In my first semester of college I was tasked with tackling a research project revolving around food systems. I chose to research GMO and organic agricultural practices to better understand how we as a society should move forward in food production. In this study I was able to produce a comprehensive paper that accurately describes the pros and cons of each system. I formed a hypothesis, pulled in dozens of sources, and built a sound essay on the topic. I tackled things such as yield percentages, wastes of different methods, and ways in which the systems vary. I came to the conclusion that the science behind GMO's is revolutionary, however, the methods in which they are implemented needs significant reworking in order to be sustainable both environmentally and morally. This was my first ever real research based paper so it is a bit rough around the edges. If I were to do it again, I would focus in more on specific issues rather than giving such a vague explanation. I would also be able to better articulate how these issues impact different communities.

GMO's & Organic Agriculture

During my junior year I took a class on forest and landscape ecology. In this class we were assigned with a project in which we analyzed data and outside sources to understand the stand dynamics in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas. Outside of the data analysis I did for this project, I pulled in large amount of literature surrounding the topic. Much of the literature was in order to better understand the scope of the project. I used research from various sources such as scientific journals, websites on the topic, and even coding resources like that of GitHub. Many of the sources were read through and compared to the results I came to through my data analysis in order to understand it's validity. The coding sources were used in order to help understand the code I used to achieve my results as well as troubleshoot some of the problems I ran in to. This project taught me how to analyze statistical data and how to connect it to the data I created. Looking back, there were a few flaws in my data analysis which is something I would fix if I were to do it again. I would also try and find even more relevant data in order to bolster my thesis.

Guadalupe Mountains

In the fall of 2020 I took a class on the golden age of piracy, circa 1703-1726. For my final project I wrote a lengthy researched base essay with a thesis that revolved around how outlaws of the wild west were evolutionary products of the pirates who roamed the seas a century beforehand. Scholarly texts on both of these groups of peoples are severely lacking, especially that of pirates. During this project I learned how to interoperate authorship bias as the only real historical accounts of pirates comes from a single author who's reliability is uncertain. On the outlaws front, there is little to no first hand accounts available. Therefore I had to read through newspaper articles, word of mouth stories, and books written after the fact in order to come up with a baseline regarding what may actually be the truth. I think this paper was very similar in structure to my GMO & Organic paper, but here we can see how much more polished my writing and research has become over the years. If I were to rewrite this paper I would most likely try and bring a focus more on these groups impacts on the environment.

Pirates & Cowboys

In the forest and ecology class that I took my junior year we were also tasked with creating a tree ring climate analysis. During this project I was introduced to the basics of the coding language R and worked on interpreting the data created through my code. The code was written to compare two different tree species in two different climates. It compared many trees within these stands tree ring width to divisional climate data. The data that resulted was that of tree ring width throughout the sample years as well as graphs that showed whether or not these ring sections had strong (Higher than 95%) correlations to the climate data pulled. I was able to analyze the data and graphs I created and explain what these things meant. When compared to data from other sources it seemed that the two stands I chose were less reliant on the local climates. This was my first time coding in R so if I were to do this again I think I would try to better understand the code.

Tree Ring Climate analysis

During a geology class I took during my sophomore year of college I was assigned to write a paper connecting "Redshift" to an explanation of why oceanic lithosphere is denser than continental lithosphere. During this assignment I had to pull my understandings of chemistry, physics, and geology in order to connect these phenomenon. I brought up terms such as Bohr's Theory, geothermal gradients, and the Nebular Hypothesis, during my research. I learned how to find connections between all of these different disciplines and how they applied to the assignment. I was able to connect Redshift to homogeneous cold accretion, then the iron catastrophe and convection. From there, Bowen's Reaction Series and seismicity to Bohr's Theory and intostacy. Finally, I was able to come to the conclusion that the provenance of oceanic lithosphere relied on these, and many other things from different classes I had take throughout the years. Looking bad at this paper there are some terms that need further explanation in order to create a more well rounded paper rather than the skew it has towards the terms I was comfortable with.

Lithospheres

In the first semester of my senior year I took a class on garbage in which I did a presentation on the social injustice of the wastewater issue plaguing northern Vermont. Burlington currently is dumping millions of gallons of untreated waste water into Lake Champlain and the citizens are not being fined for it because of the importance of the city to Vermont's economy. On the other hand, small family owned farms are being forced to find grazing fields for their livestock away from the rivers that feed the lake due to fears that the spring floodwaters will carry waste into the lake, in which case the state will implement heavy fines. This presentation then focused on how current waste and runoff policies disproportionately punish rural farmers in the river valleys while the more affluent citizens of Burlington are not held responsible for their pollutants due to the government holding Burlington's citizens and manufacturing plants in higher regard than the smaller farms that bring in less money. In this presentation I was able to gain a better understanding of the environmental justice issues and how they are impacted by class disparity. If I were to do this project again I would try to bring an understanding of race or gender into the equation, however, both of these areas impacted are over 95% white.

Toxins Presentation