Sarah Mack - 2017
If you asked me one year ago where I would be in one year I would NEVER say that I would be working for a former NJ Senator. Life has a crazy way of making you think you know what is coming next, but then throwing a wrench in things and pushing you in a whole new direction.
The LAKES REU program and most specifically my fabulous mentor Arthur taught me very valuable life lessons about team work, resilience, and of course the beauty of interdisciplinary work. I looked at my last year of my undergraduate career with new eyes, realizing that getting A's in classes wasn't the most important thing, and instead aimed to put my education in practice and engage as many people as possible. As the president of the Earth Science Club, I organized an interactive Earth Week pulling support from many colleges on my campus. Two of my favorite events were:
1. The Earth Day Fair, where we had nearly 30 tables hosted by local eco friendly businesses, student clubs (such as the design club, American Medical Women's Association, The Biology Club, etc), professors from various colleges (Computer Science, Architecture, Humanities, etc), and non profit organizations!
and
2. Uniting Jersey for the Global Goals, where over 150 participants from 17 colleges and universities in NJ participated in 17 round table discussions about how to incorporate these goals into NJ Higher Ed. This event was kicked off by a UN representative who spoke first hand about what the goals stood for and ended with a beautiful wrap up where a representative from each goal would give a summary of their discussion.
Managing classes and these huge events left no time for me to prepare for what came next, but, little did I know, by organizing those events and kicking butt in my courses and research, my next step fell from the sky and landed at my toes just waiting to be picked up. Two weeks before graduation, I was recommended to NJ former State Senator Lesniak to be his Executive Assistant in his newly founded Institute for American Leadership. It was an unconventional, but perfect match. The Institute's mission is to train students and members of the community to be advocates for the Environment and various social justice causes. I have always had a huge passion for human kind and the environment, and my knowledge of the scientific process brings a whole new way to approach problems. Not to mention, there is a huge lack of scientific understanding in politics.
I am extremely grateful to have been able to learn from Arthur, Nels, Chris, Tina, Zach, all of the LAKES students, and the Menomonie Community last year. It is my hope that each one of the LAKES students this year gains valuable lessons to implement into their lives when they return.
Melanie Ford - 2015
Photo by Jungla
Urbana, https://www.facebook.com/junglaurbanaguatemala/
It has been three years
since I left Menomonie, Wisconsin, with my very first research experience and a
shaved head. Since then, and only with the inspiration of the people I met and
the questions I asked, I have embarked on several research projects from NASA
to Japan to Guatemala. Having graduated in 2016 with my bachelors in
Anthropology and a minor in Women and Gender Studies, I was awarded a
scholarship to attend the PhD program at Rice University in Houston, Texas for
cultural anthropology.
With Menomonie in my heart
and mind, I embarked on a project questioning the relationship between design
and ecological futures. A conversation I had during my fieldwork in Menomonie
with one council member had sparked my interest in ‘technofixes’ and what the
right design could mean for our ecological realities. We chatted about, then, a
robot that would scoop up the cyanobacteria as it maneuvered itself throughout
the lakes and rivers. For us, the question became: Does technology have
something to offer that we cannot offer ourselves?
The answer is neither yes or
no, but of course much more complex. This question led me to cultivate a small
thought-project about humanity’s future and faith in the extraterrestrial and
other worlds beyond Earth. What could technology bring to humankind that we
could not give to ourselves? From telescopes to SpaceX cruises (https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/space.2017.29009.emu),
I started to think about environments in places that seemingly had none: outer
space. Why are we interested in transposing our earthly beings to other places?
Slogans like “we only have one planet,” “there is no Planet B,” came to mind at
a time where space tourism became nearly possible and NASA announced their 2030
journey to support life on Mars (https://www.nasa.gov/content/journey-to-mars-overview).
Intrigued, I began to think
about the entanglements of technology, mathematics, and
ecologies-in-the-making. How could astronauts live on Mars? What
infrastructures, living and nonliving, must engineers create in order for this
to become reality? Can we, with enough science and math, engineer a world just
like ours on Mars? Is the social and cultural complexity of humans really just
a mathematical equation?
