Hi! I’m Grace Favro, one of SSI’s BMI Lab Technicians. You can find me sitting at a microscope in the Bug Lab, identifying BMI from our Delta and Leviathan projects! I, recently, moved to Grass Valley after living in my college town for the summer post-graduation. I originally grew up in Roseville, but in April 2024, my parents decided to move up here to Grass Valley and I could not be more happy to be here! I spend most of my time being active, whether that’s yoga, lifting, hiking, or walking, and I often travel to see my friends/family. Growing up nearby, I would spend my summers trekking up to areas within Auburn and here to kayak or spend time in the creeks, so working within these watersheds is kind of a full circle moment!

I went to college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where I got my B.S. in Environmental Management and Protection and minored in Biology. In my undergrad, most of my time was spent volunteering and working on research projects with wildlife. I worked at an aquarium taking care of marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as educating the youth on marine science and stewardship. I also did research with Black Oystercatchers and Northern Elephant Seals! I traveled up to San Simeon, just below Big Sur, multiple times a week to monitor both of these species. I recorded data on the birds via scope (pictured in the first image) and weighed, tagged, and marked the seals!

Of course, along with my wildlife involvement, comes my stream involvement! Two years in a row I worked as a Stream Monitoring Assistant at Cal Poly. This is where my love for stream assessment truly grew. I spent the spring quarters conducting Bioassessment and Physical Habitat surveys in the San Luis Obispo watershed, little did I know this was only the beginning of my relationship with BMI. In my last year of college, and the following summer, I ended up working for a nonprofit in Morro Bay to conduct ambient water quality monitoring of the Central Coast watersheds. I traveled from Santa Cruz down to Santa Barbara gathering nutrient samples and water quality data until the end of summer ‘25, where I moved to Grass Valley. 

And this leads me to where I am now! I started my position as a BMI Lab Technician in the fall and have grown my knowledge of BMI tenfold. Since my previous experience with BMI had been in the field, I was stoked to be able to see them up close and actually learn what the insects I gathered looked like. Not only this, but I’ve been able to expand my understanding of the role these organisms play in stream ecosystems. I have always been curious about taxonomy and taken various biology courses learning the taxonomy of insects, mammals, birds, and more, so this position has allowed me to merge my passion with work! Not only do I love working in science and taxonomy, but I love working with SSI! The community they’ve built within the Deer Creek watershed has shown me exactly what citizen science is all about. I’ve learned so much about BMI and more from the wildly intelligent staff here. Sierra Streams has opened my eyes to the different kinds of lab work that exists out there, and if I could continue counting bugs all day, I WOULD!

As my position comes to an end, I hope to get back into field work. Whether that’s working with wildlife or water quality monitoring, my heart lies in the field. Since I am still new to the area, I look forward to exploring the opportunities that lie within the Northern Sierra Nevada, and expanding my knowledge as a young scientist!