PhD Candidate, Dept of Biology and Dept of Natural History (Florida Museum)
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida, United States
Adania is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida (UF) department of biology and the Florida Museum of Natural History (Florida Museum). She also serves as a research assistant with iDigBio project. She studies the ecology of fishes, their life history as well as how form relates to function. She is also interested in using natural history collections as a resource to introduce students of diverse backgrounds, particularly those most marginalized in STEM, to the field of Ichthyology and other sciences. Before joining UF, she earned a B.S. in marine biology from the University of Tampa. She completed a M.Sc. in zoology from the University of Florida. For her Ph.D. she is combining her interest in education with Ichthyology, through an interdisciplinary research project evaluating the impact of experiential learning within collections on students understanding of science development of science identities and interest in science careers. She uses BioBlitz as a tool in the Introduction to Natural History course she created at UF, which allows students to get experience collecting with a diverse (sex, race, field of study, age) set of scientists, to understand the importance and purpose of documenting Earth’s biodiversity. She was recently awarded The UF Alumni Association’s inaugural Leadership Award for DEI and the Dr. J. Michael Rollo award, “which honors students who foster diversity and inclusion within their communities.”
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT