{"id":848,"date":"2024-04-30T19:05:59","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T19:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/?p=848"},"modified":"2024-04-30T19:48:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T19:48:37","slug":"biological-diversity-graduate-student-maria-silva-translates-reaching-for-the-trees-to-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/2024\/04\/30\/biological-diversity-graduate-student-maria-silva-translates-reaching-for-the-trees-to-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Biological Diversity graduate student Maria Silva translates reaching for the trees to research"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maria

Maria Silva at her 2023 undergraduate Commencement<\/p><\/div>\n

Growing up in Brazil, Maria Silva had a world of field research opportunities at her fingertips. \u201cI was surrounded by nature as a child; I could literally pick fruit from the trees,\u201d the Western Connecticut State University<\/a> graduate student said. When her family relocated to Naugatuck when she was 15, Silva experienced Connecticut\u2019s varied seasons for the first time. \u201cIn Brazil, it\u2019s always summer,\u201d Silva said. \u201cIn Connecticut, we have all the seasons. It made me rethink my desire to study medicine to learn more about ecology.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Naugatuck High School student, Silva was recruited to join WCSU\u2019s swim team and was excited to see the university\u2019s new Science Building and its degree options in Biology. Originally enrolled as a pre-med student in the Biology, Professional Option program, Silva soon changed her major to Biology, Bioscience<\/a>, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2023.<\/p>\n

After graduation, Silva tried to find a research job and soon realized that the most desirable jobs required a master\u2019s degree. So, a semester after her undergraduate graduation, she re-enrolled at WCSU to pursue a Master of Science in Integrative Biology Diversity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great thing about WestConn is that the classes are small and there are more opportunities to talk to and build relationships with your professors,\u201d Silva said. \u201cThere are also lots of research options where you are working directly with a faculty member while gaining experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

While taking her graduate-level biology courses part-time, Silva also works part-time for Biology Department Chair Dr. Dora Pinou. \u201cI\u2019m helping Dr. Pinou as the \u2018Finding Our Way\u2019<\/a> Research Coordinator and Communicator,\u201d Silva said. \u201cI manage the program\u2019s website, maintain all the forms and documentation, send the necessary deadlines and information to middle school and high school teachers, and coordinate the application process for the Summer Watershed Steward Ambassador Program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silva has enhanced the Finding Our Way website significantly by organizing the content and providing links to NOAA resources in Spanish for Danbury Public School students and their families. Bilingual in Portuguese and English herself, Silva understands how providing the information in multiple languages can benefit students and their parents.<\/p>\n

Now in her fifth year on campus as an undergraduate, then graduate student and now as an employee, Silva said, \u201cMy overall experience at WCSU has been great. Ever since I started in 2019, the faculty and staff have made me feel welcomed and safe. While pursuing my undergraduate degree I was also working full time at a pizzeria. It was not easy, but I was able to apply myself academically and reach my goal of being on the Dean\u2019s List multiple semesters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to balance school and work thanks to the flexibility my professors had with me,\u201d she continued. \u201cI found a way to study and attend classes in the mornings and work full time at night; usually until 1 a.m. This was the only option I had because I was paying for school without taking any loans nor having aid for my tuition. I am very grateful to my professors who were always understanding if I needed an extension or some extra help. Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Kristin Giamanco<\/a> is one of the professors who made my undergraduate experience so wonderful; she is really approachable and made cell biology very interesting and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now pursuing her master\u2019s degree, Silva said Biology Department Chair Dr. Dora Pinou \u201chas been another inspiration and great mentor during the beginning of my graduate journey. She hired me as the outreach coordinator for the NOAA B-Wet Finding Our Way program and we have been working together to finalize this year\u2019s grant goals. This work together with my time as a substitute teacher at Danbury High School has stimulated my interest in science communication. I was able to see that we are lacking manpower in this vital field and that there is a whole community waiting to be educated and informed about their watershed and overall environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the future, Silva has her focus on research. \u201cI definitely want to be doing research because I am interested in the science behind it and the data analysis,\u201d she said. \u201cIt can be in a lab or in the field, but research is what I want to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Brazil, Maria Silva had a world of field research opportunities at her fingertips. \u201cI was surrounded by nature as a child; I could literally pick fruit from the trees,\u201d the Western Connecticut State University graduate student said. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31,30,6],"class_list":["post-848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","tag-integrative-biological","tag-masters-degree","tag-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}