C-StREAM Summer 2023 Fellows
Claire is passionate about helping learners navigate climate-related emotions and pursue meaningful action by studying the intersection of environmental studies and education. She wants every young person to have access to quality education that helps them make sense of the world around them. Her research this summer has enabled her to connect with professionals across the country to talk about climate change education and curriculum, and she has even helped plan a conference and other professional development opportunities for educators! In her fellowship, she has been impressed by the strength of the networks she’s worked with and the resilience of vulnerable communities in the Bay.
Emma finds the human aspects of the environment to be of interest after experiencing the different worldviews that shape interactions with the environment in her homes in both Texas and Southeast Asia. She is passionate about environmental justice and is spending this summer with the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office to create resource guides for tribal nations. Emma was drawn to this program because of both its relation to the coast and focus on community, collaboration, and partnerships and she is looking forward to learning more about the Middle Peninsula in Virginia and enjoying the watershed in person.
Brooke believes that managing chemical contaminants and other toxins is very important to preserve the health of ecosystems, and is working with PFAS this summer to better understand where they are being applied as biosolids in the Chesapeake Bay Area. As a Minnesota native, being able to learn about hydrology in the Chesapeake Bay has been a highlight. This summer, she is learning coding through R studios in order to supply her with a strong toolkit in the field of environmental sciences.
Anoosh was drawn to this program because it highlights the interdisciplinary nature of environmental work. Being raised close to the Bay, she finds understanding its health and stakeholders to be personal, which is why she’s using her background in environmental engineering and sustainability, lab work, and interest in GIS to perform accurate and holistic research this summer. Reflecting on her fellowship, Anoosh has said “I have seen the disconnect between science and policy being addressed in creative ways. I am excited to see how this gap is bridged through communication, management, and particularly through the work and mindset of my generation through advocacy.”
Hannah is interested in climate science and hydrology, and is working to model groundwater dynamics and under sea level rise conditions as a result of climate change this summer. She believes research in environmental science is the first step to necessary policy changes, and is passionate about discovering what resilience strategies are in place/what can be done to further equity, resilience, and sustainability. In her role, she’s aiming to learn data analysis skills and tools to further her understanding of advanced methods and improve her public speaking skills in professional settings.
Bria finds that her passion for learning and experiencing new things has made her highly adaptable, and she uses her versatility as a skill in studying the nuances of environmental justice and water policy. Bria believes that the future of environmental justice is in the avenues that science opens up for interaction, communication, and engagement, and it is extremely important to her that people who have been historically included from environmental research and management are given access to these conversations, which was something that led her C-StREAM. With her fellowship, Bria is hoping to gain experience collaborating with others and see some glimpses into her future career path.
Catherine applied to this program because she wanted to see what a life outside of academia would look like - now she’s working on networking skills and research projects on fish in the Bay. Growing up, Catherine always heard about the poor health of the Chesapeake Bay, and she was drawn to this fellowship to expand her understanding of its management among the various states in the watershed. Catherine’s experiences growing up in a Hispanic household have given her a different perspective on life and environmental work, and she’s excited to apply that to her work this summer as she learns about Chesapeake Bay health and management decisions among various states in the watershed.
Emma is interested in learning about how local action can confront environmental and climate crises in a productive and just way. She’s working on the hypoxia buoy project to help identify problems in the water columns and the Poplar Island sampling project to monitor existing restoration projects. As a New York City native, Emma’s getting familiar with the Bay this summer and learning a lot about how it compares to other coastal communities she has experienced to see how these places can fuse their resilience strategies together. This summer, Emma plans to improve her technical skills and learn how to navigate a government agency in order to prepare for the field of science communication!
Allison was drawn to this program because of her interest in conservation and environmental non-profits, and finds that she is most passionate about waterways and coastal environments. While learning about water quality in the Chesapeake, she has been able to grow her GIS and field work skills as well as discover and engage with various potential career paths. Allison has spent most of her life near the Chesapeake, and has grown quite an emotional connection to the Bay and the Potomac: “I loved it down there and would tell all my friends about it until people started commenting on the river. People would say things like “Ew, you swim in the Potomac? It’s so gross.” I remember being so hurt by this because I love the river and I would spend so much time in it…times like that sparked my interest in learning about water quality and what can be done to improve it.”
Mackenzie has attended this program for two years now, and finds that it serves as a great connecting hub for many different agencies, giving interns network experience and exposure to different types of scientific realms. She is passionate about various ways to get the community engaged in environmental work, and this summer her research is focused on constructing a policy memo that describes strategies for increasing community involvement in blue infrastructure design! By using knowledge gained from her fellowship last summer dealing with direct community outreach, Mackenzie aims to bridge her C-StREAM experiences into the policy memo she will be submitting at the end of the summer.
Lena found that educators and interpreters first sparked her love for the environment, and she continues to believe that these are some of the most important roles one can have in the environmental field. This summer, the work she is doing with the National Park Service involves cultural interpretation of often untold Black history. With the Potomac conservancy, she works in DEI to improve the more impacted communities of development. Lena shares that: “I am tied to this place, and want to do work which contributes to helping those groups, whether it be through interpreting difficult history or helping local organizations better serve those populations.”
Will wanted to work at the intersection of his studies with sustainability and business, and hopes to gain skills in problem solving and adaptability at his fellowship working on Riparian Forest Buffers. He finds that since his line of study is slightly different from many he works with, he’s been able to contribute some unique ideas to his projects. Will is particularly interested in urban waterways and ensuring that all regions of the watershed are surveyed to encourage comprehensive analysis of the Bay area.
