Interwoven

      This summer, I have enjoyed getting to do more of what I love while learning new techniques and methods to add to my research repertoire. Working with the economics team has been challenging, since my major is more focused on history and political science with a minor in economics. However, I think this breadth of classroom experience have given me to opportunity to see the value in interdisciplinary research, especially as I have gotten to see the other women in the REU progress alongside the economics team.




      In an effort to find a policy that works to reduce nutrient runoff and subsequent pollution in Wisconsin, I have been working wih Dr. Raff and Monica to analyze the NR151, which is part of the Wisconsin administrative code. The NR151 is a comprehensive approach to runoff managment from urban and rural sources (i.e storm drain and agricultural runoff). However, this would not be an interdisciplinary approach to research if our project did not have the ability to be integrated or strengthened by the other teams' research.

So far, I have helped Tara and Lucia transcribe interiews for their project. They are interviweing farmers and lakeshore owners on their conservtion practices. I love helping with this project, because while we are analyzing the NR151, the same people that will be impacted by any changes in this law, are the very people that are being interviewed by Tara and Lucia. I hope to hear even more about their project to gather a framework of how this community views conservation efforts, which will ultimately guide policy ideas for future research.

I have yet to get into the lab with the geology and biology teams, but I can imagine their projects being very complementary to ours from what I have heard from the teams. When I came into this summer, I thought I had somewhat of an idea of how important interdisciplinary research is, but after seeing all of the teams work for the past few weeks, it has become more of an approach that feels very necessary to me if I am to conduct future research. It has been a great summer so far, and I am incredibly excited to see exactly how all of our projects help to weave the LAKES REU 2018 quilt.