Wow!! Recently, I attended the National Diversity in STEM (NDiSTEM) conference - the annual research conference hosted by the organization: Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). I have been involved with SACNAS since 2017, first as a general member and eventual president at my baccalaureate institution’s chapter, and now as the graduate student representative for the Graduate Student and Postdoc SACNAS chapter at UC Davis since it started in 2021. It was my first time presenting my research at the NDiSTEM conference and it was honestly the best presentation experience I’ve ever had. The audience was engaged, the judge was kind and supportive to all participants, and I had the support of my dearest friends and fellow SACNistas!

I am overjoyed to receive the honor of a presentation award. Thank you so much to my judge and to all the enthusiastic audience members for asking such interesting questions! I’m even at the very front of the photo they took of all the awardees!.