Volunteer Experience
AmeriCorps
In 2021 I volunteered my time as a conservation technician with the the Student Conservation Association through AmeriCorps. This time was spent traveling throughout Idaho and California participating in conservation projects on our public lands. I spent time working on the Sawtooth National Forest, the Continental Divide Trail, the Payette National Forest, the Salmon- Challis National Forest, and Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. Projects included the control of noxious weeds, trail maintenance, maintenance of developed recreational sites, and habitat restoration, and fuels reduction.
Freshwater Mussel Surveyor
The Paulinskill River in northern New Jersey has been heavily impacted by daming and other anthropogenic influences. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network has been working with a number of environmental and ecological groups to restore the natural ecosystems since August of 2018. Surveys of freshwater mussels in the Paulinskill have been one of the many restoration initiatives done by the DRN. In October of 2020 I was able to spend some time participating in this research.
Student Research Advisor
Microplastics, their sources, and their pathways throughout ecosystems and food webs is an increasingly hot topic in the scientific community. It is even a concern for high school students studying marine biology on the island of American Samoa. In 2020 I advised a fourteen year old student on microplastic research as part of a school-wide science fair project. We worked together on her experimental design, data analysis, and final paper/poster. Using methods similar to that of my microplastic research, she examined the presence of microplastic in the gastrointestinal tract of locally sourced bluespine unicornfish (Naso unicronuis). Her research yielded microplastics in these fish, and she was awarded first place for her accomplishments.
