Environmental Studies students build their resumes inside and outside the classroom.
Environmental Studies students do some really cool things: through internships, independent research, and studying abroad. These experiences help majors learn to trust their own initiative, enhance confidence in their abilities, and develop connections that foster career ambitions.
Internships
As interns, our students tackle environmental topics of all kinds and in locations far and wide: Anchorage, Alaska; San Francisco, California; New Mexico; Seattle, Washington; Washington, DC; London, England; Tokyo, Japan; Perth, Australia; Costa Rica; and with many, many local organizations in southeastern Pennsylvania. Among the internships Environmental Studies majors have completed are the following:
Water Quality Laboratory Technician, Aquatic Laboratory Services, Inc.
Eco-Sciences Intern, O’Brien & Gere
Environmental Education Staff, Weis Ecology Center of the NJ Audubon Society
Animal Care Program Intern, Elmwood Park Zoo
Education Program Intern, Philadelphia Zoo
Recycling Intern, Solid Waste Authority of Cumberland County
Environmental Educator, Valley Forge National Park
Science Communications Intern, Merck & Co.
National Environmental Policy Act Intern, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Planning Intern, Montgomery County Planning Commission
Scott Campbell visits Panama's tallest mountain, Volcan Baru.
Scott Campbell learns how to grind corn with a rock to help make a traditional Bribri corn drink in an indigenous Bribri village in Costa Rica.
Scott Campbell shows off a Rufous Mot Mot that his group caught while mist netting in Gamboa Panama.
Liz Burke never imagined seeing the Pacific Ocean and Panama as part of her studies at Ursinus.
A sea turtle laying eggs on the Caribbean coast (Liz Burke).
Liz Burke on Coibita Island in the Pacific Ocean (Panama)
Jess Lamarca inspects a well-defined fault line in the mountains of Antofagasta, Chile.
Jessica Lamarca looks out at the coastline while in Antofagasta, Chile.
The JOIDES Resolution (Joint Oceanographic Institute for Deep Earth Sampling) drilling vessel on which Jessica Lamarca spent a month as part of the JR Academy. (Photo credits: Beth Orcutt)
Participants of the JR Academy watch as the science party retrieve the CORK from Legacy Hole 504B 3.5km down on the seafloor. (Photo credits: Sarah Kachovich)
Jessica Lamarca and other students preparing microscope slides in the microbiology lab onboard the JOIDES Resolution. (Photo credits: Kaatje Kraft)
Opportunities for original research include independent study during a semester, participation in the Summer Fellows Program, and as a senior honors thesis. Selected research topics completed by Environmental Studies majors have included:
“Developing an Interpretive Signage Protocol for the WERS Food Forest” by Sarah Becker (2019)
“Nature Is Pushing One Way and People Are Pushing the Other”: A Political Ecology of Forest Transitions in Western Montgomery County, PA by Megan Maccaroni (2014)
“Pebble Mine: Framing of Salmon Denies Alaska Natives Justice” by Sarah Huang (2014)
“Monarch Butterfly Conservation” by Katlyn Lawver (2013)
“Public Participation and Opposition to the El Morro Mining Project in Atacama, Chile” by Deirdre MacFeeters (2013)
“The Effects of Tail Autotomy on Sexual Selection in Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus)” by Regan Dohm (2012)
“Real World: Shark Edition. How Sharks are Framed at the Adventure Aquarium and in the World” by Lindsay Budnick (2011)
“Senegal: Tourism as a Response to Environmental Degradation, Globalization, and Economic Strain” by Kerry McCarthy (2009)
“Design of Wet Pond Retrofit for Ursinus College” by Erony Whyte (2005)
“A Zero Impact House for Ursinus College” by Brianna Worley (2005)
Megan Maccaroni and Andrew Williams head for their first conference (the Annual Meetings of the American Association of Geographers).
Downtown Los Angeles
Nice busses
Crossing over the 110 Freeway.
Not quite the motivation they were hoping for.
Trailhead to the Pacific Coast trail at Topanga Creek Park
We’re not in Collegeville any more.
Hiking to the Pacific
chapparal covered hills of California
First view of the Pacific
Happy hikers
Faculty and students at the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences conference in Burlington, VT.
Vinnie Dombay talks about edible trees in Pennsylvania municipalities.
Martina Dzuna discusses research on urban foraging.
Julia Bull takes a break from presenting her poster.
Environmental art at the conference.
Touring the University of Vermont’s Centennial Woods Natural Area.