Miller Henderson
Sid Rich '05
Biology/Environmental Science & Engineering |
NASA's Undergraduate Student Research
Program, Kennedy Space Center's Environmental Programs Branch (Summer
'03) |
"The office dealt with pollution prevention,
remediation, water pollution, air pollution, and some biological issues
such as species conservation and wetland mitigation. I pretty much
worked with everybody, so I got a broad sense of a number of jobs.
My one particular project was on air emissions produced at the space
center."
"I applied to the Undergraduate Student Research Program (info
available from NASA's home page) and listed Kennedy Space Center as
my first choice of centers to work at. They then placed me in the
Environmental Programs Branch... Applicants would probably have to
be engineering or science majors." |
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Tamar Losleben
(Martel '04)
Environmental Science & Engineering/Studio Art
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Internship with the National Parks Conservation
Association's Glacier Field Office in Whitefish, Montana (Summer '03) |
| "In June, I joined Steve Thompson
at NPCA's Glacier program office in Whitefish, Montana. To continue
pursuing my interest in grassroots conservation, I organized a transboundary
conference between Crown of the Continent communities in the Montana,
Alberta, and British Columbia. I also researched livestock trespass
issues in Glacier National Park and assisted NRRO's Gateway to Glacier
outreach to the Montana business community.
I was born in Montana and I have grown up visiting Whitefish, Montana
in the summer. Two summers ago, I was working on a Leadership Rice
strategic vision
paper and interviewed conservationists in the area. At the end of
the interviews, I asked if they had any ideas or contacts of places
where I could intern for the summer. I met a great contact at the
Flathead Land Trust and she helped me get the job at NPCA."
See Tamar's Report: Livestock
Trespass in Glacier National Park (pdf)
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Jane Barker
(Lovett, '05)
English/Policy Studies
|
Texas Environmental Fellow for TexPIRG, Mothers for Clean Air
(Summer '03)
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| "Last summer I worked as a Texas Environmental
Fellow for texPIRG. They set me up with Mothers for Clean Air, a local
nonprofit, which focuses on community awareness and environmental
justice issues. Specifically, I conducted a survey of individuals
who monitored radio and television stations to see how and when ozone
warnings were administered. I also did some database and website upkeep,
edited grant proposals, newsletters, and other materials, and attended
functions to recruit new members.
TexPIRG offers a variety of other internships through the program.
Overall, I thought it offered a good introduction to the nonprofit
sector. I worked very closely with the executive director, so I
learned a lot about what her job entails."
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Maeve Quigley
(Martel '04)
Economics/Policy Studies |
Guide in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness,
Boyscouts (Summer and Winter '02-'03) |
"I worked as guide in the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, right on the
border of Minnesota and Canada. I worked for Boyscouts, of all things,
and had a blast working at the Charles L. Sommers Base. The summer
program mainly was 10-day wilderness canoe trips. Winter guiding was
2 - 5 day trips where we skied, camped, hiked, dogsledded, snowshoed,
and generally explored. The website is www.ntier.org,
if you want to check it out." |
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Kevin Dudney
(Sid '05)
Environmental Policy/Biophysics
|
Janus Envision Grant from Leadership Rice
(Summer 2003): Green Power Switch
(Click here for report.) |
"I studied Green Power Switch, a renewable energy
(green-pricing) program run by the Tennessee Valley Authority. My
goals were to analyze the effects of the program on the environment,
economy, and society of the region and to suggest improvements. Janus
requires looking at an issue from all perspectives, so I spoke with
as many people as possible about Green Power Switch, politicians,
scientists, activists, engineers, and community members.
To get the grant, I wrote a grant proposal (due in March) to Leadership
Rice; the application is on their website. The proposal must be to
study an environmental issue from many perspectives, but the issue
is up to you."
Click here to read Kevin's report.
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Erin Maloney
(Brown '05)
Mechanical Engineering |
Summer job in Regulatory Department of ExxonMobil
(Summer 2003) |
Her scope of work included remote sensing, environmental
monitoring, oil spill response, GPS mapping software, and waste comparison.
