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Biology Remote Botany? By Tobias Policha, Career Instructor FALL 2020

was easier remotely. By relying Biology is a publication on the excellent images available through the of the of Oregon Project1, I could be certain that Oregon Department of we were all looking at the same things. This Biology was particularly useful while leading group Department Head ‘keying sessions,’ when we would all be working Bruce Bowerman together to identify unknown . I could curate a set of photos that illustrated the Business Manager salient features required to move through the Shelley Elliott . Another way that I ensured Editor that the students were making detailed Annie Rogers observations was to have them draw the For the iNaturalist project (www.inaturalist.org/ material that we were studying. Sometimes this Design and Print projects/bi-442-542-systematicbotany-at-the- would be outdoor scavenger hunts – “Find an Joseph Dorner university-of-oregon) students identified and example of , draw and label it.” UO Print Services described 20 species, representing at least 15 plant Other times they would use images I provided families. Assignment details were provided by Aaron Liston at OSU via botanydepot.com as the basis for their drawings. To get them outside (safety permitting), I also had them In March, COVID changed for everyone. The maintain weekly Field Notebooks wherein they future was unknown. For those of us teaching lab would record observations of plant species and field classes starting in just a couple of weeks, diversity and ecological interactions. I set up the future was a big unknown. a project on the citizen platform iNaturalist2 and required them to photograph and identify species that they added to the What does remote teaching and learning look like project page. We also contributed to the annual when a direct, tactile experience has been a hallmark Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival, of your discipline? Continued on page 2

How were we to teach the hands-on skills that students need for learning, research, and work? How were we to immerse students in learning about the natural world without taking them outside? My spring class was a senior/grad plant course that normally meets for six hours of lab and (an average of) four hours of fieldwork each week. Students learn to handle and dissect as they discover their intricate anatomy. We work through dichotomous keys, learning new vocabulary, and applying it to diverse specimens as we identify unknown species. We use hand-lenses in the field, and microscopes in the lab. “ZoomTM” An example of student work. The lab instructions was not the zooming-in that I was accustomed to! were: “Key to , , and species. Write out your steps. Write out the scientific name. What is Despite not being there to help the students the common name? Sketch and label .” focus their microscopes, in some ways teaching Credit: Heather Dawson. Remote Botany? Continued from cover page From the Department Head which was online this year, by adding observations Greetings once again from the Department of Biology at the to the iNaturalist Bioblitz University of Oregon. This is such a unique time, with our project3. This allowed the university, state and indeed the entire world experiencing so students to participate, many profound challenges. Fortunately, the smoke has cleared and network virtually locally, and as I write we are having our first day of lovely blue with the local skies since the massive and destructive fires of 2020 began. I of botanists. Instead of have never been so happy to see the rains return as I was this bringing plant products past week in mid-September. These fires have been devastating into lab to share with for some members of our community, and of course all of us the students, I assigned have been affected for several months now by the global a “Domestic Botanical corona virus pandemic. Our faculty and students have rapidly Inventory,” where the and impressively transitioned to distance learning (although students made lists of all Bruce Bowerman with a garter snake quite a few lab courses will in fact be in person this fall, with the plant products in their he escorted off Mt. Pisgah appropriate distancing and safety measures). Of course, we all homes. Several students would prefer to have our classes and students and faculty back on campus for in person instruction, commented that this but I want to commend everyone for their remarkably rapid and skillful transition to online teaching was an effective way of and learning. Let’s hope that we can soon return to a more normal life, as respond with demonstrating reliance on impressive speed to improve treatment and prevention. I am confident that we will continue to adapt in their everyday . and persevere, effectively and together. Remarkably, in the midst of these challenges, our department has nevertheless continued to excel and grow. We have over the past year added three new and talented faculty members: Jeffrey Diez (a forest ecologist), James Murray (a computational neuroscientist), and Lauren Ponisio (a ecologist). Each of them are profiled in this issue, and we look forward to their exciting contributions to the education and research missions of our department and university.

