Fellowship Experiences

Since moving to Baltimore in 2015, I wanted to be a volunteer at the National Aquarium. At that time, I was a lab technician at Loyola University Maryland who regularly took care of reptiles, rodents, and greenhouse plants, so I thought I would be a shoe-in. Eagerly, I filled out the online volunteer application and waited patiently for an invitation. Weeks, months, and years went by.  Read more...

Oysters are crucial to a healthy Chesapeake Bay. They filter water, attract biodiversity and provide essential habitat for other important Bay organisms. Today, less than one percent of the oyster biomass that existed before European settlers arrived remains in the Chesapeake.  Read more...

In early March, I visited the Anacostia River in Washington D.C. for the first time.

As I sat on the boat and looked out at the waters around me, I noticed large piles of trash floating along the sides of the river channel, harmful algal blooms clogging the river’s downstream reaches, and poor water quality, indicated by the deep brown color.

​Nearly two and a half years after starting my PhD research at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, I was finally ready to submit my first-author manuscript to a scientific journal.

After six years of anthropology courses, exams, proposal writing, and research, I’ve finally reached the last big hurdle of my Ph.D. career: writing the dissertation.  Read more...