Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

AN OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMMING FOR UAPB’S USAS STUDENT SUBUNIT FOR 2023

H. Knuckles*, M. Jones, L. Olhausen, D. A. Perera

 Aquaculture & Fisheries Center of Excellence, School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, 1200 North University Drive, Pine Bluff, AR, 71601.

 



 The US Aquaculture Society student subunit, along with the American Fisheries Society student subunit, collectively make up the Aquaculture and Fisheries Club (AFC) within the Aquaculture and Fisheries Center of Excellence at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Currently, the club has 26 members consisting of graduate and undergraduate students. Both student subunits worked jointly to organize several informational, educational, and social events for its members and the campus community. The main goals of these events were to provide learning opportunities for aquaculture and fisheries students from researchers and industry professionals and to promote collaboration and team building within the organization. In 2023, the USAS student subunit hosted four guest speakers from the aquaculture and natural fisheries fields in collaboration with the AFC. The student subunit also organized a workshop on developing and delivering professional presentations for its student members. The club members also participated in several community and campus service events. These included “The Wetlands and Wildlife Festival” hosted by the Delta Rivers Nature Center, “Aquatic Science Day” hosted by the Aquaculture and Fisheries Center of Excellence, and several other campus recruitment events, where club members gave tours of the campus and the aquaculture and fisheries facilities. Finally, the club organized a social event consisting of a fish fry and tailgate party to celebrate UAPB’s final home football game. All the events and activities hosted by the club were well-attended , and in addition to, student members, faculty members, university administrators, and local community leaders also attended most of these events.