My name is Nature McGinn and I am currently the co-chair of the NSA Student Recruits. I was born and raised in Rhode Island where the state shellfish is Mercenaria mercenaria, the quahog (aka littleneck, cherrystone, chowder clam). I attend the University of California Davis and I am a PhD student in the Graduate Group of Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology. My major professor is Dr. Gary Cherr and our lab is located at the Bodega Marine Lab on the northern California Coast (www.bml.ucdavis.edu). I have a B.S. from Southampton College, Long Island University in Marine Science/Biology and a M.S. from the University of New Hampshire in Zoology. I participated in a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates while at Southampton during which I studied bivalve suspension feeding with Dr. Sandy Shumway. In the time between my masters and PhD program, I was awarded a Sea Grant Fellowship with the American Fisheries Society where I organized an international symposium on climate change and fisheries and then edited the proceedings volume entitled, "Fisheries in a Changing Climate." (www.fisheries.org). My masters research, with Dr. Chuck Walker and Dr. Michael Lesser, involved the study of vitellogenesis, yolk protein production, in the green sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. I intend to continue with my studies of sea urchin reproduction and expand my research into areas of larval development and environmental toxicology. In general, I am interested in the reproductive biology of commercially important and emerging shellfish species with interests in the applications to fisheries, toxicology, and aquaculture. I have been a member of NSA since 1998 and I have been to every annual meeting since Aquaculture '98 in Las Vegas. The annual meetings are a great place to network and polish presentation skills, as well as a whole lot of fun and I look forward to seeing more and more student members at future meetings!