Congratulations to new McNair Scholar Alejandro Torres-Gonzalez! Alejandro was selected by the McNair Scholars’ selection committee on the basis of his passion for research, commitment to attaining a PhD, and overall potential for success in graduate school.
The federally-funded TRIO Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program at EWU selects motivated and talented juniors and seniors who are first-generation and low-income college students, and/or from groups underrepresented at the doctoral level to introduce them to academic research and provide them with effective strategies for getting into and graduating from PhD programs.
Alejandro obtained his associate of Arts and Science degree from Wenatchee Valley College in 2021, before transferring to Eastern Washington University for his Biology degree. His research interests are botany, restoration ecology, and conservation. In the fall of 2022, he was offered the opportunity to volunteer with Dr. Rebecca Brown and Ducks Unlimited in a day of field research. He worked by traversing through transactions to monitor plant diversity in an Idaho wetland that has been overtaken by Typha. This research gave him experience working with field equipment such as measuring tapes and waders, he also learned techniques in mapping locations and running transactions.
In January 2023 he was selected as an EWU McNair Scholar. His goal is to obtain his PhD. In April he began planning his 2023 Summer Research Internship with EWU Faculty mentor Dr. Justin Bastow on the EWU Restoration Project. He will be observing pollinator activity at the restoration site. He hopes that his research experience will help him in applying for future positions in restoration and conservation organizations.
