Melanie served as Teaching Assistant for ENS 301: Contemporary Environmental Issues and Policies with Distinguished Service Professor Malcolm Bowman. 

The class invites professionals from fields related to environmental or policy fields to discuss their careers by sharing personal insight with students in regard to achievements and contributions to environmental stewardship. 

Guest speakers included author Carl Safina, Assemblyman Steve Englebright, Legislator Kara Hahn, Former Massachusetts Senator and Environmentalist William B. Golden, Storm Surge Working Group members, and others. 

In Spring 2019, Melanie was elected secretary of the Greenhouse and Gardening Guild club at SBU.

She managed the club's Instagram page, updated club members weekly through email, designed outreach and event posters, encouraged participation at involvement fairs, facilitated activities at our weekly meetings, and managed fundraising events.

Melanie volunteered with FinPrint to analyze Baited Remote Underwater Videos (BRUVs), as part of a shark and sea turtle biodiversity monitoring study in tropical regions.

Each organism in frame was documented in Excel spreadsheets organized by species type and the number of individuals observed during 60 minute intervals.