A long history of Cold War
bunker and shelter-making, dabbling into some complicated questions about
ethics, and recognizing that there just might be components of life no lab or
math equation can predict, makes it difficult and troubling to wholly place our
solutions and futures in the hands of technological advancements—life continues
to bewilder us. The most inspiring moment came from a workshop I participated
in with NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the day mold grew on the international
space station (ISS). You can find a small piece I wrote about this here (http://www.envirosociety.org/2016/11/cultivating-an-outer-space-ecology-introducing-the-on-orbit-gardener/).
This thought experiment left me asking more and more
questions about design, of our built environment, and of seemingly natural
occurrences in our everyday life. In the summer of 2017 I traveled to
Fukushima, Japan six years after the Great East Japan Disaster and two months after
the Japanese government opened the 20km “no go evacuation zone.” I farmed with
farmers to learn how to design methods to remove radioactive Ceisum-137 from
their land, encountered wild boar (https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/03/the-wild-boars-of-fukushima/519066/)
that flourished in since abandoned lands, and visited towns devastated by
radiation only to encounter perfectly upright cities. The challenge of
overcoming radioactive disasters, I recognized, was in changing our
understanding of what disasters could be. While
much of Japan was impacted by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, the areas
affected only by radioactivity told a different story. Whereas recovery from
many natural disasters involves the revitalization of damaged ecologies and
reconstruction of buildings, radioactive recovery here suggested an uncanny
reversal: buildings remained stable, but sewage and waste infrastructures were
in disrepair; and, while flora and fauna flourished, their radioactive
properties were in need of decontamination or disposal. Radioactivity’s
properties challenged architects, urban planners, and policy makers in their
design of a city resilient to disasters. Instead of building walls to prevent
devastation from tsunamis, or leveling ground to stabilize buildings in earthquakes,
what do you build to withstand nuclear exposure and radioactive absorption? How
does the design of nature (radioactivity) challenge our nature of design
(solutions and preventions)?
Ultimately, in the end, I am
writing this blog post from my grandmother’s couch in Guatemala City, where I am
just beginning my dissertation research. It is only with the mentorship and
welcoming environments I encountered in Menomonie, NASA, and Fukushima that I
have landed at a dissertation project that advances my skills as a researcher
while simultaneously challenges them. Here in Guatemala City I am thinking
through the relationship between environmental forms and designing urban
futures. Having been in Guatemala City when Volcán Fuego erupted (http://time.com/longform/guatemala-volcano-eruption-aftermath/),
I am reminded that urbanization and design are localized and culturally
specific (http://guatemala.aaschool.ac.uk/programme/).
In particular, Guatemala City is presented with peculiar territory—almost fifty
percent of the city is built upon ravines (barrancos).
These ravines have been silent, yet deadly, actors in the making and
urbanization of the city. Rather than a city that faces challenges designing
horizontally, Guatemala City faces challenges designing vertically. In recent
years, these ravines have been called to attention as underutilized land that
holds the key to unlocking a sustainable, democratic, and safe future for
Guatemala City. Between working with architects, urban planners, and policy
makers I ask how experts differently design possibilities for Guatemala City’s
ravines, and consequently its urbanizing futures. How do deep ravines, rather
than say surrounding volcanoes, inspire new forms of building, and consequently
new communities and spaces for democracy? How does Guatemala City’s long
history and nostalgia for barranqueando (https://vimeo.com/235057847)
(meaning to adventure in ravines) introduce new harmonies between forms and
folds of nature, and human development? Stay tuned.
Unexpectedly, my PI was offered a position at Dartmouth which he accepted but he offered me the opportunity to transfer and continue my thesis work in his lab. I decided to make the move to New Hampshire and I have been here for about a month now.
I am absolutely loving it here so far. When I am not crying while preparing for my thesis proposal defense, I am outside. Not only does Dartmouth provide a great academic environment but it provides endless outdoor adventures. I have started hiking local mountains to get myself in shape to conquer the 48 4,000 footers in NH. I hope to complete them all before I graduate!
