CES Summer Internship and Grant Program: Summer 2015

Nikki Caravelli ’16 – 1to1 Movement

This internship was supported by the Miranda Heller 1978 and Jerry Tone 1977 Environmental Studies Fund.

Last summer I interned as a “STACKED Program Specialist” for an innovative new environmental non-profit in San Diego called 1to1 Movement. The 1to1Movement exists to inspire and simplify sustainability in daily life by helping each person find their own way to save the world. They do this primarily through two focus areas: K-12 education and engagement via hands-on initiatives that support people in taking their sustainable lifestyles to the next level. As I was one intern on a team of eight, we divided ourselves into project work groups, though all eight of us worked to host events. These included being on the “Green Team” at Sustainable Brands, where we worked to organize the conference’s waste stream, and collectively working 1to1’s annual America’s Finest Film Festival (this year’s was our most successful event to date, with over a thousand tickets sold!). In addition to these, the project I focused on was 1to1’s newest program STACKED: A Mobile Classroom. The idea in the works is to convert a double decker bus into a fully functional greenhouse and hands-on food systems activity lab. The program will circulate throughout the school districts to engage students in educational programs and experiments. My responsibilities included familiarizing myself with graphic design and visual communications as well as procuring funding, sponsorships, and community partnerships. The program is in its beginning stages, so through STACKED I had the opportunity to participate hands on in organizing a program, to view how a non-profit functions financially and organizationally, and to learn the importance of visuals and communications, in addition to joining a community of like-minded individuals. I think my favorite days were Fridays because we had a vegan potluck lunch and watched documentaries such as The Corporation, Forks over Knives, and Urbanized.

 Katie Costantini ’16 – Sustainable Ballard:  Learning the Inner Workings of Local, Sustainability Non-Profit Organizations

This research project was supported by the W. Conant Brewer Internships for CES.

I worked with Sustainable Ballard, a non-profit located in Seattle. Sustainable Ballard was founded in 2003 as the first neighborhood sustainability group in Seattle. They focus on areas such as community building, transportation and urban design, environmental education, green energy, local food security, and resource sharing systems. I worked on numerous projects including their organization and planning for their annual Sustainability Festival, outreach for a new business partnership program, promoting a reusable cup campaign, photography and mapping for the Little Free Libraries program, and outreach and data organization for a rain garden and cistern installation program. Overall, I really enjoyed my experience and I was able to help with and learn about many facets of the organization as well as learn about the importance of grassroots campaigns and community action.

Lane Davis ’17 – Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation

This research project was supported by the Scheffey Fund for Environmental Studies.

Interning at the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation (WRLF) this summer, I learned and taught others about the flora and fauna that make their homes on the lands of Williamstown, explored the properties preserved by WRLF, came to know the Williamstown community in a new and deeper way, became familiar with the workings of land trusts, investigated and created a management plan for a WRLF property, planned events, and much more. My day-to-day activities at Sheep Hill, the headquarters of WRLF, varied greatly, reflecting the exciting and diverse work in which Rural Lands engages. Of my manifold activities, most fell into three categories: nature education for kids, event planning, and the creation of management plans for WRLF properties. From this last project, I learned about the many factors that affect land management decisions, from resource constraints to climate change concerns. The work solidified my already great fascination with the relationship between people and land, and, in conjunction with all that I learned about the work of land trusts, excited me daily and spurred me to consider a senior thesis conducting more in depth research on a piece of land and, further down the road, a career in land stewardship or management.

Michael Ding ’18 – Williamstown Farmers Market & Campus Food Production Research

This internship was supported by the John Hallowell Ohly, Sr., 1933 Memorial Fund.

 This past summer Sasha Langesfeld and I conducted campus food production research under the guidance of CES Associate Director Sarah Gardner. We conducted interviews, sent soil samples to UMass Amherst for analysis, wrote a report and gave a presentation detailing our findings and recommendations (both are available on the CES website). Ultimately, we proposed a model in which the college leases some of its unused land at little to no cost to an independent farmer in exchange for promising to buy a certain amount of crops at a set price. We came to the conclusions that such an operation can be both financially independent and beneficial to reducing the college’s environmental footprint and can also increase the college’s food security.

