Going into college, I thought medicine was the right path for me. Love science? Check. Want to help people? Check. What other career would allow me to use my love of science to make a positive impact on the world? Little did I know that my academic journey would take a sharp turn down a path where my ‘uniform’ would be muddy field pants and hiking boots. During my first year at Bryn Mawr College, I took a biology class that opened my eyes to the complex and fascinating world of ecology and environmental science. I joined a research lab that very next summer and continued to have incredible research opportunities throughout my undergraduate studies. I had the chance to study wetlands at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, snorkel next to mangroves in Belize, spend a semester immersed in science at Woods Hole, and research greenhouse gas emissions while hip-deep in marsh mud.

In addition to research, I also was active in the campus environmental club. My senior year, I worked as a sustainability student coordinator, where another student and I worked closely with campus facilities to earn the campus it’s very first AASHE STARS rating.

After I completed my undergraduate degree in biology, I moved a mile down the road to start grad school at Villanova University. I studied mangroves in Florida - specifically, I studied the mangroves at the very northern edge of their range where they are growing into salt marshes. I measured how root growth and CO2 emissions change when mangroves replace marsh grasses.

I’m currently planning to study the effects of enhanced rock weathering on greenhouse gas emissions in California croplands. My study will be a part of the Working Lands Innovation Center (WLIC) which “aims to catalyze negative carbon emissions by deploying soil amendment technologies at multi-acre scales in partnership with California researchers, state agencies, industry, farmers, ranchers, Tribes and small-business development."