My name is Jeff Bordiga, and I’m a recently graduated Earth Science major with a background in Computer Science. This summer for the GeoPaths internship program, I’m excited to be working on-campus at the Earth Science lab with Margaret Zimmer and Michael Wilshire, along with the other GeoPaths members and grad students alike that will be also be stationed there this summer. This will be quite the improvement commute-wise compared to the previous summer’s internship experience at the Elkhorn Slough, and I especially hope I won’t get covered in ticks this time either! This time around I will be studying the effect of the 2020 wildfires on the surrounding soil under an Earth Science context, as the quality and composition of soil can be jeopardized by the heat of an intense forest fire. Aside from that, my main goals for this internship experience are to put what I’ve learned in my recent courses to the test in a real-world environment, and add yet another invaluable layer of experience to my repertoire. Instead of just knowing the content, I can’t wait to actually use the lab equipment to achieve a real-world goal such as environmental research, as I’m eager to acquire this practical knowledge. Plus, while during my previous internship experience where I mostly did fieldwork, I hope to combine these skills with lab work in order to expand and solidify my baseline for future jobs in my career path. Otherwise, I simply hope to have fun doing this for real as a post-graduate!