Embedded Files
In 2021, a lawsuit brought to the Ecuadorian courts by 9 young girls from the Ecuadorian Amazon called for a total moratorium on gas flaring near populated areas. Although the court sided with the young girls, the lack of region-specific research on the environmental impact stalled any future action. Recognizing this research gap, I developed a participatory action research project in the spring of 2024 with the Loma del Tigre community. We evaluated soil quality at comparative distances from gas flares, using plant and soil macroinvertebrate abundance and biodiversity as bioindicators of possible contamination. It is my hope that the published research can be used as a tool that impacted communities can use to advocate against or negotiate with petroleum companies that are active in or near their territories.
The research paper can be found here.
In the summer of 2024, I worked with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Northern Minnesota on a project evaluating the impact of sulfate contamination on wild rice lakes. This research project supported the tribe’s environmental standards advocacy by building a deeper understanding of sulfate toxicity on a cultural cornerstone of Ojibwe (Chippewa) culture–manoomin (wild rice), which the tribe has harvested from lakes in their ancestral homelands for generations. Fond du Lac has become a powerhouse in tribal and environmental rights advocacy, shaping state and federal legislation on treaty rights, in part because of their effective partnerships with university researchers.
The research StoryMap can be found here.
From September 2025 until September 2026, I lived in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and worked at the Woodwell Climate Research Center as a research assistant and ACES Fellow. During this year, I undertook a project regarding the comparison of two well-established vegetative sampling methods commonly used during the restoration and monitoring of grassland and wetland habitats. During this project, I became passionate about the intricacies of watershed restoration projects in urban areas, and how intimate understanding of our watersheds can greatly support the health and stability of our local human and ecological communities.
Bookending my year as an ACES fellow, I assisted with a broad range of field work during summers at the Toolik Field Station in Alaska. This work included chlorophyll sampling, leaf litter collection, water and soil sample collection, and more vegetation surveys.
The research projects, papers, and curriculum that I developed during my year have been synthesized in a StoryMap, found here.
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