She learned about reporting and usage of environmental monitoring
data, in addition to obtaining “missing” remote sensing
data and satellite imagery. She studied environmental monitoring on
the Chad-Cameroon project and developed a prototype database in Microsoft
Access based on the OnTrac system. She also researched oil spill response
plans around the world, as well as researching software that uses
digital maps with a GPS device.
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Cara Virgili
(Baker '06)
Biology/Economics
|
National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences (Summer '01 & '02) |
"I worked two summers for NIEHS in
the Mass Spec lab. The first summer I was working with rat livers
to try and see if there is a link between oxidative stress and cancer.
The second summer I was trying to isolate a protein or strand that
was related to HIV."
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Katie Caldwell
(Sid '05)
Biology (Ecology)/Environmental Sci. and Eng.
|
National Park Service, Student Temporary
Employment Program (Summer '02) |
"The National Park Service has a Program
called STEP (Student Temporary
Employment Program) that is just for college students. Typically,
when you apply to work for the park service, your application goes
into a three tier pool: disabled veterans, veterans, and then everyone
else based on previous federal work experience. If you are interested
in getting into the National Park Service, it is sometimes difficult
to get a job through this process. STEP allows you to apply directly
to the park you want to work at (instead of going through a district
office) and there is no competition (if the supervisor wants you and
can find the money usually they will hire you.) The other good thing
is that the positions are for only 3 months in the summer while most
temporary employment with the service is for 6 months. You are paid
the same salary as anyone else in the position and even get the spiffy
uniform!
Through STEP I worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway for the Park Service.
I was on
the maintenance staff so my main duties were weedeating and mowing,
patching
roads, and maintaining trails. We also had a project with the SCA
to take out shortcut trail that visitors had made down the side of
one of our lookout hikes. While I did maintenance, STEP can be used
for other positions - such as
interpretation or resource management."
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Mei-mei Tang
(Jones '04)
Geology/Anthropology Major |
Volunteer with the US Geological Survey Water Resources
Division (Summer '03) |
"I volunteered for a few weeks this past summer
with the US Geological Survey Water Resources Division in Coram, NY
(out on Long Island). I was a Field Assistant and helped out with
general Basic Data collection and maintenance. I helped out with water
sampling, well gauging, leveling, surveying, and monitoring of surface
water and groundwater quality. It was a pretty neat assignment, we
traveled all over Long Island, from the very Eastern tip out in the
Hamptons and Montauk to
the heart of New York City (Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx).
I wasn't there very long, so I didn't get as in-depth an experience
as the interns do, but it was a fun place to work, I spent every day
out in the field. Being a geology major, it wasn't exactly geared
toward my specialty, I was mostly just an extra pair of hands, but
they put a lot of effort into teaching the interns and volunteers
about how
government research works and about the different techniques they
use to monitor wells and lakes, so while I didn't necessarily learn
things that were applicable to my field, I'm very glad I volunteered
there and got to see what a career with the government and in water
involves."
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Caroline Glendenning
(Hanszen '05)
History
|
TexPIRG Texas Environmental Fellow, Houston Wilderness
(Fall 2003) |
"TexPIRG placed me in an internship with Houston
Wilderness, a non-profit collaboration between business and environmnental
groups to protect and promote Houston's ecological capital. It's a
very new and very small non-profit, so I'm able to work myself into
a lot of projects and work with the co-founder on a regular basis.
Also because of the small office, I am able to have hands on experience
with almost all areas of a non-profit--coalition building, education,
media, research, etc. Mostly I'm working on research for their new
website and writing content for that; I
will also be compiling a press kit and helping the PR firm with press
releases."
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Caroline Glendenning
(Hanszen '05)
History
|
Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (June-July 2003) |
"I worked on a Roving Crew this summer for one
month in Vermont. I was a member of an eight person crew, with two
leaders. Over the course of the summer we completed two projects,
one in northern Vermont building trail, and another in southern Vermont
building bridges, rock staircases, stepping stones and other trail
features. The work was five days a week and extremely difficult but
it was really rewarding to live and work outside. The program also
have a focus on education and leadership, and while is open to a wide
age range (17-24) they establish older crews--I was basically working
with other people in college or recent graduates. Because of the wide
age range, the rules on the program are fairly strict, but I really
enjoyed my experience as a gateway into other conservation work through
organizations like SCA. Applications and more info are avaliable on
their website, www.vycc.org."