Bruce Bowerman [email protected] Welcome New Team Members

Jeff Diez Institute of and I was drawn to the field of ecology because it combines my Graduate student Juan Tirado- love of the outdoors and the challenge of understanding Garcia in the field studying complex systems. I grew up in Atlanta but within reach sunflowers. His graduate of the wilder barrier islands of Georgia and lush southern project for the course involved Appalachian mountains. Since then I’ve had the privilege the 13 species of sunflowers of living and working in amazing ranging from (Helianthus spp.) that grow in the unique Gondwanan of New Zealand to Kansas, where he was during Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to the spectacular Swiss Alps. our course. Most recently, I’ve been loving the diversity of west coast One pleasant surprise was landscapes and the open expanses of southwestern deserts. the sense of community As a and community ecologist, I’m interested in that emerged amongst the basic mechanisms shaping species’ population dynamics, interactions, and the assembly of botanical educators facing communities. Changing and human-mediated species movements (leading to biological the same challenges. I invasions) make community ecology very dynamic right now. Ecological communities are being brainstormed with faculty “reshuffled” in space and time, as species distributions and their are changing more at Lane Community rapidly than historic rates. This reshuffling is altering species interactions, shifting patterns of College and Oregon State , and may impact services on which societies rely. In our research, we use University. I attended these changes as natural experiments to understand basic properties of communities, while also several sessions focused building capacity to predict changes in the coming decades. I’m thrilled to be here in Eugene and Continued on page 3 look forward to actually meeting everyone someday!

2 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND FALL 2020 Lauren Ponisio Institute of Ecology and Evolution Remote Botany? Continued from page 2 I grew up in the Central Valley of California, where I was on remote education at the not exposed to the grandeur of the natural world. I did (virtual) annual meeting learn, however, of the importance of for both of the Botanical Society conservation and livelihoods, and how wild form of America4, and I shared a link between the two. I did my BS/MS at Stanford where I assignments through the encountered my first native plant guide (and native plants!). Botany Depot5 website. I migrated to the other side of the bay for my PhD, where I The whole experience was focused on restoring wild pollinators in agriculture and how fire ultimately rewarding for maintains plant-pollinator communities. I was a postdoctoral me and the students, in fellow at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science, where I ways that we could not focused on data science pedagogy and how to apply the have imagined. One student principles of reproducible, open science in ecology. even commented that “I At UO, my research program will focus on understanding the mechanisms by which species interactions expected that this class maintain species diversity, and how we can harness these processes to manage and restore diversity in would transition the most human-modified systems. I will continue to focus on pollinators because they are critical for roughly to an online format, in managed and natural plant communities, but we endeavor to make our research broadly applicable but it ended up being my across ecological interactions. My aim is to discover new insights into how communities form, evolve, favorite….” and persist through time and space, aiding in the prediction and prevention of community collapse. 1. www.oregonflora.org 2. www.inaturalist.org/projects/ In addition, my personal connection to issues concerning agriculture as a native bi-442-542-systematic-botany- of the Central Valley and Latina woman has motivated me to study how to design agricultural at-the-university-of-oregon systems to better support humans and wildlife. I have investigated strategies for designing 3. www.inaturalist.org/projects/ agricultural systems to promote biodiversity conservation and the links between conservation lane-county-wildflower-show- strategies and improving livelihoods. bioblitz-2020 4. 2020.botanyconference.org James Murray Institute of 5. botanydepot.com Growing up in Montana, James Murray knew from an early The Department of Biology is age that he wanted to be a or cowboy. His fate was committed to advancing the determined when he decided to study physics at Montana State education and scholarly mission University, where he got his first exposure to scientific research of the University of Oregon. If you working on laser-based information processing in tiny crystals. would like to support our mission by making a contribution you can During his PhD studies in theoretical physics at Johns Hopkins do so at biology.uoregon.edu/ University and two years of postdoctoral work at the National welcome/giving. High Magnetic Field Lab in Tallahassee, James studied the quantum-mechanical of low-temperature phases of matter such as superconductivity. Convinced that studying very cold things while living in Florida didn’t really make sense, however, he decided to change course and moved to Columbia University to become a postdoc in theoretical neuroscience. During his time there, he developed mathematical models of learning in networks of neurons in the brain, addressing questions about how the brain learns, adapts, and forgets new behaviors.

Along with his wife Maya and son Leo, James moved in the spring of 2020 to Eugene, where the family has enthusiastically embraced the hiking and biking lifestyle of the Willamette Valley. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, they have enjoyed taking advantage of many of the great things to do in Eugene, such as making trips to the grocery store, as well as making trips back home from the grocery store.

