Media Contact: Michael Dabney, (858) 822-3432; mdabney@ucsd.edu

UCSD STUDENT ONE OF EIGHT NATIONALLY TO RECEIVE RESEARCH PRESENTATION AWARD AT CONFERENCE

Serena Moseman, an ecology, behavior and evolution sciences major at the University of California, San Diego, was one of approximately eight undergraduates receiving awards for research posters presented at the 2001 Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) National Conference in Phoenix recently.

Moseman attended the conference as a participant in UCSD’s California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) in Science, Engineering and Mathematics program. CAMP is one of seven undergraduate programs administered by the university’s Academic Enrichment Programs (AEP).

Moseman’s poster, titled Infaunal Density, Composition, and Diversity in a One-Year Old Spartina Foliosa Marsh in Tijuana Estuary, California, centered on work done in ecology and environmental sciences under her faculty mentor Lisa Levin, Ph.D., of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

Moseman was one of three AEP students presenting scientific posters at the conference. The meeting drew 2,000 participants nationwide and included more than 160 poster presentations. Winning students each received a $250 cash prize.

Through AEP, UCSD undergraduates can participate in a wide range of research-oriented academic programs (including mentored academic activities under faculty, and attendance at professional conferences such as SACNAS) -- all intended to expose students early to research and encourage them to pursue a Ph.D., M.D. or other advanced degrees after graduation.

“The SACNAS meeting provided a supportive and professional venue for our undergraduates to showcase their research and communication skills,” says Arja McCray, Ph.D., coordinator of AEP’s University of California Leadership Through Advanced Degrees (UC LEADS) program and the Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics Scholarship (CSEMS) program. “In addition, the conference provided undergraduates the opportunity to network with graduate students, faculty, and representatives from graduate schools and government agencies.”

Other AEP students presenting research posters at the conference were:  Jeremy Barden, The Effects of Age and Exercise on the Vascular Endothelium, (Faculty mentor: Dr. Russ Richardson, Medicine); Carmen Pulido, Religiosity in Temporal Lobe Epileptics, (Faculty mentor: Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran, Psychology), and Melanie Zauscher, Constraining the Sources of Tropospheric Nitrrous Oxide Through Isotopic Signatures, (Faculty mentor: Dr. Martin Wahlen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography).

Attendance at the conference for UCSD students was supported by the CAMP program. Students developed their posters while working with mentors this year during AEP’s Summer Research Program.