Student profile: Natali Meijia

What is your project about?

Seagrass stress. Taking seagrass from its natural environment to a controlled tank and dropping the salinity to see if the seagrass endured any stress.

What have you learned or enjoyed so far?

I have learned that field and lab work are not as hard as suspected. I have become better acclimated with lab equipment and have become more educated in biology. I have also learned that the professors/mentors are very helpful in any way possible and help set a comfortable, stress free environment. I also learned that I enjoy doing both field and lab work.

What are you looking forward to?

As I go through the program I am looking forward to learning much more through hands on experience and completing a research project. I would also like to continue meeting many people who could help me succeed in the future.

Supervisors: Hudson DeYoe and Mike Persans

Student profile: Maria Calagui

What is your project about?

We are cloning genes from the DNA of metal tolerant plants and expressing the genes in yeast.

What have you learned or enjoyed so far?

I’ve come to respect and acknowledge the amount of effort brought into research. I’ve enjoyed meeting other students who are also in research thus establishing long lasting friendships and networking.

What are you looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to finishing my research project, presenting my results for my honors thesis and discovering where my interests lay.

Supervisor: Mike Persans

HESTEC Science Symposium

Now that the madness of HESTEC is over, I can share a few pictures from our visiting mentor's visit.

The audience at the Science Symposium, quivering with anticipation.

Zuleyma at the lectern.

Zuleyma describing her early experiences with animal behaviour, which included a close encounter with a deadly Venezuelan snake.

Lunch break! I'm to the right of Zuleyma, then Dean Ed LeMaster is barely visible to my right, then Hashim Mahdi, John Villareal, Jo Rampersad, Mircea Chipara, Lawrence William, Robin Fuchs Young, Irma Jimenez Conti, and Jon Lieman.

Zuleyma and students listening to a roundtable discussion hosted by M.D. Anderson Science Park faculty Robin Fuchs Young and Irma Jimenez Conti.