STEM Promotores are graduate students who work with El Centro Académico Cultural and INRSEP+ to mentor undergraduates interested in natural resources sciences, connecting them to information about how to find and secure extracurricular research opportunities in STEM. Promotores are available for mentoring meetings, you can find their youcanbookme links in each bio. If you have any questions, contact us at echaleganas@humboldt.edu.
Samantha ChavezSamantha Chavez grew up near Los Angeles and family camping trips in the summer fed her love of forests and wildlife. After community college, she was introduced to birding at UC Santa Cruz where she earned her B.S. in Ecology. After undergrad she picked up various jobs in the wildlife field including: Spotted Owl surveys, Common Murre surveys, bird banding, and a fisheries job working with Delta Smelt. She joined Humboldt in Fall 2020 and is studying owls in winegrape vineyards. Click here to book a mentoring session. |
Laura EchávezLaura Echávez was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Although she didn’t have the opportunity to get outdoors growing up, she found her love for the natural world and wildlife while completing her BS in Animal Science at Cornell University. After undergrad, she spent a few years working wildlife jobs across the Western US, mostly with birds of prey, until she arrived at Cal Poly Humboldt. Laura enjoys mixing her love for the outdoors and science through birding and her binoculars are always handy in case of cool bird sightings. Aside from that, Laura also enjoys playing board games with her husband and rock climbing. Click here to book a mentoring session. |
Dabid GarciaDabid was born and raised in the small city of Arvin at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in California. He is a first-generation college graduate. Both of his parents immigrated to California from their homelands in Guanajuato, Mexico in search of opportunity so that they could provide a greater future for their children. Inspired at a very young age by the wildflowers that would paint the foothills around his hometown every spring, Dabid knew that he wanted to pursue an education and career focusing on researching and conserving wildland plants. After graduating high school, he went on to study at Bakersfield College where he earned his Associate of Science degrees in forestry and horticulture. Then he transferred to Humboldt State University where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in rangeland resource science in 2020. Two years later, Dabid returns to Humboldt to pursue his master’s degree at Cal Poly Humboldt. Some of his favorite activities include gardening, hiking, and photographing every plant he comes across! |
Ximena GilXimena Gil (She/Her/Hers) grew up in Los Angeles, where she explored the surrounding nature and urban wildlife in her neighborhood. While attending community college, she developed an extensive background working as a Naturalist for the National Audubon Society at their urban nature center in Northeast Los Angeles, where she served predominantly Latinx students. During her time with the Audubon Society, she implemented bilingual programs to build a connection between local Latinx residents and their local natural spaces. Ximena graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt (Humboldt), with a degree in Wildlife. During her time at Humboldt, she worked as a wildlife technician on a small mammal research project in the redwood forests of Humboldt Co. In addition, she spent a season in Kenya studying avian insectivores and their role as ecosystem service providers on shade coffee farms. She has returned to Humboldt as a graduate student and will be researching biodiversity on rangelands. Ximena enjoys spending her time knitting, reading, and gardening with her fiancé. She is also especially excited to continue working as a voice for diversity in the wildlife field. Click here to book a mentoring session. |
Kalani OrtizKalani was born and raised in Los Angeles, a city surrounded by a wide range of ecoregions, spending time around aquatic ecosystems at a young age. Her fondest memories were always spending time around rivers, lakes, and especially marine beaches both within California and Mexico where she would visit family every summer. Her love of macro/microalgae sparked when she took a Phycology course during her undergrad here at Cal Poly Humboldt, growing interest especially in cultivation methods of seaweed through sustainable aquaculture practices. Shortly after, she was selected to participate in an internship program with Hog Island Oyster Company, a coastal shellfish company, working in both out planting and cultivating native oysters in Tomales Bay. After completing her internship program, she spent her last year in her undergrad conducting research on land-based systems to cultivate two red species of macroalgae. Upon completion of her B.S. Environmental Biology while minoring in Spanish, Kalani worked as a k-12 STEM virtual tutor and COVID-19 contact tracing Spanish translator for the Los Angeles Public Health Department. She has returned to Humboldt as a graduate student and will conduct research cultivating Bull kelp, Nereocysistic lutkeana, in a hatchery and nursery setting in Humboldt Bay. Kalani is excited to expand her knowledge of seaweed cultivation methods while reconnecting with the natural environment and understanding the meaning of sustainability in aquaculture. In her free time, she likes to spend time tide pooling around local beaches, hiking, and learning to perfect her grandmother's traditional Mexican recipes in her kitchen. Click here to book a mentoring session. |
Maddie YbarraMaddie was born and raised near Los Angeles and contributes her love of the outdoors to the camping trips she took with her Girl Scout troop. Her love of birds sparked when she took an ornithology course during her undergrad at Cal State Fullerton. Upon completion of her B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Maddie did a handful of field jobs on the California Channel Islands with birds like the Channel Island Song Sparrow, the Island Scrub-Jay, and the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike. Maddie joined Humboldt in Fall 2021 and is looking forward to exploring biodiversity on California rangelands. In her free time, she likes to bake bread, hike, roller skate, and play board games with her partner. Click here to book a mentoring session. |