By Tiffany Whitfield

Old Dominion University Ecological Sciences doctoral student, Zlatka Rebolledo Sánchez, 来自弗吉尼亚州联邦的七名大学生之一将被选为 Virginia Sea Grant Fellow (VASG). 她的研究重点是了解切萨皮克湾及其支流的盐沼蓝碳. An international student from South America, Rebolledo Sánchez重视教育和通过社区外展易于翻译的科学品质. As a VASG fellow, 她将能够通过指导和专业发展深入研究，并利用她的热情向汉普顿路地区的不同社区传播科学.

Originally from Venezuela, Rebolledo Sánchez最终来到ODU是因为生物科学助理教授Erik Yando的一条推文，他后来成为了她在ODU的导师. “Before that tweet I had never heard about Norfolk,” said Sanchez. “我认为科学家们在社交媒体上联系真的很好，经过几次采访，我们觉得我们是一个很好的团队.”

她一开始是硕士生，现在是博士生的第三年. “我现在正在切萨皮克湾下游的盐沼中工作,” said Rebolledo Sánchez. “实际上, there is much research being done in this specific area, but I want to focus on spatial variability.“该领域的专家通常使用卫星图像进行大规模遥感工作，重点关注生物学中的地理方面. 

Coastal ecosystems are at the centerpiece of Rebolledo Sánchez's research. “Salt marshes provide shoreline protection, erosion control and improve water quality, 但我真正喜欢的最重要的一点是它们能减缓气候变化,” said Rebolledo Sánchez. Salt marsh ecosystems store and sequester a lot of carbon. Rebolledo Sánchez说:“把碳放在那里比在大气中要好。. “There are a lot of people that deny that climate change exists, or they don't understand, 或者他们没有意识到我们现在正在经历的实际后果.” Her work with VASG fellowship will focus on two different things. “One is actually trying to answer my scientific questions, trying to decipher a little bit more about the carbon in salt marshes, 第二，我将讨论如何有效地与不同的受众沟通,” said Sanchez. 

As a Latina woman, diversity not only matters to Rebolledo Sánchez, 但她意识到与母语不是英语的人有效沟通存在差距。“我也想把我的作品翻译成西班牙语,” said Rebolledo Sánchez. Her goal is to publish her work in both English and Spanish. “Virginia has more than 10% of the population who are Hispanic, but most of them speak only Spanish,” said Rebolledo Sánchez. “有很大一部分人口是许多人无法接触到的，将其转化为其他国家也非常重要.“能够将她的作品翻译到其他西班牙语国家将使Rebolledo Sánchez更加热衷于研究并与不同的受众交流. “We are here in Virginia, we have the local problems, local issues with sea level rise and all the flooding that we experience, and everyone is impacted,” said Rebolledo Sánchez. “每个人都需要了解英语和西班牙语中正在发生的关于如何帮助改善世界生活方式和应对洪水的事情.”

桑切斯被鼓励向VASG申请奖学金，因为她的导师延多. She does research in Assistant Professor Yando’s Coastal Plant and Ecotone Ecology Lab.

Yando speaks highly of Rebolledo Sánchez. “我们很高兴Zlatka被选为这项享有盛誉的奖学金，并非常期待她在未来两年的工作. 兹拉特卡孜孜不倦地工作，以确保沿海和盐沼科学以一种方便的方式传播给公众. 进一步, 这项奖学金将支持她的研究，为切萨皮克湾南部提供一些最强大的蓝碳预算, while also addressing interesting conceptual and theoretical questions."

作为VASG的成员，Rebolledo Sánchez也将有一位专业的导师，Alexandra Clayton The Pew Charitable Trusts. Rebolledo Sánchez is overjoyed about all that entails the fellowship. “我们在学期开始前举行了迎新会，我见到了所有其他弗吉尼亚海洋基金研究员和以前的研究员, 我认为这是一个很好的机会，可以联系并了解其他人正在做的研究.“合作是Rebolledo Sánchez固有的，这个奖学金提供的机会将使她能够与社区中的人们建立桥梁，同时激发她对生态的热爱.

Being an international student has yet to slow down Rebolledo Sánchez. She is very active on campus and in the community. 她是ODU国际学生顾问委员会的成员，并担任主席. 也, 她还是一个名为“全球学生友谊”的学生组织的外联主任. Incredibly, she is also ODU’s Student Government Association treasurer. Rebolledo Sánchez说:“我觉得我在为别人服务，我喜欢服务和建立联系。.

She works many hours every day on her research at ODU. 也, she was a teaching assistant, but she finds time to help others. Rebolledo Sánchez说:“我真的对我正在做的事情、我的服务和我的朋友充满热情。. “I think I'm working, not just with colleagues, I'm working with friends and that makes it way easier to keep going, keep producing more awesome work; it's a great reward.”

作为君主, Rebolledo Sánchez感谢她和其他国际学生所获得的机会. Rebolledo Sánchez说:“ODU为学生提供的所有资源都令人惊讶. “不同的办公室对学生的开放程度令人惊讶，他们拥有所有可用的资源. 我认为生物科学系很棒，因为我们有很棒的教员，我们得到了他们所有人的支持. The network we build at ODU is something that I’m very happy about and now, 我们是R1机构，而且随着EVMS的合并，我认为这是大学的很大增长.” 

上图: ODU生态科学博士生，Zlatka Rebolledo Sánchez在实地做研究.