I wish the best of luck to the LAKES students this summer. I am sure you have heard this dozens of times already, but you all will have so much fun and learn so much. Much like NH, Wisconsin offers so much to do outside so take advantage of it. I am jealous you all get to canoe the Red Cedar River and visit farms all summer! To be honest, I may not have made the decision to go to graduate school or realized my interest in microbiology without my summer in Wisconsin. Work hard have and have a blast!
The picture is a panoramic image from the 3,155’ summit of Mt. Cardigan in Orange, NH.
Yanira Campos - 2015
Hello Menomonie Crew! I am happy to say that I graduated in the Fall of 2016 with a B.A in Sociology and minor in Psychology. After graduating College, I decided to take some time off and work full time. I have now decided to join Teach for America in order to eliminate educational inequity here in Eastern North Carolina. I will be working with exceptional children for the next two years and I am beyond excited. I have also decided to seek a Master’s Degree in Higher Education. I was extremely inspired by everyone in the LAKES program. Everyone I met during my time in Menomonie was determined and driven to make a positive impact on their community and it definitely impacted the way I want to change my own community. I hope that you find comfort in hearing all these updates from the LAKES REU Alumni. I also hope that anyone that is participating in this year’s research is extremely proud of themselves. You should celebrate your accomplishment and reveal in all of the challenging research that comes your way! I know that everyone’s research will be nothing short of greatness!
Eniola Afolayan - 2015
This summer I am working as a Unit Leader for a camp called Camp Potomac Woods which is under Girl's Scouts Nation's Capital. After this opportunity, I will begin my first year as an Anthropology Ph.D graduate student at the University of Virginia. My research question deals with African traditional religions and how practictioners use their religions to understand their personhood and also their marginalized status in relation to world religions such as Christianity and Islam. Believe it or not, this research question was inspired by my LAKES research project I did in 2015.
As always, I'm thinking of you all and I'm so proud to have been part of LAKES REU. Thank you for choosing me to be a part of your program. Missing you all!
-Eniola
Andrew Hutchens - 2017
Hello to the superb LAKES faculty and the 2018 cohort! I hope that the summer months have been treating you well. Yet another summer of quality research and communal achievement is well underway and I am beyond happy for you all. I write to everyone from Michigan State University, where I am stationed for the summer as a student in the 2018 American Economic Association Summer Program. We are currently finishing up the fifth week of coursework and research, fresh off of a weekend trip to Chicago (which was amazing) and a 4th of July barbeque! I have had the privilege to meet many driven aspiring economists as well as established economists who have graciously given their time to speak to us about their work and navigating the PhD/research process.
The bulk of the summer has been dedicated to advanced coursework in microeconomics, mathematics, econometrics, and research methods, all of which is intended to serve as a supplementary bridge between undergraduate coursework and the rigors of graduate school. We’ve covered some pretty interesting material while gaining valuable exposure to the content of first and second year graduate work. While the research course and its accompanying mini-project have had their useful moments, it would be remiss of me not to show immense appreciation for the research skills and mindset that LAKES instilled in me, both of which, as expected, are proving to be essential for graduate work in economics; a special shout-out to Zach is in order for the 8-week mega crash course in econometrics, Stata, and being rad.
Once this program is over, I will begin my final year as an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida. During that time, I will be applying to economics PhD programs and various research assistant positions while working on my honors thesis, which is tentatively titled “It Takes a Village to Raise…Water Quality: The Effects of Self-Taxation Practices on Lake Water Quality in Orange County, Florida”; as the title suggests, I am indeed a graduate of the Zach Raff School of Titling Papers, although I still have work to do before I’m on his level. Besides that, I wish everyone a fantastic summer and encourage everyone to enjoy LAKES to the absolute fullest extent.
Once this program is over, I will begin my final year as an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida. During that time, I will be applying to economics PhD programs and various research assistant positions while working on my honors thesis, which is tentatively titled “It Takes a Village to Raise…Water Quality: The Effects of Self-Taxation Practices on Lake Water Quality in Orange County, Florida”; as the title suggests, I am indeed a graduate of the Zach Raff School of Titling Papers, although I still have work to do before I’m on his level. Besides that, I wish everyone a fantastic summer and encourage everyone to enjoy LAKES to the absolute fullest extent.