In his new lab at UO, James aims to study the ways in which neural circuits enable the brain to learn to do new things such as shooting basketballs or playing jazz solos. He does this by collaborating with experimental groups who study learned behaviors in rodents and other and developing mathematical models and data analysis approaches to help make sense of such experiments. James is hopeful that, in addition to advancing scientific understanding of learning and motor control, his research might one day help him to improve his basketball game and jazz solos. biology.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY BIO 3 Graduate Spotlight Krystal Oon I was first exposed to group of cortical known as the Par complex. When research during the last I first embarked on my thesis work, how the Par complex year of my undergraduate establishes cortical asymmetry and becomes polarized during studies at the University asymmetric was unclear. To pursue this question, of California San Diego. I took advantage of the recent advancement in microscopy Under the guidance techniques and developed a live-imaging protocol that allowed of developmental us to visualize Par dynamics through the full volume of Dr. Stephanie the neuroblast at high frequency. Using this rapid, full cell volume Grainger and Dr. Karl live imaging technique, I uncovered how Par proteins transition Willert, I studied how from an initially unpolarized state to an asymmetrical, polarized developmental cues signal state. This finding helped advance our understanding for the to induce amplification establishment of cortical polarity and asymmetry, shedding light of hematopoietic stem cells–an effort that seeks to improve our on how neural stem cells control the spatial organization of their ability to grow blood stem cells in a dish. This experience solidified cellular components to ensure proper asymmetric . my interest in basic research, leading me to pursue my PhD at the University of Oregon. Outside of the lab, I am also involved in the UO Women in Graduate Sciences (UOWGS) organization, a non-profit graduate student Here in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Prehoda, I study how neural organization that aims to promote professional development of stem cells known as neuroblasts acquire asymmetry in the women and gender minorities in STEM. Serving on the UOWGS developing fly brain. The ability to segregate cellular executive board has been an invaluable experience that has not components into exclusive compartments allows neuroblast only given me numerous opportunities to serve our local science to produce daughter cells of distinct fates and a significant community but has also allowed me to gain some leadership and part of this process is governed by an evolutionarily conserved organization skills, as well as improving my public speaking skills.

Undergraduate Spotlight Nelson Perez Catalan Resilience and within the biology department. That’s where I came across the Doe are critical in biology. lab in the Institute of Neuroscience. The condor, for example, survives the - My first project was to screen through fly lines that could provide deprived Andes Mountains conserved genetic access to the onset of synapse formation in through genetic and newly hatched larvae. Through the SPUR program such as large that summer, I was sponsored to attend ABRCMS 2017 in Phoenix, lungs and highly specialized where I received an award for my poster presentation and blood hemoglobin. Growing my first-time gratification as a researcher. Since then, I have up in Chile, I was told of continued my search to understanding the mechanisms behind the legend of how the Sun neurodegeneration with fruit flies as my model. Earlier god favored the condors this year, postdoctoral fellow Dr. Ackerman and I were able to for their sacrifice to become the ugliest of the birds among the co-author a paper that shows the importance of astrocytes colorful creatures of South America, and so they were given the in regulating circuit plasticity. In this project I developed and ceremonial task of lifting the sun every morning. While growing up, troubleshooted a live-imaging pipeline for baby maggots, which I was constantly told the legend of the condor as a way to inspire can record time-lapse movies of neuronal morphology changes at me to strive higher. the single cell resolution in living brains.

Motivated by the lack of opportunities for low-income students to The narrative of my life has always been tied to the values of the access higher education in Chile, I fundraised to cover the costs of legend of the condor—resilience and adaptation. The former has applying to abroad. In the fall of 2015, I was granted been invaluable to endure countless hours learning school material the ICSP scholarship to attend the University of Oregon. My first and repeating failed experiments in the lab. The latter has guided two years were tough, I endured several financial barriers. The my decision to pursue scientific training in my future path towards outcome of maintaining this “survival mode” left me with little becoming a PhD candidate, postdoctoral fellow and subsequently to no time for school. I was soon visiting every counseling office, as a professor. I am now headed to the University of Chicago, tutoring center, and advising session on campus. In 2017 as grades where I will continue pursuing developmental neuroscience, as well steadily improved, I started to look for employment opportunities as fighting and adapting.

