At its annual meeting on October 11, 2024, the
CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST) announced the inaugural recipients of its new
COAST Graduate Student Engagement Award.
The $2,500 award recognizes graduate students' efforts toward cultivating a more inclusive and diverse marine science community—as well as their accomplishments in research, teaching and community engagement focused on ocean or coastal issues. The awardees, who are nominated by COAST-affiliated faculty members, will have worked to increase diversity, equity, inclusion or justice within ocean and coastal science, management, education and stewardship.
“COAST is excited to present the first annual Graduate Student Engagement Awards this fall," says Christine Whitcraft, COAST Executive Committee chair, Cal State Long Beach Department of Biological Sciences professor, and CSULB Environmental Science and Policy Program director. “These awards recognize the notable achievements of two CSU graduate students who have centered inclusive practices in their research, teaching and community involvement. From mentoring undergraduates to leading in professional societies, these two students have excelled as graduate students and actively promoted diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in all of their activities."
Meet the 2024 awardees.
Barbara Orozco, Cal State Fullerton
While working toward her master's degree in biological science at Cal State Fullerton, Barbara Orozco is studying the impacts of sand movement on the California mussel in Professor Jennifer Burnaford's Rocky Intertidal Community Ecology Lab.
In addition, Orozco has made it a priority to raise awareness around the disparities faced by Latinx students in STEM—a challenge she has personally experienced as the daughter of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants. While at CSUF, she has been an active member and officer in the university's
Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science chapter, which has allowed her to uplift underrepresented voices in STEM through mentoring and hosting events. Mentoring students interested in marine biology has especially allowed Orozco to inspire others like her to pursue the sciences, fostering a more diverse community and sense of belonging.
Orozco earned her bachelor's degree in marine biology from Cal Poly Humboldt, then Humboldt State, in 2017. While there, she worked in the lab with Associate Professor Paul Bourdeau and discovered an interest in intertidal invertebrates and their interactions with their environments.
Lily McIntire, San Diego State
After earning her bachelor's and master's degrees in biology at Cal Poly Humboldt, Lily McIntire began a joint doctoral program in ecology at San Diego State. There, she works in
Professor Luke Miller's lab, where she studies the effects of climate change and rising temperatures on intertidal animals.
McIntire also serves as a student co-director of the
SDSU Coastal and Marine Institute's
Mentored Undergraduate Research Program (MURP). In this role, she mentors undergraduates at SDSU and local community colleges and provides them with hands-on research experience at the marine lab.
Additionally, McIntire works as a teaching assistant for a new SDSU biology course taught by education researchers, which aims to make biology more accessible to students through evidence-based teaching practices. After graduation, she hopes to teach at a community college to encourage students' pursuit of the biological sciences.
Learn more about
COAST.