Creating Cultural Connections Through Aquatic Ecology

A love for dragonflies and tropical ecology is what opened doors for Applied Ecology Professor Alonso Ramírez. Today, his passion for shared culture and language creates international connections and opportunities for Latino graduate students at NC State University. 

Ramírez grew up in Turrialba, Costa Rica, two hours from the nation’s capital. His country is home to almost 300 species of dragonflies, the animal that sparked his career. As an undergraduate student at the National University of Costa Rica, Ramírez met a professor that worked with adult dragonflies. He soon learned that there was not much information on immature dragonfly larvae that live in the water. He began describing dragonfly larvae and soon discovered aquatic ecology. 

Throughout his career, Ramírez has always studied the tropics. “I identify with tropical systems. Those are the ecosystems where I grew up. Also, because there is so little information about tropical ecosystems, I feel that I can make a larger impact, a better contribution to the scientific community, by focusing on tropical rather than temperate ecosystems,” he explains. 

Supporting Latino Students in STEM

His work in tropical freshwater ecology led to a faculty position at the University of Puerto Rico where he served as director of the El Verde Field Station. Through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at El Verde Field Station, he met several of his current NC State graduate students and postdoctoral research scholars including Vamery Gonzalez-Hernandez, Mariely Vega Gómez and Roberto Reyes Maldonado. 

“One thing that I feel proud of is that, if you talk to colleagues in freshwater ecology with Puerto Rican grad students, many of them went through my lab. They were undergrads in Puerto Rico with me, and they moved to the mainland to continue studying,” Ramírez says. “So I feel like I did funnel quite a bit of students from Puerto Rico to programs on the mainland. They get excited about freshwater and then make connections and continue their careers here. Some are faculty already, so it’s kind of cool.” 

Ramírez supports students from Latin America  continuing their education in the United States for several reasons. “I encourage them to do grad school outside their home country to have a broad view of the world and to be more fully bilingual,” he says. “Also, by studying internationally, they have access to more jobs. And then, there are a lot of scholarships and funding opportunities for programs that apply to them, so they can take advantage of those, too.” 

In Ramírez’s lab, students seamlessly converse in both English and Spanish — a reflection of the community and culture fostered in those meetings.

“It’s nice to be able to have the bilingual lab. It’s something that I learned in Puerto Rico when I was faculty there. Faculty at the University of Puerto Rico are fully bilingual, and it was always fun to see the dean lead a meeting speaking in English and people answering in Spanish,” Ramírez says. “And it was fine, they understood each other very well. So in my lab you can use whatever language you feel more comfortable in, but just make sure that you understand the other language as best as possible.”

Building a Global Network

Another unique aspect of  Ramírez’s lab is its  participation on social media. The students  document their research in English and Spanish on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok. “I think that science is for the public as well,” shares Ramírez. “We are able to do research because we’re using taxpayer money. The National Science Foundation is funding us, and that’s money from the federal government. So there is an aspect to doing science that is very academic, very scientific, but I think we also have the responsibility to share at least some of that with a broader audience.”

Ramírez also uses social media to connect with colleagues in the Latin American community. 

“There’s a networking aspect [to social media] that is very useful and educational. We’re telling people how we’re measuring things and studying rivers. When you are a researcher in a large institution like NC State, you have colleagues doing the same type of work and you can get feedback easily,” he says. “But for people working at a small university — particularly in Latin America — they might not have access to that kind of feedback. So sharing our projects and methods helps them learn about how other people do things. 

“[Social media] creates opportunities that you might not be able to have otherwise,” Ramírez continues. “I mean, we have collaborators or colleagues in South America that we probably will never meet in person, but they know about our lab, and we know about their lab because of social media.”

Recognizing the importance of international collaboration, Ramírez is one of the founders of MacroLatinos, a network of researchers that study aquatic macroinvertebrates and freshwater ecosystems. 

“There is a lot of interest in Latin America on freshwater systems and macroinvertebrates, but there are typically only one or two faculty per country, so people have to conduct research in isolation,” he says. “MacroLatinos started as an idea 12 years ago, with the goal of facilitating communication between people interested in similar things.” 

Today, every Latin American country is represented in the organization, from Mexico to Argentina, as well as additional countries from around the world. 

Applied ecology graduate student Ana Meza-Salazar came to NC State from Colombia through MacroLatinos. 

“I’ve been part of MacroLatinos for over 10 years, sharing my research at conferences, learning from peers, and growing alongside the community,” Meza-Salazar says. “MacroLatinos is particularly important to me because it’s where I first met my advisor, Dr. Alonso Ramírez. It’s been so rewarding to see the network grow and to witness the support we offer one another.”

Additionally, as an active member of the Society for Freshwater Science, Ramírez established the Latin American chapter with the idea of creating a community to welcome people traveling to conferences from Latin America and help make the meeting friendlier by either being bilingual or just being there. 

When asked what the NC State community can do to support Latino students, Ramírez responds, “Be aware that anyone coming from another country is going to have a cultural shift, as things run differently in their own countries. In Latin America, often there is a closer relationship between advisors and students. Here in the United States, some of the big labs are structured in a way that you’re not always running into your PI. Graduate students may be working with a postdoc, instead. Be aware that a student coming from another country might need more support and better communication.”

This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.