Sandy Castellano has a B.S. Earth Sciences with a Concentration in Environmental Science (graduated 2018) and an M.S. Sustainability Science (anticipated graduation Dec 2022). Currently, Castellano is a graduate student at Montclair State University and working as a teaching assistant leading two labs classes for introduction level geology. Castellano is a Latina in STEM and proudly represents Ecuador. Her family immigrated to the United States, and Castellano is proud to have had the opportunity to grow up in this country and be able to seek out and pursue her dreams of being a scientist.  She recently completed a summer internship in Cameroon that was funded by the National Science Foundation- IRES focused on geochemistry analysis of an urbanized estuary located in Douala, Cameroon. Castellano is also presenting her research at this year’s GSA conference in Denver.