Jessica Castillo Vardaro: Uplifting Latino/a Students
By Brett Bralley
Editor's note: In August 2022, the National Science Foundation to better understand how the American pika has responded to past environmental changes
with the goal of better predicting their response to current and future environmental
change.
Additional editor's note: On Nov. 10, 2021, the Animal Welfare Institute for her research on the American pika population and its vulnerabilities to human
behaviors.
Jessica Castillo Vardaro, assistant professor of biology at San Jos茅 State University, remembers the summer she fell in love with nature. She was just 5 years old.
The Santa Ana, California, native and her family piled into their red 1985 Chevy Astrovan for a trip across six different U.S. national parks, including Zion National Park, Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon.
鈥淚 remember seeing coyotes, bison, deer, moose, bighorn sheep, squirrels and chipmunks,鈥� Castillo Vardaro recalled. 鈥淚 was just so excited by it all that I knew I wanted to work outside in nature. When I think back to when I decided I wanted to become a wildlife biologist, it has to be during that trip.鈥�
Today, Castillo Vardaro studies the American pika 鈥� a small rabbit-like mammal living in the mountains of western North America 鈥� to learn how climate change and human behavior impact native wildlife.
The American pika. Image credit: Michael Hernandez, 鈥�22 MS Biology
While her research has shed light on the ways humans can affect their environment, it serves another purpose: to empower students to become scientists, especially those who might not otherwise have had the opportunity.
Since she joined San Jos茅 State in 2019, Castillo Vardaro has tried to remove barriers to research opportunities for underrepresented minority students, including Latino/a, Latinx and Hispanic students. She also works to keep those students on the pathway to success while fostering a sense of community.
"In my job, I鈥檓 an instructor, a researcher and a mentor,鈥� she shared. 鈥淚 use all three of those parts of my role to increase participation of underrepresented groups in the sciences, more generally, and in wildlife research, more specifically.鈥�
From mountains to freeways
From left, Michael Hernandez, 鈥�22 MS Biology; Emily Hadjes, 鈥�22 MS Biological Sciences;
and Castillo Vardaro conducted field research over the summer in Sequoia and Kings
Canyon National Parks
Castillo Vardaro and two of her graduate students spent this past summer hiking, backpacking and camping in the mountains of northwestern Nevada and in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Their mission? To collect pika excrements that they and undergraduate students would later analyze in Castillo Vardaro鈥檚 lab.
鈥淲e also were counting and identifying all the plants around the areas where the pikas lived,鈥� Castillo Vardaro said. 鈥淲e looked at what plants were available and are now comparing that to what plants they were choosing to eat.鈥�
Understanding what pikas were eating 鈥� and why 鈥� could reveal a lot about how they adapt to their surroundings and what could cause them to become extinct, Castillo Vardaro explained.
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For example, a pika could choose to eat something less nutritious but more readily available. Maybe a preferred food isn鈥檛 available anymore because of drought, higher temperatures or even humans manipulating vegetation for cattle grazing, Castillo Vardaro said. That could shed light on the potential long-term impact of human behaviors on the pikas鈥� habitat and food sources.
Those findings could also have implications closer to home.
鈥淭hink about squirrels, racoons and opossums in the San Jos茅 area,鈥� Castillo Vardaro said. 鈥淲hat does it mean for their populations that they used to be able to travel from the hills in the East Bay all the way to Santa Cruz in the peninsula 鈥� but now there鈥檚 a big city in the middle of their path?
鈥淥r what does it mean if we put a big six-lane highway through some species鈥� natural habitat? By understanding the threats posed by climate change or our human activity, we could potentially limit our impact to help these populations survive.鈥�
Field research in downtown San Jos茅
Castillo Vardaro knows firsthand that learning to become a wildlife biologist can be expensive. Entry into the field requires experience, which can end up being a financial burden on students, she explained.
As an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, Castillo Vardaro found a paid part-time job at the university鈥檚 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, where she gained experience that helped get her foot in the door. But not everyone is as fortunate, she said.
鈥淪tudents often can鈥檛 afford to take unpaid lab positions,鈥� she explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to get the right kind of experience when you already need to work one or two jobs to pay your bills.鈥�
Even those who might be able to sacrifice income for volunteer experience could end up deterred by the costs of important field research opportunities.