4 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES FALL 2020 In the News

Alice Barkan, member of the Institute of , UO Provost Patrick Phillips, professor of biology and a member received the 2020 Outstanding Research Award for her research of the institute of Ecology and Evolution, received a 5-year on how plants capture and process sunlight. Barkan was also Outstanding Investigator Award grant from NIH. The $1.8 million elected into the National Academy of Science, one of the highest award will provide funding for the Phillips lab to investigate honors a scientist can receive. complex interactions within between multiple and the environment. Brendan Bohannan, of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution, received the James F. and Shirley K. Rippey Chair in Liberal Arts Judith Eisen, Karen Guillemin, and Brendan Bohannan of Biology and Sciences for his distinguished research and dedication to and Raghuveer Parthasarathy of Physics, received a $325,000 undergraduate teaching. grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This 30-month award will allow the team to examine aquatic symbioses, the A 5-year grant of $2 million from The Gordon and Betty Moore interactions between different animal species living together. Foundation as part of the Symbioses in Aquatic Systems Initiative was awarded to Judith Eisen. Eisen, a member of the Institute Kayla Evens, PhD candidate of the institute of Ecology and of Neuroscience, is investigating the importance of symbiotic Evolution, received the 2020 graduate research fellowship from for normal neural development, which could shed light on the National Science Foundation. The NSF award recognizes disease processes in humans. and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees. Karen Guillemin, a member of the Institute of Molecular Biology, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. One of PhD candidate Kaye Shek of the institute of Ecology and the highest honors for a scholar. Karen uses the zebrafish model to Evolution and biology undergraduate Emily Hill won the Peter examine how animals coexist with their microbial residents and the O’Day Fellowship award. This award supports an undergraduate role bacteria play in development and disease. and graduate partnership to conduct a summer project.

Lauren Hallett of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution and PhD candidate Monika Ruwaimana was the 2020 recipient of Environmental Studies was named an Early Career Fellow by the the Allan Robertson Grant to present at the International Peat Ecological Society of America. She was elected for her advances in Conference in Estonia. population and community ecology and for her application of real- world restoration problems. Undergraduate student Nelson Perez Catalan, mentored by Professor Chris Doe, Institute of Neuroscience, won the Matt Streisfeld, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, was one of 23 UO Libraries Undergraduate Research Award. This award recipients to receive the 2020 Faculty Research Award. This award recognizes students who demonstrate high-quality academic is designed to stimulate promising research and scholarly activity. work and excellent library research skills.

The 2020 Ersted Award for Distinguished Teaching went to Annie The Frank and Stephanie Huestis McLean Memorial Scholarship Zemper of the Institute of Molecular Biology. She received the was awarded to undergraduates Mikala Capage, Wendy Fan and award for her dedication, inclusive, engaged, and research- Alina Salagean for their superior performance as biology majors. informed teaching. The Paul and Helen Weiser Scholarship was awarded to Kelly Sutherland of the Oregon Institute of undergraduates Briana Blasingame, Kelly Fulton, Amanda was awarded 1.1 million over 3 years from The Gordon and Betty Linskens, Crysta Winter, and PhD candidate Sarah Beyeler for Moore Foundation to study efficient propulsion in the ocean. The their academic achievements and excellence. interdisciplinary project will bring 3D imaging systems under the ocean to investigate how jet-propelled jellyfish that live in colonies The 2020 Donald Wimber Fund award was given to Elliott Abe, coordinate their swimming. The goal of this work is to discover Heather Le Bleu, Amy Robbins, and Erik Toraason. This award fundamental rules of effective transport. provides support for biology graduate students to travel to conferences to present their research work. The Sutherland lab also received $400,000 for a three-year collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation The 2020 Sistrom Award recipients were PhD candidates that will integrate laboratory and oceanographic approaches to Stacy Levichev-Connolly, Nicole Nakata, and Lauren Rice address predator-prey relationship between gelatinous grazers for showing exceptional promise and achievements in their and ocean . chosen scientific field.

