Students present research posters at SACNAS annual meeting in San Antonio

photo of five students and two faculty members posing in front of a screen that says SACNAS

UH West Oahu students and faculty at the SACNAS annual meeting in San Antonio

Five UH West Oʻahu students presented posters on their NSF-TCUP Kikaha summer undergraduate research projects during the recent annual meeting of the Society for Advancement of Chicano/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). This included:

  • Destiny Mabalot, mentored by UH West Oʻahu Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Olivia George, presented a poster titled “Improving cancer therapeutics by understanding centrosome abnormalities in cells derived from cancer cell lines.”
  • Arion Northrop, mentored by Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Megan Ross, presented a poster titled “Investigating the Effects of Water Quality on Distribution of Biological Resources in Loko i‘a on Mokauea Island, Oahu, Hawaiʻi.”
  • Victoria Penalver, mentored by Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr. Kamuela Yong, presented a poster titled “A mathematical model of the spread of TB in Hawaiʻi.”
  • Sirena Reyes, mentored by George, presented a poster titled “Environmental Analysis of Microbial Populations at Ka’ala Farm To Improve Sustainability using Metagenomics.”
  • Erin Takamatsu, mentored by Yong, presented a poster titled “A mathematical model of the spread of mumps in Hawaiʻi”
sacnas logo

George and Yong also attended the conference in San Antonio, as did student Ryan Bradley Domingo. SACNAS is an inclusive organization dedicated to fostering the success of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans, from college students to professionals, in attaining advanced degrees, careers, and positions of leadership in STEM.

Today, the organization serves nearly 6,000 members and has 115 student and professional chapters throughout the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico. SACNAS influences a larger STEM community of over 25,000 through outreach, advocacy, and production of The National Diversity in STEM Conference.

In addition to presenting research, students also attended professional development sessions, scientific symposiums, graduate school and summer internship fair, as well as participated in networking opportunities. The students’ travel was funded through travel stipends provided by the NSF Tribal Colleges and Universities Program ICE-TI: Kikaha STEM project.

Next year the SACNAS annual conference will be held here on Oʻahu from Oct. 31 – Nov. 2, 2019. UH West Oahu recently started a SACNAS Chapter on campus and interested students may send inquiries to uhwo.sacnas@gmail.com.

Images courtesy of UHWO Staff and SACNAS