Danny Alejandro Osorio

Danny Alejandro Osorio was born in Colombia and is a junior studying Molecular and Cellular Biology and Marine Sciences. He spent his previous summer conducting research through an REU at Pepperdine University in Malibu. Here, he studied the ecology of the fish species, California grunion, on California beaches, an environment under pressure. Beaches play critical roles in many plant and animal life cycles, and support unique biodiversity. However, traditionally they have been treated as recreational areas to protect human health and safety; few people know that beaches play a key role in coastal ecosystems. Compared to other environments, sandy beaches have been studied very little, so the research group that Danny was part of studied the nature of the California grunion on some tourist beaches where it spawns. He and his group were developing new methods to monitor and look at keystone species on sandy beaches.

Additionally, Danny volunteers at Mystic aquarium in the animal rescue center where he’s had the opportunity to deal with different species and help in their recovery. He also conducts research at UConn with Dr. Nyholm. The focus of this research is squid and their symbiotic relationship with bacteria. He is pursuing his degree because he loves the ocean and wants to be part of the genetic modification projects that are done in coral to prevent them from bleaching, keeping them healthy and protecting them from the effects of global warming. Aside from his passion for marine life, he is interested in policies that affect coastal communities due to the fact that the communities like the one he grew up in are the first areas to be severely affected by the environmental crisis we are living in. In his free time, Danny is the vice-captain of UConn taekwondo and as a fun fact, was team Colombia sub 16. He has traveled with many UConn clubs to different places to raise awareness of many social issues (mostly with UConn Outreach and Hearts Over Latin America). He is a realist and knows that small scale social work can only do so much. However, he considers himself really lucky to have had the opportunity to come to America and tries to impact at least one person with the same positivity and hardworking attitude that he tries to achieve every day.