Nicola Barber and Cristin Hulslander received an award from Rachel Lukowicz, PhD candidate in the Institute of the Williams Council to support their instructional proposal titled Neuroscience, received the 2020-2021 Marthe E Smith “Case study-based group problem solving to enrich learning in Memorial Science Scholarship for her academic excellence. biology” This project will redesign the course problem sets for Bi 211, helping science students develop skills in learning, problem solving, application and collaboration. Continued on page 6 biology.uoregon.edu DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY BIO 5 In the News Continued from page 5 A GoPro for Mice By Nick Sattler, PhD candidate, Institute of Neuroscience To contribute to our scholarship funds, send checks payable to: The UO Foundation Mice are the most widely-used mammal in biological Department of Biology research, but surprisingly, we have never been able to see a 1210 University of Oregon close-up view of their natural behavior until very recently. By Eugene, Oregon 97403-1210. creating small arrays of tiny cameras that can be placed on Designate the specific their heads, the Wehr lab in the Institute of Neuroscience scholarship or fund you want to has developed a new technique that finally allows us to see support on the check memo line. how mice use their eyes, ears, whiskers, and noses, together Several biology poster in real-time, as they freely run around and behave in natural presenters at the virtual conditions. Undergraduate Research Symposium were winners. This opens up fascinating questions about natural mouse They were Adeline Fecker, behavior: What does a mouse see? Why do mice move their mentored by Philip ears? How do mice coordinate their movements across Washbourne; Rennie different conditions, and why? Answering these basic Kendrick, mentored by Dasa questions will provide scientists with a new framework of Zeithamova and Lea Frank, natural mouse behavior that will serve as a guide for future Anna Kulawiec, mentored experimental designs and predictions across all the sensory by Eric Selker; and Alina systems in the decades to come. Salagean mentored by Diana Libuda and Erik Toraason. “Whether you’re a human or a mouse, all your sensory systems work together in concert,” explained graduate Each year six students who are deemed the most student Nick Sattler, who developed the new technique. “We’re particularly interested in getting a outstanding among elected holistic multi-sensory view of these processes in natural conditions.” Phi Beta Kappa become The Oregon Six. They are What’s more, since the system is so small and lightweight, they’ve been able to integrate it with selected based on their additional hardware to simultaneously record the electrical activity of many neurons across high-grade point average multiple brain areas. “This is critical because it allows us to study the neural circuits underlying and the rigor of their course sensation and behavior in natural conditions as well, which we hope will lead to new and exciting work. This year three theories of information processing in the brain,” said Sattler. biology students were among those six. They were Utilizing this system with genetic mouse models of complex human diseases will also soon allow Rennie Kendrick, Connor researchers to investigate the origins and mechanisms underlying their behavioral symptoms, Lane, and Nelly Nouboussi which may potentially identify early markers. “Mice continue to be a powerful model system for Nkenfack. Congratulations human health and disease,” said PI Mike Wehr. “We hope this will help the field make progress in to these three outstanding identifying the diverse symptoms that can appear across sensory systems for diseases such as biology undergraduates! Alzheimer’s or Autism.” The 2019-2020 Biology Watch the camera in action: Teaching awards went to: www..org/content/biorxiv/early/2020/07/02/2020.06.30.181412/DC2/embed/media-2. Faculty: Nicola Barber, Graduate Employee: Claire mp4?download=true Goodfellow, Undergraduate Teaching Assistant: Julia Wolf. Congratulations to Nicola, Claire, and Julia Rights of Nature Legal Case in Ecuador for their commitment and The Roy lab has been involved in a case that could set a world precedent distinction in teaching!

The Biology Hill Fund The highest court in Ecuador, the Constitutional Court, has agreed to hear a Rights of Nature case Outstanding GE Teaching Award went to Hope brought by the Protected Forest Reserva Los Cedros, where Bitty Roy and her students have worked Healey. Congratulations for years. The case is against mining concessions that were illegally placed by the government in 2017 to Hope for her well- on >2m hectares (six million acres), including about a third of the protected forests called “Bosque deserved recognition of her Protectores”. This case has implications for the climate emergency as well as for stunning biodiversity, excellence in teaching! including hundreds of .