Alexis Econie - 2016
Writing clichés aside, let me set the scene real quick—believe it or not, I am sitting on a rooftop terrace in Oslo, Norway. Its just a little past 11 PM. Yesterday was the summer Solstice and, being so far north, the sun does not set in Oslo. So, here I am, cocooned in a hammock on a roof, roughly 3,900 miles from Menomonie, writing to you—because it feels and looks much earlier and it is far too sunny for sleep (see photo).
I am in Oslo for the Political Ecology Network Biannual meeting, but I will return to Knoxville, Tennessee in a few days. I’ve got just one week of work left for my year-long position as Data Analysis Coordinator at the University of Tennessee’s Office of Sustainability. Then, I pack up and head on back to Wisconsin for good. I will begin an MS/PhD program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in late August, where I will be trained by both the Sociology Department and the Community and Environmental Sociology Department. I am very excited to attend UW and also to be so close to friends and colleagues in Menomonie. Lookout—I will be dropping in for the LAKES community forum in August!
-A shot of my dog and me unabashedly posing in our new Wisconsin gear
In other very important REU news: I finally caught a chicken, I still haven’t found a better coffeeshop than The Raw Deal or a better café than Acoustic, and the 2016 REU cohort retains its reign as my favorite collective of people.
Clare Salerno - 2016
Hi everyone, I was on the sociology team in 2016 and I can't believe 2 years have gone by since then! I'm happy to report I just graduated from Wellesley College a month ago, majoring in Sociology and minor in Environmental Studies. Since then, it's been a bit of a whirlwind as I landed a super last minute internship at the Lobkowicz Palace museum in Prague, Czech Republic. Needless to say, it's both an unexpected and exciting opportunity (and a rather far cry from algae and farmers)! I just arrived here last week and am still adjusting--please send any recommendations and connections my way. I'm currently looking for long-term positions in research/museums/non profits (hopefully in the Boston, or Chicago, or DC areas) for the fall, but meanwhile trying to enjoy a more laid back and adventurous time after an intense 4 years!
I was lucky to catch up with some other LAKES alumni in the past year--I saw Alexis in Chicago last summer and Caitlin and Erin and I met in NYC in December (shoutout to Panna II) and I hosted Caitlin a few times as she came to Boston (we had a great time riding the different trains together). And Nels and I presented some of the sociology finds at the Society for the Study of Social Problems conferences last summer in Montreal; it was great to reconnect with Nels and his family and the research. Oh and I ran into Nels and Amber on the street in Boston one time too! small world. We are trying really hard to have a larger reunion with the whole 2016 crew sometime this year!
Caitlin Delaney - 2016
Hi LAKES people! It’s that time of the summer where I have to reflect on how long it’s been since I finished the LAKES program – I can’t believe it’s already been two years! Since my update last summer, I’ve graduated from the University of Connecticut with an Economics and Geography double major. I wrote my honors thesis on the impact of the High Line on surrounding residential property values in NYC using – you guessed it – a hedonic pricing model. Shout out to LAKES for introducing me to the economic model that was the foundation of my thesis (and a special thanks to Chris for everything he taught me, and his excitement and interest when I shared my finished thesis with him). Years later and I’m still receiving support from someone I’m honored to call one of my greatest mentors.
Following graduation, I’ve accepted a position with a transportation consulting firm based in Boston. They work on projects such as the California High Speed Rail and the MBTA commuter rail network. The work is a mixture of economic analysis, forecasting, and network modeling. I definitely got the job due to the fact that I was able to show the results of two hedonic modeling research projects, so I have to thank LAKES for that again. I’m super excited to start working since the job seems like an almost too perfect combination of my love for transportation and economics. In the distant future, I’m hoping to maybe complete a graduate degree in Urban Planning/Design with a focus on transportation. I hope the current LAKES interns are having an awesome summer and I look forward to hearing about this year’s research topics!
