The CRC’s new program of Student Recruitment, Early Advisement, and Mentoring (a.k.a. “Chesapeake StREAM” or “C-StREAM”) got off to a great start in 2018, thanks to early funding from the US EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office (CBPO) and the CRC member institutions, as well as promises of additional future funding from a renewal of our cooperative agreement with NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO).
Four C-StREAM student Fellows were supported for internships in the summer of 2018 — three at the CBPO offices in Annapolis and one on the campus of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, MD. With additional NCBO assistance in FY2019, the CRC intends to expand the number of fellows to eight for 2019 and 2020. As the program continues to grow, CRC will continue to expand its network of involved faculty and other professional mentors, both at the students’ “home” undergraduate institutions and at their host institutions for summer research or intern experiences with federal agencies or regional NGOs.
NOTE: If you currently mentor one or more talented undergraduate students and would like to help your mentees find summer experiences related to their interests, or if you are interested in hosting and mentoring a C-StREAM Fellow in a summer program, please contact Bill Ball at the CRC for more information.
C-StREAM Background. C-StREAM is a new CRC-coordinated program that is intended to increase the workforce for environmental restoration by finding, inspiring, and mentoring talented college students – focusing primarily from previously under-represented groups – toward careers in environmental protection and restoration. The program strives to engage the student through extended involvement in interesting projects with multiple mentors — from both their home institution and one or more CRC members or other C-StREAM partnering institutions — in a program of longer-term advisement and assistance. The basic C StREAM concept has been described in prior newsletters (see link here). The program is still under planning and development, and active partners are still being sought — so your own involvement is welcomed!
The objective is to develop a sustained program of support that can provide assistance to the selected Fellows, to their undergraduate programs, and to their graduate summer-mentoring institution or agency in a manner that leverages other investments and provides continuity and integration of mentoring. The goal is to help motivate and support the students toward careers relating to the science, engineering, management, or policy of ecosystem protection and restoration, including (but not limited to) academic careers, careers in environmental policy and management, or careers in non-profit advocacy and community involvement.
Integration of students into existing programs has proven to be a successful model, with C-StREAM providing support for new students at CRC-partnering institutions who already support summer internships, research experiences, and professional development of cohorts of students. Through C-StREAM, the CRC then continues to work closely with the student and her/his mentors — at both the home and host institution — to provide longer-term guidance and mentoring during the academic year and subsequent summers, with an end goal of long-term professional development toward academic, management, or other related careers.
Current (Summer 2018) C-StREAM Fellows. At the time of this writing (summer of 2018), four students are working with CRC partners under C-StREAM funding. Three students (Ben Anderson, Mackenzie Bodman, and Ashley Duncan) are working with Chesapeake Bay Program staff at the EPA CBPO in Annapolis, MD, and one (Nicholas Cole) worked in the lab of a Research Scientist at SERC, where he is also participating with thirty-some other summer interns in s program of professional development. The current fellows are further introduced below.
Benjamin (Ben) Anderson: Ben is working this summer as a Summer Intern to primarily support CBP partnership staff and the CBPO Geographical Information Systems (GIS) team. Ben is a rising senior at the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) whose comes from California, MD. Ben’s academic major is in environmental science and policy. He has past summer experience as a student editor with Maryland Sea Grant and has also recently worked at UMCP as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Lea Johnson’s urban ecology lab. At the CBPO he has been working most closely with Peter Claggett and Labeeb Ahmed of the US Geological Survey.
Mackenzie Bodman: Mackenzie is another Maryland native (from Gambrills, MD) and C-StREAM Fellow who is working in a 2018 Summer Internship with the CBP partnership’s Science, Analysis & Implementation Team, where she works primarily in the area of visualizing and analyzing spatial water quality data. Mackenzie is rising senior at the University of Maryland: Baltimore County (UMBC) majoring in environmental science and geography. During the academic year she participates actively in the environmental chapter of UMBC’s Global Brigades program and has recently been working with Gabriel Bustos (Director of the OUR Schools program) on developing K-8 environmental curricula and materials. At the CBPO, Mackenzie has been working most closely with Emily Trentacoste of the US EPA on on the analysis of a 40 year water-quality data set in a small region of the Chesapeake Bay.
Nicholas (Nick) Coleman: Hailing originally from Upper Marlboro, MD, Nick is working as a C-StREAM Fellow on summer research within the Fish and Invertebrate Ecology Lab at SERC, where he had done previous work as a volunteer, in 2017. Nick is a rising senior at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina with a major in Marine Science. At Coastal Carolina, he has, participated in undergraduate research on videography for fish monitoring in collaboration with Dr. Erin Burge. This summer, Nick is working with Matthew Ogburn, a SERC Senior Scientist and marine ecologist on work relating to the Smithsonian Institution Movement of Life Initiative on a project that is using acoustic telemetry to understand connections between habitats and migratory species. Nick intends to continue to work with Drs. Ogburn and Burge on joint activities in the future.
Ashley Duncan: Ashley is a C-StREAM Fellow from Washington, D.C., who is working as summer intern under the direct advisement of the US EPA’s CBPO interim Director, Jim Edward, in the area of environmental justice and community outreach. Ashley is senior at Howard University and expects to graduate in December, 2018, with a Biology major and Chemistry minor. At Howard, she is working towards a career in environmental restoration. She has, among other things, worked on Community Outreach with NOAA’s Center for Atmospheric Research and has most recently done undergraduate research in the area of urban ecology. At the CBPO, Ashley did early work in collaboration with former Diversity Workgroup staffer Darius Stanton and has more recently been working directly with Mr. Edward on various activities of the Diversity Workgroup, but with a primary focus on identifying opportunities to promote environmental justice and to improve outreach to under-served communities.