Dr. Monica Trujillo Appointed a SENCER Diplomat
The National Center for Science and Civic Engagement is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Monica Trujillo of Queensborough Community College as a SENCER Diplomat for her work advancing wastewater research and community health education in Latin America.
Dr. Trujillo has partnered with NCSCE’s Associate Director Davida Smyth of Texas A&M University-San Antonio on a privately funded initiative Wastewater-Based Epidemiology, Equity and Justice, which is administered through NCSCE. The primary goal of the project is to use Drs. Trujillo and Smyth’s research in wastewater epidemiology and surveillance in the US to collaborate with research groups in the global south to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. A second objective is to share findings, protocols and research methods with groups in the Global South so they can adopt and implement similar strategies. The first group of international collaborators is in Uruguay (one of the countries with the highest current COVID related death rates of 1071 per million population).
Drs. Smyth and Trujillo’s wastewater research has received national attention in Nature Communications , ScienceDaily ,and The New York Times
SENCER Diplomats are faculty who are working beyond the US to advance the ideals of Science Education and New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities abroad. Diplomats are charged with connecting the SENCER participants to their non-US communities and with showcasing their partners’ work at SENCER Summer Institute 2022 and other programs and events hosted by NCSCE. New appointments of SENCER Diplomats will be announced throughout the year. To nominate an educator as a SENCER diplomat, please contact eliza.reilly@ncsce.net