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Cara Eng
(Baker '05)
Psychology |
TexPIRG Fellow, Project Manager for Environmental
Health at Baylor College of Medicine ('02-'03) |
Cara conducted research for and created
the website for the program, in addition to studying focus groups
on environmental health in elementary schools. She did some administrative
work. She helped put together a conference on environmental health
by writing about Houston culture and preparing for a roundtable discussion
with health professionals. From the experience, she learned a lot
about environmental health, as well as the politics of funding.
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Cara Eng
(Baker '05)
Psychology |
Intern at World Resources Institute, Washington,
D.C. through Leadership Rice (Summer '03) |
Besides some administrative work, Cara spent most of
her time researching democracy and civil rights in Africa and their
relationship to African environmental laws. At the end of the internship,
she wrote reports on her research. The internship broadened her perspective
on environmental issues and solutions to social and environmental
problems. She especially enjoyed working with other researchers, who
were "brilliant people," and came from many backgrounds
and disciplines. She learned how development is tied to the environment
and how policies can help development proceed in an environmentally
sound way.
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Kristen Dybala
(Sid Rich '01)
Anthropology/ Biology |
Environmental Education Intern with Friends of Hermann
Park (Summer '00) |
I was an Environmental Education Intern
with Friends of Hermann Park, a non-profit organization that develops
projects for and raises money for maintaining and making improvements
to the park. They have a year-round education program, but my internship
was in leading summer school and youth groups, made up largely of
urban kids who had never really experienced "nature." I
worked with kids of all ages, some as young as 5, all the way through
high school, teaching them basic ecological principles through hands-on
activities. We caught and inspected bugs, tadpoles, and fish. We played
food web games and did ecological scavenger hunts through the park's
Urban Forest. I also researched and developed natural history presentations
on the classroom's resident animals (turtles, frogs, snakes, etc.)
that we used to teach the kids about the lives of these animals. It
was a lot of fun, but it also made me painfully aware of how necessary
these programs are, especially for urban kids. Many of their parents
& teachers accompanied the kids on these field trips, and didn't
know much more than the kids did.
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Nick Jacobsen
(Jones '04)
Biology/History |
Paid volunteer ecology project with African Conservation
Trust (Summer '03) |
"I was given an work abroad grant from Leadership
Rice. They gave me a stipend and I found everything else on my own.
I ended up working on a project put on by ACT (African Conservation
Trust), it was a paid volunteer ecology project. We did a carnivore
study in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. The goal of the project
was to radiotag a hyena or caracal (african lynx) and do a radiotracking
study. However, we were unable to capture any animals while I was
there, so we did a variety of other activities such as small mammal
trapping, vegitation mapping, and sandtrapping for a GIS database."
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Brian Pietruszewski
(Jones '01)
Environmental Science & Eng./Political Science
|
Janus Project: A Sustainable Development
Approach to Federal Flood Control in the Clear Creek Watershed
(click here for report) |
"Goal: To assist ongoing work in the CEE Department
identifying non-structural or partially non-structural alternatives
to structural flood control that achieve greater benefits than the
federal government's proposed alternative. In addition, for the Janus
Award, to describe the policies giving rise to the current repeat
flood-loss situation in the watershed and to describe the process
of implementing a non-structural or partially non-structural solution.
Project contacts: Professor Phil Bedient in the CEE Department and
graduate student Jude Benavides.