Anna Epstein ’16 – Sierra Club

This internship was supported by the John Hallowell Ohly, Sr., 1933 Memorial Fund.

This summer I was fortunate enough to return to the Sierra Club’s Legislative Headquarters in Washington, DC for my second summer experience as a Federal Policy Intern. I worked with the group’s clean energy and international trade lobbyists on a number of current issues under each of their purviews, including the crude oil export ban, the UN’s Green Climate Fund, the EPA’s ozone standard, and more. My roles in their projects were diverse; activities ranged from researching up-to-date scientific consensus to attending Congressional hearings and markups, from drafting and editing policy briefs to attending lobby meetings with Congressional offices, and more. The work was always exciting and engaging and I am so very thankful to the Ohly family for the opportunity to contribute at an organization that I believe does so much good for the planet and its inhabitants.

Jordan Fields ’17 – Upper Deschutes Watershed Council

This internship was supported by the Miranda Heller 1978 and Jerry Tone 1977 Environmental Studies Fund.

This summer I worked at the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (UDWC) in Bend, Oregon where I was involved in a number of projects revolving around watershed rehabilitation.  As an intern, I worked very independently to create a height-above-river map of Whychus Creek in Sisters, OR.  This map displayed the height of surrounding land at any given point along the stream channel.  I created the map using ArcGIS and remote sensing data and will serve as the guide for the UDWC and US Forest Service’s upcoming project to restore the highly channelized stream and reconnect it to its floodplain.  I was also tasked with monitoring groundwater wells in the area as part of another restoration project on Whychus Creek.  Finally, my last project was performing a statistical analysis of water quality data from the creek in order to determine how much water is needed to support runs of spawning anadromous fish for each month of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed my internship. The people I worked with were incredible and every day offered something new to learn or investigate. I cannot thank the Williams Center for Environmental Studies enough for this wonderful opportunity and providing for such a fantastic summer in Central Oregon.

Matthew Goss ’17 – Quantifying PCB Contamination in Hoosic River Crayfish and Trout

This internship was supported by the Mellon Fund.

I worked on a multiyear project to quantify polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels in the Hoosic River under the guidance of Chemistry Professors Dave Richardson and Jay Thoman. Alongside Linda Shin ’17, I helped to process roughly fifty crayfish sampled by students last year near Cole Field. Our goal was to draw conclusions about the variability of PCB levels in Hoosic River crayfish by looking at a large number of crayfish from a single site. Our preliminary results show 0.23 ± 0.10 µg PCB/g dry mass, significantly under the EPA limit of 2.0 µg PCB/g wet mass and showing relatively little variability between specimens. We also established a method for quantifying PCBs in Hoosic trout, starting analysis and streamlining the process for continuation next year.

Maddie Grant ’18 – High Peaks Summit

The internship was supported by the Bernard M. Schuyler Memorial Internship.

I interned as a High Peaks Summit Steward in the Adirondacks. The internship was run by the Adirondack Mountain Club, in partnership with the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Nature Conservancy. We were based out of the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Heart Lake Property in Lake Placid, New York. As a Summit Steward, I hiked up a High Peak five days a week to do trail work and talk to every hiker about conservation of the endangered Artic-Alpine ecosystem. I also assisted with two research projects monitoring re-vegetation and the effects of climate change on the Arctic-Alpine plants.

Luke Higgins ’18 – Ashoka

This internship was supported by the Thomas C. Black 1980 Fund for CES.