Madison Biggs - 2017
Wow. I can’t believe it has been a year since I explored Menomonie, made some incredible friends, and learned a ton about the world of research. I have changed in so many unexpected ways since I worked with the LAKES REU crew. Currently I am living in Glenview, IL, which is a 30-minute train ride from downtown Chicago. While I adore the city of Chicago, it’s definitely hard being so many miles away from Kansas! During the job application process, I received two offers; one was a Pricing Specialist at Medline, and the other was a Survey Research Associate at Mathematica Policy Research. The decision between these two jobs was incredibly difficult, particularly because at Mathematica I could’ve re-lived my social science research experience with the LAKES program. Despite the fact that I LOVE social science research, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and enter the corporate world as a Pricing Specialist at Medline. Medline is a manufacturer and distributer of medical supplies, and I work in the division that deals with the pricing of distributed items to hospitals and other healthcare providers. In about a year or two, I hope to move up to become a Business Analyst within Medline (but who knows, maybe I’ll end up somewhere completely different!).
I’m SO excited for all the new people in the LAKES program, and I hope they’re all having an amazing time! Now here are some photos of what I’ve been up to.
I was reunited with the gang and my bae (Ryleigh Prochnow) at NCUR 2018:
And I finally survived college:
Wow. I can’t believe it has been a year since I explored Menomonie, made some incredible friends, and learned a ton about the world of research. I have changed in so many unexpected ways since I worked with the LAKES REU crew. Currently I am living in Glenview, IL, which is a 30-minute train ride from downtown Chicago. While I adore the city of Chicago, it’s definitely hard being so many miles away from Kansas! During the job application process, I received two offers; one was a Pricing Specialist at Medline, and the other was a Survey Research Associate at Mathematica Policy Research. The decision between these two jobs was incredibly difficult, particularly because at Mathematica I could’ve re-lived my social science research experience with the LAKES program. Despite the fact that I LOVE social science research, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and enter the corporate world as a Pricing Specialist at Medline. Medline is a manufacturer and distributer of medical supplies, and I work in the division that deals with the pricing of distributed items to hospitals and other healthcare providers. In about a year or two, I hope to move up to become a Business Analyst within Medline (but who knows, maybe I’ll end up somewhere completely different!).
I’m SO excited for all the new people in the LAKES program, and I hope they’re all having an amazing time! Now here are some photos of what I’ve been up to.
I was reunited with the gang and my bae (Ryleigh Prochnow) at NCUR 2018:
And I finally survived college:
Rene Torres - 2016
I was in the LAKES geography team during the summer of 2016. A year later, I had just graduated and landed my first job at a GIS consulting firm. 4 months later, I landed a more advanced position working as a contractor for a Major Tech Company which I cannot name due to an NDA I had to sign. I moved to Sunnyvale, California and have been here for almost 10 months now. For a while now I have been trying to move back to my hometown of San Diego. I applied to an Electric GIS Technician position with San Diego Gas & Electric and have an interview this coming Friday! (7/13) Things have been going well since LAKES and I am so happy to have been a part of it. 2 years later and all of our group still stays in touch. If you are reading this in Wisconsin please drink a Spotted Cow for me :)
Here’s a picture of my and a friend with Vernal falls in Yosemite in the background :) its about 1.2 miles to the top of the falls with a 1,000 ft elevation gain. I was completely soaked from the mist.
Erin Melly - 2016
It's been two years since I spent my summer in Menomonie as a part of LAKES, and it still feels like just yesterday. That summer still stands out as one of the most inspiring, fun and truly incredible experiences in my life. Because of LAKES I decided to switch my major to Economics and truly considered becoming a serious researcher. Fast forward almost exactly 2 years (and a lot of problem sets, frustration, but ultimately pride and smiles) later and 2 months ago I find myself walking across the stage receiving my diploma from Columbia University with a B.A. in Economics and special concentration in Sustainable Development. A month after that I moved from New York to D.C. and have recently started working as an Research Assistant for a free market based think tank (American Enterprise Institute) in the Economic Policy department. Life at the moment seems to be in quite a whirlwind, as just this week I've settled into this job, submitted a year-long academic paper that I collaborated on as the sole research assistant, and have been attempting to find an apartment. Though, I feel quite prepared for that last task thanks to all the time I spent looking up housing data on Zillow during LAKES.
