Student Vignettes

Natalia Lopez Figueroa

INSTITUTION, MAJOR, AND HOBBIES

University of South Florida – Ph.D. in Marine Science - Crafting, Zumba and spending time with my pets.

CAREER INTERESTS

My current career interest is to become a professor to continue working on research in coastal zone management. It is imperative to integrate research in management to track the effectiveness of our management plans and ways to improve those management plans implemented. The world is changing and thus our oceans are too. The part of the ocean humans is mostly exposed throughout their lives are the coasts, for food, housing, or recreational purposes. Managers often plan using projections of the future from 2 years to 100 years, but due to climate change we are experiencing these projected changes sooner than expected. This is why we need research to aid in management practices, two fields that don’t often see eye to eye. I want to follow the legacy of Margaret Davidson and create collaborative research to aid management practices keep up the pace with these changes. For the longest time I wanted to become a coastal zone management director, and though this is still part of my career goals, I love research and see a way it can be combined with my other passion. Studying the coastal environment to not only help the environment but also aid people who depend on this resource and those who will be more susceptible to these changes. By becoming a professor, I will be able to train the future generations of both research and management, science with purpose. I am very passionate about mentoring and teaching, which is why being in academia I can encompass all my career goals and help our beautiful and essential coastal environments. 

WHY I CHOSE TO ATTEND THE USF MAKING WAVES

I accepted a position of graduate assistant in the USF Making Waves Program because I love research, teaching and mentoring. As a certified academic advisor with over 10 years of mentoring experience, this role aligns directly with my career interests. In addition, I am interested to also design an REU program when I become a professor. Having the opportunity to shadow Dr. Arellano in this process, with her guidance I feel confident that I will have a better idea of what I would like to do in the future. Initiatives like the Making Waves REU create spaces for underrepresented groups in marine science, to learn essential methods and techniques that will prepare them better for their future endeavors.