I was an intern at Ashoka, Innovators for the Public. Throughout the eight-week period, I was an active member of both the Africa Diamond and Global Communications teams. While the Communications team sought to broadcast Ashoka’s vision throughout as many global, industrial and institutional networks as possible, Africa Diamond worked to grow and nurture Ashoka’s network of social innovators in Africa. This could include agriculturalists, mobile app developers, wellness instructors, film producers, to name just a few. The majority of my time was spent managing the 500,000 strong social media platform, informing all of Ashoka’s followers of developments in our fellow acquisitions as well. Aside from that, I wrote reports and published articles concerning the work and impact of fellows working all around the world, many of whom had established environmental innovations, while others sought to disrupt markets in education, healthcare and industry.

Elizabeth Jacobson ’16 – The Science of Communication: National Museum of Natural History

This internship was supported by the Miranda Heller 1978 and Jerry Tone 1977 Environmental Studies Fund.

I interned for the National Museum of Natural History’s Botany Department newsletter, The Plant Press.  My goal was to learn about science writing and diffusing information from scientific research to the general public.  During my internship I researched and wrote articles for future issues, mainly regarding new botanical discoveries, museum events, and conservation concerns.  My supervisor led the Smithsonian Plant Conservation Unit, and I also assisted with Plant Conservation Unit responsibilities.  My conservation projects included giving presentations on endangered plants and their pollinators during Pollinator Week events, and assembling a bibliography for the biological conservation newsletter.

Martin Keenan ’17 – Cricket Creek Farm

This internship was supported by the W. Conant Brewer Internships Fund.

At Cricket Creek Farm in Williamstown I worked on a project from the Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education Program. My goal was to research different foliar sprays and their effects on grass nutrients and the subsequent effects on the milk of the cows that ate the sprayed grass. I also got to work at local farmers markets and help on the farm and in the cheese making process.

Sasha Langesfeld ’17 – Campus Food Production Research

The internship was supported by the Bernard M. Schuyler Memorial Internship.

In the fall semester of 2013 a group of students from the Environmental Planning class (Envi 302) created a proposal for the potential development of a campus farm on the piece of land known as Wire Bridge Farm. This parcel in Hopkins Forest has been farmed for decades, used mostly to grow silage corn and hay and to graze livestock.[1] The college acquired this land in 2003, but since the campus farm proposal, the college has decided to keep the land as it is now, in case any of the faculty want to conduct research on it in the future. In light of this decision, we are now considering whether a campus food production operation would be possible on a different plot of land that Williams College owns. To begin this project, Sarah Gardner, Associate Director of CES, spoke with Fred Puddester, VP of Finance and Administration, to determine what land was available. Four parcels were identified; a 1-2 acre piece behind Tyler house, 2 acres at the old piggery field, about 6 acres at a property on Cluett Dr, and about 8 acres on Potter Rd.  See full report at:  http://ces.williams.edu/publications/

Michaela Levine ’16 – Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Internship

This internship was supported by the Thomas C. Black 1980 Fund for CES.

I worked as a Beyond Coal Campaign intern at the Sierra Club in their D.C. legislative office.  The Beyond Coal Campaign aims to prevent the worst effects of climate disruption by retiring dirty coal-fired power plants, with the goal of completely decarbonizing the electric sector by 2030.  As a Campaign intern, I worked on a wide range of projects including modeling renewable energy development and carbon emissions trajectories; assisting lawyers and campaign representatives with research on environmental justice, endangered species, and pollution control financing; identifying potential utility companies to target for shareholder involvement; writing testimony on federal coal leasing programs; and assisting organizers with member outreach and speaker identification for hearings.  I had an incredibly rewarding and educational summer at the Sierra Club.

Eleanor Lustig ’18 – Internship at Berkshire Natural Resources Council

This internship was supported by the John Hallowell Ohly, Sr., 1933 Memorial Fund

I was a trails and outreach intern at the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, a local, non-profit, land conservation organization. As BNRC is based in Pittsfield and does the majority of its work in South County, I became the face of the organization in the North Adams-Williamstown area. I worked primarily on the Hoosac Range Reserve, as the steward of its accompanying trail. The Hoosac Range Trail, which was built in 2011 and runs 2.8 miles along the ridgeline from Route 2 out to Spruce Hill Peak, is perhaps BNRC’s finest. I planned and led free hikes at the Reserve, designed an interpretive trail map and scavenger hunt, and kept the trail in good shape through light trail maintenance. Through interactions out on the trail, I also worked to familiarize visitors with BNRC and the work it does in Berkshire County.

