"I started out in engineering. I was considering either like the environmental or biosystems track, but got really deep into some of the math courses and I was like, 'Oh, this is not for me.' But I found a lot of overlapping interests and classes in the Environmental Science Department, so I switched to that by the spring of my freshman year, and it's just been going really good. I really enjoy a lot of the classes I've been taking. I've enjoyed the different emphases that the major offers. So I've been able to choose classes that have interested me and also just deepen my knowledge of the natural world.

I chose U of A because of the different environment and everything to be able to explore and the research potential that happens here. It's always been something I've been interested in. And so like getting into a lab super early in my educational career was important to me. And I've got a lot of cool opportunities through the major and through my various lab work."

"So I think my sophomore year, the fall of my sophomore year, I reached out to the Meredith lab run by Dr. Laura Meredith. She's in the SNRE Department and with her group, I aided Dr. Linnea Honeker with her manuscript that she was publishing. So I completed my research credit with them and coauthored my first publication, so that was super fun.

Since then, I've just stuck with the group doing different projects that they've been working on. And then my summer of 2021, I joined the Maier-Hogan Lab, who has partnered with the Center for Environmentally Sustainable Mining. And the work I'm doing with them is characterizing novel surfactants or soaps that are produced through green chemistry for their utilization throughout the mining industry.

It's been cool to be involved with it for a while and get to see some of the products from that research like publications or being able to go to conferences. I just had a lot of cool opportunities come from my involvement."

"So right after I graduate, I'll be working as a research technician for the Center for Environmentally Sustainable Mining. I'm excited to continue that research and get more experience in the lab, something I really enjoy. And beyond that, grad school at some point, not sure when, but I know it's in the future.

Growing up in Flagstaff, I was really close to like Navajo Nation and everything and seeing some of the systematic discrimination that a lot of native populations experience, and it's also known that systematically disenfranchised communities also suffer higher rates of environmental injustices, so I'd like for my research to also include a lot of advocacy work for these groups and focus a lot on the scientific communication and the spreading of these new ideas and technologies that can help bring more equality to some of these areas. "

"If I could provide some words of advice, it would be to try. I really like the motto, ‘You'll never know until you try.’ I think if you feel like you have an interest or a passion for something, it's really important to actually put yourself out there and try to gain that experience to see how it’ll go. I really recommend people, if they are interested in research, reaching out to professors that they're interested in early on in their educational career. Because again, I think like the longer you spend in it, the more knowledgeable you are of how it actually is. Also getting involved in like clubs and everything's a great way to garner a community and just feel more at home. Even if you're from Tucson, it's nice to just have more of a school-focused community and everything and friends. Good opportunity to make friends. And don't be afraid to ask for help. There's lots of great resources on campus to help you academically and professionally. I've utilized the CALES Career Center a couple of times to get help on resume and CV building. I would like to give thanks to Dr. David Hogan, one of my lab advisors, Dr. Raina Maier, whose lab group I'm in. Dr. Laura Meredith, whose lab group I'm also in. They've been very inspirational, inspirational to me and have provided a lot of good and valuable insight on my research progress and stuff like that. And it's nice to be able to talk to people that really know what they're talking about."