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MY GRADUATE PROJECTS
Life Under Lockdown: Methane Cycling in Ice-Covered Lakes and Wetlands through a Microbial Lense
This is an early reports poster for the data collected and analyzed for my Master's thesis. I went to 12 different study sites with the intention of collecting water within and below the oxycline, in addition to ice samples to see if methane cycling continues under the ice. Based on preliminary results, methane production does not stop in the winter and there is a buildup of methane under the ice until Spring thaw.
Building on Ice: How glacial till controls modern infrastructure in Ohio
I looked at glacial deposits and parent material type all across Ohio to see how glaciers are still affecting lives in Ohio today. I related parent material type to road construction frequency and found that thick Wisconsinan till has a much higher construction frequency than materials like alluvium or lacustrine.
What's going on in the orange water?
My Geomicrobiology team and I were tasked with creating an interactive learning board to be placed in Metro Parks around Columbus with evident geomicrobiology. We researched iron oxidation and iron mats and then created this poster that will (hopefully) be tweaked by the Metro Parks outreach committee and (hopefully) placed in some of the parks to help people learn about their natural community. There is also a Spanish version that can be accessed for Spanish speakers and we are hoping they adopt the poster into other popular languages in the area.
MY UNDERGRADUATE PROJECTS
Building an Environmentally Conscious Community
Finally being able to use my soon-to-be Environmental Science degree, I partnered with the Coe Environmental Club to plant nearly 50 trees that have been used to help beautify the Coe College campus in the past few years. These were also help the community, as Coe is quite residential and has properties in the middle of residential areas.
On August 10, 2020, eastern Iowa was hit hard by a derecho, a storm with straight-winds of over 120 mph. The area lost thousands of trees. I worked diligently with Coe Physical Plant and the Coe Environmental Club to quickly replant as many saplings as possible. We planted over a hundred native trees around campus that will hopefully grow to be as tall as their predecessors.
Rebuilding after the 2020 Derecho
My first semester on Coe College's Student Senate I was admitted to the Public Relations committee and was tasked with revamping the website we use to put out information, as well as keep records. I decided that the task was more a two-person job and asked another senator to assist me. We worked tirelessly, for several dozens of hours, and finally created something that I'm rather proud of.
The Coe College Student Senate Website
I have sat as a member of the Sustainability Council at Coe College for four years. Throughout my time here, I have helped head a project that turned the roof of our campus information building and dining facility into a green roof. I also helped charter a project that put solar panels on the roof of our racquet center and there are now plans to get solar panels on our activity and recreation complex.
Sustainability Council
For my Analytical Chemistry course, we were tasked with creating a research project that involved analytical methods. I was also tasked, in my Spatial Ecology course, to create a project that involved using spatial techniques.
I decided that combining the two would be the best fit for me, so I, along with my team members, agreed to check heavy metal concentrations in urban versus forestry areas, pesticide farms versus non-pesticide farms, and the top three inches of the soil versus a foot down.
We used ArcGIS to map where the soil samples were being taken from and we used nitrification techniques and inductively-coupled plasma to find out the concentrations of heavy metals like lead in the soil.
Overall, we found that there was no real significant difference in any of the variables. However, we did find out that the lead concentration was alarmingly high for all of the areas.
FUH-LEAD ABOUT IT! How location and depth of soil affect lead and other heavy metal concentrations: an ArcGIS approach
Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands
My advisor came to me with a proposal from the Eastern Iowa Airport. They wanted to know how much carbon they could expect to be sequestered in wetlands outside of the airport. After combing through a lot of literature and data, we presented the airport with both background information and equations that can be used to estimate carbon sequestration. In addition to that, we gave recommendations on how they should manage their wetlands.
The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Caregiver Burnout
For my Health Psychology course I was tasked with creating a project in order to complete the class. It didn't have to be huge and it didn't have to be super in-depth, but, after writing a research report on caregiver burnout, I chose to run some IRB research to see how the pandemic has affected caregivers and caregiver burnout. I defined caregiver burnout as the multidimensional response to taking care of an adult with needs in five categories: physical, psychological, emotional, social, and financial. I had survey respondents rank how burnt out they felt before the pandemic and "after" on a scale of 1-7, with one being almost never and 7 being almost always. I saw huge effects, as most of my respondents said they scored in the 1-3 range before and 5-7 after. This has inspired me to try and help combat caregiver burnout, which will likely be a pet project of mine for the rest of my life.
COMMUNITY
CAMPUS
RESEARCH
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