UCSC Students Build Community at BIMS Week 2024

Ando Rabearisoa, Sidney Opiyo, and Tiara Moore
Ando Rabearisoa, Sidney Opiyo, and Tiara Moore, BIMS Week 2024. Photo © BIMS

Black In Marine Science (BIMS) is a nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Tiara Moore, with the vision of amplifying the voice of Black marine scientists, spreading environmental awareness, and inspiring the future generation of scientific leaders. BIMS Week is a yearly retreat that brings together Black marine scientists worldwide to celebrate, build community, and broaden the participation and diversity in marine science. This is achieved by creating a platform for each participant to share their stories and their knowledge, and experience self-care and wellness. BIMS Week offers an exceptional opportunity to connect marine scientists, students, ocean advocates and practitioners in a truly innovative way. 

Through its formal partnership with Black In Marine Science, the UC Santa Cruz Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) was a sponsor of BIMS Week 2024 and actively participated in the Conference in several ways. The CCCR supported nine graduate students from UCSC to attend the BIMS Week 2024 in San Diego from December 1st to 8th. The UCSC CCCR contingent organized several talks during the week. The first was a workshop on Coastal Resilience and Nature-based Solutions with an aim to increase environmental awareness and expand opportunities for Black scholars to better understand and communicate the risks related to climate change and biodiversity loss. In collaboration with the Cal eDNA Lab at UCSC, several of the CCCR participants served as panelists for the eDNA Think Tank workshops. Finally, CCCR-BIMS scholar Ando Rabearisoa gave a talk at the For Ocean series on her research on how locally managed marine areas reduce poverty and increase the resilience of local communities in Madagascar.

Through these three presentations, UCSC fellows helped to identify solutions to reduce risks from climate change and more effectively communicate risks and solutions to inspire action among the BIMS Week attendees.

In addition to the keynote talks and scientific workshops on eDNA, Nature-Based solutions, science communication, and data and AI, the nine students from UCSC attending BIMS Week enjoyed the wellness and joy series, the immersion into a research vessel at SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography, and a fieldwork experience through collection eDNA samples during a Bioblitz in Paradise Point. 

As noted by Maxwell Seale, a PhD Student in the Ocean Sciences Department at UCSC, “I met so many incredible scientists and conservationists from across the globe at BIMS Week, all of whom were eager to collaborate and exchange ideas. This sense of shared purpose and belonging among conference participants was deeply inspiring and reaffirmed my commitment to engaging with BIPOC and other underrepresented communities in my work. With this new network, I plan to collaborate with BIMS leadership on a new initiative which I look forward to sharing more about in the coming years.”

Group of students learning how to sample eDNA
UCSC student Janvier Uwayezu explaining to Bioblitz participants how to collect eDNA samples. Photo © BIMS

Ayanna Mays, a PhD student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at UCSC, said “I had a phenomenal time at BIMS Week 2024. BIMS Week is unique in that it encourages attendees to think about their role in society as scientists. It renewed my excitement about my research and inspired me to further develop my science communication skills. I left with my head full of ideas on how to incorporate mentorship, justice, and communication in my academic endeavors. I came away with a stronger sense of belonging in the marine science field.”

Both Maxwell and Ayanna recommend attending BIMS Week to their peers and colleagues at UCSC and hope that UCSC students continue to have a strong presence at BIMS Week in the future.

– Ando Rabearisoa, CCCR Fellow and UCSC PhD student

group photo of attendees at BIMS Week 2024
BIMS Week 2024 held at Paradise Point, San Diego, CA. Photo © BIMS

Last modified: Jan 17, 2025