Sonia Alvarado (she/her) is a recent graduate from CSU Chico, receiving her Bachelors of Science in Biology with an option in Ecological, Evolutionary, and Organismal Biology (yes, it’s quite a mouthful) in May of 2019. While attending university, Alvarado worked as an assistant in the Banet Lab, providing care to juvenile salmon as part of a project detailing the effects water temperature has on their development. She also had the opportunity to take a marine biology course in Costa Rica, where she swam with bioluminescent plankton and trekked through the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Alvarado is an essential part of MCN, helping to keep the data systems in working order. Coming from migrant grandparents, she appreciates the opportunity to be a part of an organization that does such important work in health justice. Outside of MCN, Alvarado hopes to go into conservation with the goal of preserving some of the earth’s most vulnerable and misunderstood animals, and the environments they call home. Like any good field biologist, she prefers to spend her free time hunting for insects to add to her growing collection and enjoying some of Chico’s more splendid views.