82 MARCH 2026 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Mississippi State University founded a student subunit in 2025, and the other active subunits have maintained their status from 2024. Chapter membership ranges from ten students at the smallest subunit (University of Florida) to 39 participating in the largest subunit (Auburn University) (Figure 1). Student membership increased from 113 active members in 2024 to 140 in 2025. Subunits reported hosting or attending 127 different events throughout the year that ranged from public outreach to fundraising events — 64 were linked to professional development, conference attendance, and presentations; 30 encompassed social activities and subunit meetings such as cookie decorating, roadside and stream clean-ups, and fishing as a group; 25 were outreach focused as subunits staffed booths at local festivals, led tours of subunit or university maintained facilities, and partnered with special education classes to teach students aquaculture; 6 were tied to fundraising through organism sales and grant writing; and 2 were associated with recruitment of graduate and undergraduate students at institutional career and club fairs. Although each chapter is unique and operates independently, several themes emerged as challenges faced by multiple subunits. Three subunits reported obstacles with engaging undergraduate and graduate student populations. A few subunits operate on or aspire to operate on satellite campuses, which proves difficult when coordinating social events, meetings, transportation, and research projects. Three subunits specifically listed the satellite campuses as challenging barriers. Grenn (Student Liaison), Oladipupo (Student Liaison Apprentice), and Michaelis (Student Subunit Committee Chair) organize monthly student subunit social hours to gather members together to discuss common concerns and strategies to overcome difficulties and collaboratively navigate barriers. Corresponding author: jgrenn@d.umn.edu Student Subunit, cont. from page 7 ADVERTISER’S INDEX • Aller Aqua................................................................73 • Aquaculture America 2027 Hawaii.............................6 • Aquaculture Canada 2026........................................13 • Aquaculture System Technologies............................34 • Biomin.....................................................................29 • Biorigin....................................................................45 • Blue Aqua International.......................Inside Front Cover • Extru-Tech................................................................15 • LACQUA26 El Salvador..............................................5 • Northern Aquaculture..............................................25 • SyAqua................................................ Inside Back Cover • Pharmaq..................................................................14 • Qrill..........................................................................49 • WAS Conference Calendar.......................................76 • WAS Future Meetings...............................................77 • World Aquaculture 2026 Tanzania...........................11 • World Aquaculture 2026 Singapore...........................9 • Zeigler..........................................................Back Cover
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