6 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES FALL 2020 In 2000, it was estimated that more than 96% of the forests example, Reserva Los Cedros is well known for its globally in western Ecuador had been deforested, more has been lost critically endangered brown-headed spider monkeys and since then, and now the few remaining protected areas are being endangered spectacled bears, but there are 215 species at Los threatened. Mining represents a short-term investment with great Cedros that are under threat according to Ecuador’s red lists, long-term costs to the people of Ecuador. We cannot maintain the including 73 near threatened, 108 vulnerable to , 29 illusion that mining can be done without grave ecological and human endangered and 5 critically endangered. In addition, the reserve health consequences, consequences that are well documented in encompasses the headwaters of four rivers. scientific literature. Furthermore, as the climate changes and water resources throughout the world come increasingly under pressure, By Bitty Roy unlogged watersheds such as that of the Los Cedros Reserve and For more information about what you can do: the other protected forests are accordingly precious. loscedrosreserve.org/save-los-cedros-campaign/ Protected forests (Bosques Protectores) in Ecuador harbor For species lists see:loscedrosreserve.org/los-cedros-reserve- exceptional biodiversity, much of which is becoming rare. For species-lists/

Three critically endangered species in Ecuador and resident at Reserva Los Cedros, the black-and-chestnut eagle (©murraycooperphoto), the plant Nasa aequatoriana (©murraycooperphoto), and one of the most endangered primates in the world, the brown-headed spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps fusciceps), (©BittyRoy).

Bi 170 Happiness: A Neuroscience and Psychology Perspective by David McCormick

What exactly is happiness anxiety) and positive (e.g. empathy, compassion) emotional and how does one go about states are generated in the brain. We explore what new results achieving it? Perhaps there in psychological science teach us about how to be happier, how is no better time than now to feel less stressed, and how to flourish. In addition to modern to ask this question. Life scientific studies, we also examine ancient wisdom on the purpose presents us with enormous and meaning of “a well-lived life”. Once a week, students meet to possibilities, but also discuss and debate these scientific studies, as well as the latest enormous challenges – and research on emotional intelligence, and how behavior results from the current situation an interaction of knowledge of facts and principles, emotional we find ourselves in is state, and . The class emphasizes not only the gaining of amplifying, well, everything. intellectual and emotional understanding (Head and Heart), but also How do we navigate this putting that knowledge into practice. In the “Hands” component, David McCormick and Sasha exploring difficult to lead students perform exercises in and outside class, such as the neuroscience and psychology of a fulfilling, meaningful, and meditation, physical exercise, gratitude and appreciation practices, living a life of positive and fulfilling satisfying life? Luckily, the to build habits that support a happier, more connected, and more engagement each spring. fields of neuroscience and fulfilling life. psychology have a lot to say on this topic. Happiness is a mindset that is actively cultivated Happiness is something you actively do – and that requires an and not something you can gain simply by reading a textbook. unconventional class . By learning the neuroscience and psychology of mental states, we empower ourselves to take In Bi 170 the “Head, Heart, Hands” model of learning is used. Head action. By taking action, through our project-based assignments, refers to intellectual knowledge, Heart is emotional intelligence we put these theories into practice. The combination of “Head, and development, and finally Hands is putting the principles we Heart, Hands” learning brings students to a state of more fulfilling learn into action. In the “Head” component, students learn the and meaningful engagement with their college experience, and latest neuroscience research revealing how negative (e.g. stress, potentially their entire life!

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The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request. © 2020 University of Oregon. ST2541.

Society For Women in Marine Science

Across the state, MS student, Melissa Steinman and UO Biology PhD marine scientists candidate, Jessica Masterman, that could implement welcome the newest a solution through the existing national organization. chapter of the The chapter is open to anyone affiliated with the Society for Women state of Oregon and connects members passionate in Marine Science, about marine science across industries, spanning SWMS Oregon! The K-12 education, university scientists and students, Oregon chapter government-led organizations, and local conservation cultivates a diverse groups. Alongside, the chapter provides hands-

Anna Ward community and on marketing, design, and science communication Oregon Institute of Marine Biology network of support opportunities for members to expand and strengthen for the growth, their skill sets while interweaving personal and advancement, and awareness of women in marine scientific interests. Anyone interested in joining, science across career levels. Founded in August 2019 supporting, or collaborating with the Oregon chapter by UO Biology PhD student, Anna Ward, the Oregon of SWMS can reach out directly: chapter was established to broaden connectivity of [email protected]. women across the state and amplify the voices of those who have been systemically excluded. Last fall, she sought out a team, currently led by PSU Biology