Guam is home to a wide variety of crabs, but many live in narrow, hard-to-reach habitats, and scientists know little about how far their ranges extend. At the 2026 SACNAS Annual Conference, student researcher Nicolas Ubaldo presented a poster on the first comprehensive study of the taxonomy and distribution of Guam’s land crabs, titled “Diversity, Distribution, and Taxonomy of the Land Crabs of Guam.”

Guam's weather is defined by contrasts: short, intense storms followed by dry spells. For researcher Mykaila Charfauros, that pattern is an opportunity. At the 2026 SACNAS Annual Conference, she presented a poster titled "Optimizing Rainwater Harvesting in Guam: Effect of Catchment Surface Tilt on Water Collection Efficiency," developed with her mentor, UOG School of Engineering Associate Professor Rui Zeng, Ph.D. The research asks two practical questions: what roof angle captures the most rainwater, and what are the estimated annual cost savings for those with a catchment system?

Speaking to students at the University of Guam School of Engineering in a talk titled "Circular Economy 101: Advancing Circularity in Guam," Austin Shelton, Ph.D., director of the UOG Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant, argued that Guam does not have to invent a circular economy, only return to one, and that the engineers of tomorrow will help rebuild it.

From protecting coral reefs and restoring watersheds to advancing aquaculture and strengthening coastal resilience, the University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant (UOG CIS & Sea Grant) is calling on researchers to turn innovative ideas into solutions for the Pacific.

University of Guam student Juliana Amber Valencia helped describe a new diatom species and presented the findings at the 2026 SACNAS Annual Conference in Long Beach, California. Her mentor, UOG Professor Emeritus of Biology Christopher S. Lobban, Ph.D., and their poster, “Splitting the Diatom Genus Mastogloia: First Phylogenetically Significant Character,” also suggest that a tiny, overlooked structure shared by the new species could help scientists reorganize one of the largest groups of marine diatoms.

When two super typhoons hit Guam this year, University of Guam undergraduate Segundo Garrido was already out in the field counting insects. His research now provides the island’s first parasitoid inventory in about 60 years and earned him recognition in the undergraduate poster presentation category for life sciences/environmental sciences at the 2026 SACNAS Annual Conference in Long Beach, California.