My Education​
Environmental Science Major, BS
I have been passionate about the environment ever since I can remember. As a young kid, I would spend hours watching every show on Animal Planet. My personal favorite was The Crocodile Hunter. I thought I would grow up to be Steve Irwin one day. I have since refined my interests to the issues of climate change and water resources. My interest in climate change stems from spending an entire semester studying it through The Mosaic (read more below), but my interests in aquatics I have had since I was very little and aquatics is what I hope to pursue in the coming months and years.
One of my favorite things about being an ES major at Dickinson has been the interactive aspect of the major. I love spending labs in the field, and I have really enjoyed taking extended trips through the major to places like Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay and the Poconos.
Some of my favorite classes have been Analysis and Management of the Aquatic Environment, Limnology, GIS, Environmental Archaeology, and Oceanography to name a few.
Boat house on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay with crab traps stacked out front ready for use.
Dickinson to Durban: Climate Change Africa Mosaic
Fall 2011
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"The Mosaic" is probably the one experience that changed my life the most during my time at Dickinson. A mosaic is a semester in which students take one or more classes together and then go on a trip or series of trips related to their coursework. The Climate Change mosaic was a collection of four classes which then culminated in a trip to Durban, South Africa for three weeks to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP 17.
During this semester I learned more at one time than I learned at any other point in my college career. It was an intensive semester focused on climate change and international negotiations. I am most definitely passionate about climate change because of all that I learned during that semester. I feel an itch to do everything that I can to move us in a more sustainable direction. That semester also instilled an interest in the continent of Africa and the slew of issues that they face both climate and non-climate related. That semester ultimately convinced me to switch my abroad plans from Australia to Tanzania and it influenced my desire to go to Ecuador and volunteer for a summer.
That semester developed new passions in me and further developed my interests in aquatics, but through a new lens. I spent that semester researching the implications climate change that has for water scarcity throughout different regions in Africa and how this affects their negotiating position at the conference.
I not only learned more, but I wrote more, and I presented more in that semester than I ever had before. It was a huge growing opportunity that I was fortunate enough to stumble across one day in the cafeteria.
Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairmen of the IPCC, at breakfast with the mosaic students.
Senior Research:
Deer as seed dispersal agents and in forests of varying vertical structure
Fall 2013 - Spring 2014
My senior research project was quite an adventure from start to finish. I decided to take on a senior research project because I felt that as a science major this could be a really cool way to apply the skills I had been developing. I had done directed research projects in the past, but nothing as long or on my own. So I contacted my academic advisor and we started discussing my options and we ultimately came up with this project.
I really enjoyed the process of working through my project. I got to really dive full on into my project since I had all year to do it. I will also say that my senior thesis was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I sorted seeds out of pellet samples for what felt like forever. I tried all sorts of different methods to speed up the process and I learned a lot through trial and error. I wound up using two different methods. The first method I learned in my Environmental Archaeology course and the second method I adapted from my Limnology class. In that sense I felt like my senior thesis pulled together skills I have learned over my four years at Dickinson.
My favorite part of the project was visiting the lab every day to water my plants. I loved walking into the lab and checking each of my 300 cups for signs of life. Overall, I'm really glad that I took on the challenge. I learned a lot and I pushed myself.
GIS
Fall 2012 and Spring 2014
GIS or Geographic Information Systems is a program which allows us to create and analyze maps. Every map you see in the news was created by someone to display a message. During my time at Dickinson I have taken Fundementals of GIS and then Advanced Applications of GIS. The courses teach quantiative reseason skills, critical thinking skills, and visual design.
My final project for my advanced GIS class involved working with the Harrisburg office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Under the new Chesapeake Bay TMDL, Harrisburg has limits on the citie's runoff. In order to meet these new standards, the city of Harrisburg iniatied a street tree project. During the first step of this project, they recorded information such as type, height, dbh, and condition of every street tree in Harrisburg. My project was to take this data and make maps identifying where they needed to focus maintenance and repair work as well as identify locations where they may need to replace dead trees and plant more trees. I converted the maps seen in the poster below to an online interactive map so that all of the data was in one place. The layers of that map can be turned on and off as the city investigates different regions of the city.
For this map we were given a scenario in which a plane had crashed and we needed to find an injured passenger based on the sketchy memory of his friend
This map builds upon the last map to include how search crews might actually hope to get near the lost crash victim
During this lab, we were asked to find points throughout Carlisle, Pa and record them with a GPS. The purpose was to develop data collection skills.
For this map we were given a scenario in which a plane had crashed and we needed to find an injured passenger based on the sketchy memory of his friend
These are some of the maps I have made in my GIS classes.
The location of our long shore transport sampling sites around Cape Henlopen in Delaware.
Times obtained for our long shore transport data. You can see the speed changing around the top of the spit.
This map shows the directionality of the accretion of Cape Henlopen.
The location of our long shore transport sampling sites around Cape Henlopen in Delaware.
These are maps of Cape Henlopen in Delaware. My partner, Rebbecca Rossi, and I made these maps as part of an Oceanography project in which we were mapping spit formation.
Baird Honors Colloquium:
Spring 2014
For the second semester of my senior year, I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the Baird Sustainability Fellows Honors Colloquium with six other students. This class helped me to reflect meaningfully on my time at Dickinson as well as the work I have done here.
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One Baird project was to write a grant proposal. I have written mine on creating a Farm to School program for an elementary school down the street from Dickinson.
I chose this topic, because I have a little brother that I mentor through the Big/Little program. He is dependent upon the school district for both breakfast and lunch. I was concerned about the nutritional value of the food that he is given, so I decided to write a proposal for a pilot Farm to School Program for the school district.
Another Baird project was to reflect on our time at Dickinson and more specifically how do we define sustainability and what does it mean to us. I really struggled to write this reflection because it is very difficult to define sustainability.
Ultimately, I realized that I value the many facets of sustainabilty and how they work together. I realized that one really important aspect of sustainability to me is taking action.
