Botany & Plant Sciences, University of California Riverside
Every year I am contacted via e-mail by Mrs. Ross, Brittany Ross’ mother. Brittany Ross was my student in Biology class in 2005. This last correspondence brought tears to my eyes. Brittany is defending her dissertation on October 2019 received her doctorate in Bacteriology. Mrs. Ross has contacted me nearly every year since Brittany graduated from Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California to thank me for inspiring her daughter, believing in her and getting her on the path to success. Her letters are my trophies. When I hear from former students who are now engineers, scientists and doctors my purpose becomes clear. After twenty-three years teaching students science in the Riverside Unified School District, it is my goal to reverse roles and embrace scientific research in a master’s thesis as a graduate student. As an educator, I have vast experience working in a collaborative environment where my colleagues and I communicate on a regular basis planning lessons to promote inquiry, critical thinking and problem solving by our students. We continuously “diagnose” areas where students lack mastery, and “prescribe” the appropriate interventions to increase achievement. These skills as an educator can only benefit my work as a lab scientist in my master’s thesis program. Communication is key! We cannot work in isolation as educators, nor can we work in isolation as scientists. Interpersonal prowess is a skill that I continuously work to improve in all areas of my life. I relish my reentry into the world of academia, taking part in scholarly discussions and establishing healthy intellectual relationships. Living in Southern California, we are blessed to be approximately an hour away in any direction from nature’s beauty. Heading west, we have access to the unique Pacific coastline punctuated with ethereal beaches that are visited by tourists from all over the world. We can also hop in the car and in as little as thirty miles north, engage in a hike in the Angeles National Forest or the trails of the San Bernardino mountain ranges. The Mojave Desert surrounds us to the east with the doors to Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Joshua Tree and of course, Death Valley. Raising my own children in Southern California, I was deliberate in sharing the love of the outdoors on family outings. I look forward to taking future Botany students out into the field to conduct data collection in our backyard. With the research experience I gain in pursuing my master’s thesis, I will gain the confidence needed to mentor our youth about the relevance and urgency of STEM careers. I chose my field of study by looking through both a local and a global lens. Living in Southern California, long periods of drought and wildfires are reality. I am interested in both the drought resistance capabilities, and the limits of heat tolerance exhibited by our native flora. My research involves the two quantifiable parameters of turgor loss point and heat tolerance, respectively. Implications from my research are relevant globally because of rising temperatures and increasing droughts worldwide. These topics need to reach today’s youth, but it is not happening. Speaking for my school district, it appears these topics are reserved for the Advanced Placement courses, and not for the rest. In short, I aspire to attain an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms by which plants can efficiently acclimate and survive harsh environments to engage students and inspire future scientists. As a science educator with research experience gained from two years of dedicated work on my master’s thesis, it is my goal to address what I believe to be a huge gap in my district’s high school science curriculum. It is my desire to write a high school Botany course to include a field lab focusing on Plant Ecophysiology. It is the ultimate motivator for students to be immersed in relevant, critical and timely issues where science is the vehicle for progress. I will design this course as a junior/senior offering. Furthermore, I will market the course to the “Brittanys” of the school for maximum inclusion, regardless of gender, ethnicity, race or college in their family’s past. With academic relationships I establish with UC Riverside scientists, through scholarship, publishing and networking at conferences, I plan to develop a pipeline between high school and the college research labs. In addition to my role as science educator, I am fortunate to be in a position of character educator, as well. At my school site I serve as the advisor to the Interact Club, which is the high school chapter of Rotary International. We focus on service above self. The service is both at the community and international levels. In the community we host two annual blood drives, a thanksgiving food drive and coordinate schoolwide recycling. At the International level, we have partnered with the “Me to We” organization and traveled to Ecuador to assist with the indigenous people of the Chimborazo Province with potato planting and the repair of retaining walls of an elementary school. With my connections to our local Rotary chapter, there are opportunities for funding. Funding to purchase field equipment and pay the transportation costs to conduct actual field experiments. Activities such as these are engaging for students and provide the “spark” for budding scientists. It would be accurate to say that I have come full circle. Walking the campus at UC Riverside feels like coming home. You see, I left UC Riverside thirty years ago in August 1989 with a BS degree in Biochemistry. In 1995, when my three children were all in school, I sought out Dr. Craig Byus, a professor in the Biomedical Sciences Department at UCR. He hired me as a lab assistant, and I was pleased to be engaged in the scientific world at my alma mater. I used this time in his lab to decide about graduate school. Was it the right time for me to pick up where I had left off six years ago? After working for Dr. Byus for several months engaging in discussions about my future, I decided to pursue teaching as I could remain immersed in science, but I would also have a schedule that would correlate with my children. So, in 1996 I began my teacher credential program, and I was hired by the Riverside Unified School District in January of 1997 to teach seventh grade life science. I was thirty years old at the time. Teaching has been my rock. I feel very blessed to have a career full of purpose and relevance. I took to the students like a fish to water. After nine years with seventh graders, I moved up to the high school where I still teach today. I enjoy teaching students with a broad range of preparation and aptitude. Courses I have taught include Earth Science, Biology, Honors Biology, Human Anatomy/Physiology and Chemistry. This leads me to the present. I no longer have young children. They are all well-adjusted adults and I am blessed with a granddaughter. Could this be my time at fifty-three years old to re-enter the world of academia as a graduate student? In the spring of 2019, I made the decision to give this a “go”. After introducing myself to several of the professors in the Botany and Plant Sciences department, I discussed with Dr. Louis Santiago his research in Plant Ecophysiology and we went forward exploring options for a master’s thesis. This is a dream come true. Many years have passed for me, and UC Riverside has blossomed! UCR ranks among the top 25 comprehensive research universities in the nation (Washington Monthly, 2017). In addition, UCR is consistently ranked as one of the most ethnically and economically diverse universities in the United States. “UCR stands as a national model for student success, with a long record of closing achievement gaps across income levels and ethnicities. More than half of UCR undergraduates are first in their families to earn college degrees.” (US News and World Report, 2007) This allows for social mobility, as many students leave UCR attaining a higher socioeconomic status than their parents. The vision realized at UCR is one that I can naturally embrace. My father, Roger Merino, emigrated from Costa Rica in 1953. I am the daughter of a man who became a U.S. citizen, served in the military, studied in the California State University system and served as my role model in STEM as an electrical engineer. To embrace my Spanish roots, I was fortunate to travel to Spain this past summer, specifically Andalucía where I experienced a similar Mediterranean climate to where I live and observed analogous flora. I would like to travel back at some point, this time not researching my genealogy, but as a research scientist conducting experimentation to further contribute to the consortium of scientific data on drought resistance in Plant Ecophysiology. My father is, and always will be, the smartest man I know. He is eighty-five years old, sharp as a tack, and is proud that his daughter is a lifelong learner. In conclusion, I am entering this next chapter of my life with high hopes. As a graduate student, I can peruse and digest the scientific journals and dive into meaningful and relevant research. Further, I can share and disseminate all that I absorb to today’s youth. UCR may have had humble beginnings as a Citrus Experiment Station, but it has earned the reputation of a nationally recognized research institute with a focus on inclusivity. I am proud to return to my alma mater and eventually translate that knowledge and experience to Riverside high school students.
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
ON DEMAND