It's really crazy to think about how I ended up in this spot- working on labor policy, paid family leave, income equality and other economic policy research topics; and if you look at the work done by LAKES, my current work it seems quite disjointed from our work on blue-green algae and best management farming practices. But I can confidently say that I would not be at AEI doing this work without my experiences in the LAKES program. I gained a passion for the pursuit of knowing more, for pushing boundaries and looking into the WHY of a question, teasing out the mechanisms of the HOW and then making an informed decision in RESPONSE. The plan as of now is to enjoy my time in DC and gain experience here, and hopefully go on to get my PhD in a few years. That said, I've found that planning often doesn't work so ask me in two years what the current plan is (and at that time hopefully LAKES is still kicking so you'll just read about that update then!!).
As for the other life aspects- I've finished up my collegiate running career on a high and am currently taking a break. Which entails far more happy hours and far less post-work 10 mile runs than during my time in Menomonie (note: this is not a complaint). My coffee consumption is still far above the average American, I still advocate for Crocs as my #1 footwear of choice, I still cannot operate a canoe well, and my friends from LAKES are still a huge part of my heart and we keep in contact. Also, my Red Cedar Watershed tattoo is holding up nicely (and I've added another tattoo to the collection along the way).
I miss Menomonie and the special people it holds so much. After running around in various East Coast cities over the 2 years since, I often reminisce about the clouds, cows, company, and most importantly the curds. I hope the Raw Deal is still the best place in town. And that the Cat Cafe (Cat-fe?) has opened and is purring with caffeine and the community. I hope we're one step closer to fixing the toxic algae situation and that the community has become optimistic that we CAN it. And I hope that the current members of LAKES recognize the beautiful, fun, exciting, challenging and wonderful program that they are a part of. And above all, thanks to LAKES for taking me in 2 years ago and for everything it has done for me since!!
Rachel Frana - 2014
· After the summer of 2014, I finished my first semester of my senior year at Central college. I got engaged to my husband, Nick Rozendaal, during that time.
· Second semester, I studied abroad in Wales. I made new friends, studied for the intimidating finals that make up 100% of your class grade, planned a wedding, and applied for summer internships.
· I returned to Iowa with a super anticlimactic graduation (the ceremony happened when I was in Wales). I drove to an empty campus, walked into the Service Center office, was handed my diploma and tassel, and left. So long all my Central friends I’ll never see again! Not exactly the tearful, bittersweet ending I’d imagined.
· Luckily, I didn’t have much time to feel sad because my internship for Cerro Gordo County began in Mason City. I worked two jobs and continued wedding planning – 2.5 hours away from my fiancé.
· September 12, 2015 we got married! (Cute photo attached).
· November 2, 2015 I started my current job at the City of Altoona, working in the Engineering Department. I maintain the City’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Basically, I map where their underground utilities are located. I also do about 50% of “other duties as assigned” (you know how job descriptions go). Lots of paperwork and special projects. I’ve been working for the City ever since (gotta pay off that college debt!).
· January 2016, Nick and I bought a house in Pella. He works for Third Church in Pella as a Sound and Technical Maintenance Engineer. I volunteer as at the church, singing on Sunday mornings. Our house is constantly a mess, basically just a large dorm room. We have THREE inside cats to prove to all the young girls out there that you CAN get married and still be a crazy cat lady!
I don’t know what else to say. I’m doing well, living for Christ, and learning to experience more of His abundant joy! I love my husband, our families, our friends, and our church. It probably seems odd that I dedicated so many words the year immediately following the REU but summarize the past 3 years in only two bullets. I just wrote the different phases of my journey as I see them. Perhaps my next phase of life will involve a changing jobs, moving, or starting a family. I have no idea! But I’m just enjoying where I’m at, one day at a time.
Alright, I’d better stop before I start writing poems or something! There’s my update! Hope everyone else is doing well!
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