SARASOTA (WSNN) – Hispanic women are making strides in science on the Suncoast. And as today marks the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month, SNN is highlighting some Latin X scientists from Mote Marine Lab.
A young Hispanic girl’s love for the ocean turns into a woman’s career in science.
“I feel very lucky, I feel like it’s just a dream job for me to come in and be able to talk about this stuff and talk to my interns and do cool projects, and I just get to be a kid every day, and learn new things and do experiments and just see how it turns out,” Postdoctoral Fellow in Eco-toxicology at Mote Marine Lab, Aileen Maldonado, Ph.D. said.
Hispanic American, Dr. Maldonado is focusing her research on the impacts of natural and human-made toxins on the environment. When she began her journey in science, there weren’t many Hispanic woman scientists to look up to.
“So I wanted to be one of those women that can tell other minorities that, ‘hey, there are Hispanic women in science, and they’re doing good work, and you can do it too,” Dr. Maldonado said.
Mote Intern, Bianca Wong-Rodriguez works in the Phytoplankton Ecology lab. She says minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM have been underrepresented for too long. But, she’s happy to see things are turning around.
“It’s welcoming, it’s like you guys are striving together, you guys are fighting for a common cause – you want to save the ocean – and you want to lift each other up,” Wong-Rodriguez said.
This is part of what MarSci-LACE or Marine Science Laboratory Alliance Center of Excellence, is helping accomplish. Project Coordinator, Jasmin Graham, says a lot of marine conservation efforts are focused in places like the Caribbean, South America so it’s important for the Latin X community to share their historical cultural knowledge and join the conversation.
“If everyone doesn’t have a seat at the table we’re not getting all the perspectives we need to be able to globally address a lot of the issues we’re facing in marine science,” Graham said.
Breaking into the field of science as a minority is not easy, but Dr. Maldonado says it’s getting easier.
“For anyone out there, there are people willing to mentor you and to help you through this process, so it doesn’t have to be where you’re all alone,” Dr. Maldonado said.
The Latinx community is making strides in science.
“I’m proud to be part of that growth to see how we can change the world,” Wong-Rodriguez said.