End result of project: Prof. Bedient, along with Benavides and another
graduate student, Eric Stewart, successfully modeled design storms
for various flood events in the watershed, using next generation flood
modeling software and techniques. Benavides then transferred these
outputs to a Geographic Information System (GIS) program, at the time
the first watershed scale link between GIS and flood modeling software
performed in this region, and one of the first in the nation. I assisted
in both producing the GIS basemaps and outputs in a particular section
of the watershed known for repeat flood losses. Both the outputs and
the basemap needed to be accurate to the property line level, since
one of the non-structural alternatives was a property by property
buyout of repeat flood-loss properties. After Tropical Storm Allison,
FEMA conducted buyouts to prevent future flood losses on 200 of the
227 homes I identified as being wholly within the 100-year floodplain,
some of which had filed nearly a dozen previous flood insurance claims.
Learning process: Fitting the Janus award, this project dealt with
the overlap between policy and science. Specifically, for persons
in the environmental field, this project exemplified the government's
tendency to divorce policies from science for a variety of expedient
reasons. From a regional standpoint, a project like this would familiarize
a student with the political forces causing, preventing and propounding
solutions to the problem. It provides a window into appropriate
legal remedies for the creation of flood hazards by governments
and private parties.
Getting to do the project: Bedient ran into me as I left the restroom
one day. I was halfway to the MechLab door when he asked if I'd
work with the group over the summer. However, I'd asked him earlier
and not heard back, so I had just sort of let it go until then.
That just proves the need to follow up on these things, because
the chance he provided completely changed my time at Rice, and I
almost lost it.
Recommendations: First of all, everyone going into anything environmental
should take as many of the technical courses as they can, and, I
would argue, one of the science and engineering majors. Unless you
know you want to be a practicing engineer and can get summer employment
at a firm, the best experience is in the on campus research jobs.
The first summer is always the most difficult to find research positions
because none of the profs know you. Therefore, you should meet them
one on one in the fall after getting a basic outline of what the
department is doing. Start by looking at the course bulletin and
the research interests pages, to figure out how the discipline fits
together (i.e., what are the foundation courses, what are the specialty
areas, and what questions are the specialty areas asking). Then,
ask around and figure out who can work with you. Even if you wind
up in something you drop later (mine was geophysics the first summer)
it's actually no loss because 1) you get paid to learn and 2) most
of it is transferrable knowledge anyhow. In later years you can
get more focused and start building on classes taken for the major.
Rice is one of the few schools where undergrads can get involved
in research from the start, and it's because 1) the distribution
requirements aren't as ridiculous as elsewhere and 2) the school
is small enough that the opportunities are available (profs don't
have a phalanx of grad students and T.A.'s guarding their offices).
I can't overstate how much getting paid to learn is the key to getting
your parents off your back, building resume experience for grad
school and employment, and learning cutting edge skills. I also
can't overstate how much these opportunities are not available outside
of the S/E departments, even though people will try to convince
you otherwise. If you want the overlap, double major and try for
the Janus Award (or go to grad school), but don't wait around for
opportunities to present themselves because the chances are just
too slim. This is over the line and personal to my own experience,
but don't wait for any interdisciplinary institutes to fund more
than a handful of people either. A lot of people did in my four
years, and it never happened. Unless you go to S/E grad school,
you will never have free access to Rice-caliber scientific resources
again in your life, so make the most of it."
(click
here for report)
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Tamar Losleben
(Martel '04)
Environmental Science & Engineering/Studio Art
|
Leadership Rice Intern: Cullman and Hurt Community
Wildlife Project in Arusha, Tanzania (Summer 2002) |
"I assisted CHCWP, a community-based
NGO working around Robin Hurt Safaris ltd. hunting areas, in promoting
the involvement of local people in the conservation of wildlife and
its habitat. While not in the field, I created an anti-poaching system
to organize data and present trends for making wildlife management
decisions."
Click here to see Tamar's report. |
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Biswo Nath Poudel
(Graduate Student)
Economics
|
Janus Project: Working On Climate Change in Nepal
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| Click here to see Biswo's
report in pdf format. |
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Guyton Durnin
(Will Rice '06)
Civil and Environmental Engineering |
Chadwick High School (Volunteer) |
| "I work with my high school doing
environmental work. So every Saturday morning, I would lead a group of
students into this area we work on and weed out non native plants, fix drip
lines and plant seedlings. As well, we have built benches for teachers to
bring their elementary students to learn about the native plants." |
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