鈥淎 lot of these opportunities will ask students to come volunteer for the summer 鈥� and to bring their own tent, and a $300 backpack, $200 boots and a $100 jacket,鈥� she explained. 鈥淭hose opportunities cost a lot of money, and it鈥檚 a real challenge for many students.鈥�
That鈥檚 one of the reasons why Castillo Vardaro is trying to eliminate these types of obstacles by not only offering paid opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students in her lab but also by bringing field research to campus.
In January 2020, she jumpstarted an urban ecology research project on the 91猎奇 campus. Students could study the different varieties of squirrels (there are two you鈥檒l find in most parts of San Jos茅, Castillo Vardaro said) to better understand their adaptation habits.
The project was put on hold during the pandemic, but Castillo Vardaro hopes to revive it soon.
"One of the main motivations behind the project is to try to get students to have these practical, tangible experiences without having to travel and invest,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey can walk around campus and observe squirrels and learn lots of field techniques without needing to go up to the mountains, plus gain analytical and lab experience.鈥�
Beyond the research
There was a time when Emily Hadjes, 鈥�22 MS Biological Sciences, thought she would never get into graduate school.
鈥淚 thought that I did not belong,鈥� recalled Hadjes, who is of Peruvian heritage and identifies as Latinx. She鈥檚 one of the graduate students who gathered samples with Castillo Vardaro over the summer.
鈥淚 used to have this idea in my head that a scientist had to be a certain way, and that I did not fit into whatever that was,鈥� she said.
Hadjes鈥� perception is a common one, noted Castillo Vardaro. That鈥檚 one of the reasons she serves as the faculty advisor for at 91猎奇. She wants to dispel many of the notions that Latinx and Indigineous students in STEM fields might have about what it takes to be a scientist.
鈥淭here are a lot of challenges STEM students face,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of them might come into their first year thinking, 鈥業鈥檓 going to be a biology or chemistry major,鈥� and then they don鈥檛 do so well in their intro classes and think, 鈥極h well, I guess I鈥檓 not good enough.鈥� Then, they switch majors.
鈥淚n reality, you could fail your bio or chem class, but still end up perfectly successful,鈥� she continued. 鈥淐ollege is different from high school, so there are lots of reasons why someone wouldn鈥檛 do well in a class.鈥�
SACNAS is about providing a community for these students so that they don鈥檛 feel isolated or ready to give up as easily when met with adversity, Castillo Vardaro explained. By offering students of similar backgrounds an opportunity to network with one another, plus tools for professional development, she said students can feel uplifted and supported.
Learning from Castillo Vardaro helped Hadjes put to rest any of her self doubt about her future as a scientist.
鈥淒r. Castillo Vardaro understood me and believed in me,鈥� she said. 鈥淏eing mentored by someone who is also of Latinx descent has been such an uplifting experience. She helped me feel like I belong here and that I belong in science, too.鈥�
Michael Hernandez, 鈥�22 MS Biology, another student who worked with Castillo Vardaro over the summer, agreed.
鈥淚 have had a number of jobs in which I may have been the only Latinx member present, so having a [principal investigator] who looks like me has been a refreshing change. It reinforces the notion that I can succeed in my studies and career objectives, and that there is a place for me in my chosen discipline.鈥�
Castillo Vardaro understands the value of learning from someone who comes from a similar background. She realized early on that when she joined San Jos茅 State, she wasn鈥檛 just stepping into a faculty position 鈥� she was serving a need. She hadn鈥檛 even shown up on campus once she was hired before a buzz started circulating about a new Latina professor in the sciences.
鈥淪tudents were emailing me telling me they wanted to meet me,鈥� she recalled.
鈥淕rowing up, I never had any professors, role models or mentors who looked like me or shared my experience. My motivation for coming to San Jos茅 State is that this is a primarily undergraduate institution and a Hispanic-serving institution. The student body really reflects the demographics of the area.
鈥淪ometimes I like to fade into the background and focus on myself, but here I have this important role built in, to be visible. So I want to do my very best with that.鈥�
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