illumination levels on the foraging behavior of nocturnal rodents in the Mojave Desert. He presented a poster on the effects of predation risk on foraging behavior of desert rodents at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference in Dallas, Texas in 2009. As an undergraduate Bryan was a intern at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Program where he used DNA barcoding to identify organisms from water samples. In 2015 he completed his M.S. degree in biology from CSUF investigating the use of DNA barcoding as abiological idification tool as part of routine biomonitoring programs. Bryan worked with faculty mentor Douglas Eernisse and collaborated with the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) on his thesis research. Bryan is currently working as a researcher in a neurogenetics lab at UCLA where he used whole-exome sequencing to identify rare genetic variants linked to neurological disorders, such as Autism and Parkinson's disease, in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients and their families.
Austin Xu (2015-2017), email: austinxu@csu.fullerton.edu
Austin is interested in avian ecology and worked in the Hoese lab investigating the composition of western bluebird nests. Austin worked with faculty mentors, Danielle Zacherl and Bill Hoese studying how birds use restored eelgrass beds in Newport Bay, CA. Austin continues his studies in avian ecology as an M.S. student at CSU Los Angeles, working with Dr. Eric Wood.
Sean Zulueta (2016-2018), email: szulueta@csu.fullerton.edu
Sean Zulueta works with faculty mentor Kristy Forsgren investigating the reproductive biology of the Balck-belly dragonfish (Stomias atriventer), a deep-sea dragonfish. This research will contribute to our understanding of the development of gonads and provide insight into deep-sea fish reproduction. Sean worked as an on-site coordinator at the Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx. Sean is a Tidepool Educator at the Laguna Ocean Foundation.