Stephen Mayfield ’16 – Water Chemistry of the Living Building Challenge

This internship was supported by the Mellon Fund.       

For my summer project, I examined the water quality of the ’66 Center for Environmental Studies.  My goal was to target the effects of using a copper roof in a water-producing building, both for direct consumption/use, as well as for the growth of edible plants as prescribed by the living building challenge.  The experience involved a lot of data collection, and I felt like I began to truly understand the new building and the challenge as a whole.  I can’t wait to continue this project throughout the year and to help inform others about the logistics and concepts of the challenge as we attempt to reach this goal in sustainability.

MaryKate O’Brien ’16 – My Summer at the Project For Public Spaces

This internship was supported by the Miranda Heller 1978 and Jerry Tone 1977 Environmental Studies Fund.

I worked at the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) as a research intern focusing on connecting the firm’s Placemaking initiatives to sustainability. I helped bolster PPS’s “Sustainable Places” transformative agenda by assembling a body of research, supporting communications, and creating new resources for staff.  Specifically, I worked to identify and publicize the environmental benefits of public spaces, resiliency and green infrastructure, reclaiming brownfields as public space, and breaking down silos in the environmental sphere. Based on my research I wrote two blog posts for the company’s website and created outlines and excel sheets for the company’s archives. During my eight weeks at PPS I also participated in a Placemaking Workshop in Union Square Park, took a tour of the East River Waterfront with interns visiting from Mumbai, and had the chance to be a part of office meetings with guest speakers including James Brainard, the Mayor of Carmel, Indiana and Alexander Ståhle, a PhD in urban design from the School of Architecture in Stockholm and CEO of the urban research and design studio Spacescape. My work this summer provided me with valuable insight into the world of planning and it is something that I have become even more passionate about thanks to the experience.

Priscilla Pino ’16 – Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA)

This internship was supported by the Thomas C. Black 1980 Fund for CES.

I interned at the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA) under executive director Steve McMahon. Steve and I, continuing Matt Tarduno’s work from the previous summer, visited stream culverts in Adams, North Adams and Williamstown to survey them. Towards the end of the summer I used GPS to map out the trails behind Cole Field and the portion of the future Williams bike path that will run behind Cole Field. The GPS data were then used to create a map for HooRWA so they could be able to use in for a brochure about recreation on the Hoosic River.

William Schmidt ’17 – Climate and Water Resource Management on California’s South Coast

This internship was supported by the Miranda Heller 1978 and Jerry Tone 1977 Environmental Studies Fund.

I spent six weeks in Santa Barbara County, California to study the impact of the recent drought on the towns of Montecito and Carpinteria. My research included both data collection and interviews that provided a comprehensive understanding of the complications associated with water scarcity resulting from climate change. Much of the focus of this research was in evaluating the various policies enacted by each town to reduce water consumption among residents and businesses. I also worked to understand the role of advanced conservation technologies such as desalination and wastewater recycling in combating drought. It was particularly intriguing to observe the disparities in environmental concern between residents of Montecito and the agricultural industry in Carpinteria, the latter of which has persisted largely unchecked despite statewide water restrictions. In all, it was a fascinating topic to study and I’m very grateful to Williams CES for this opportunity.

Jack Schrupp ’18 – Sustainable Slopes:  The Carbon Footprint of Snowmaking at a NH Ski Area

This internship was supported by the Thomas C. Black 1980 Fund for CES.

I spent the summer researching snowmaking.  Snowmaking is deeply ingrained in New Hampshire’s ski industry, which itself is a profound economic and cultural player the Granite State. Unfortunately, this snowmaking has a number of environmental drawbacks, namely a large carbon footprint. However, this study has shown that despite snowmaking’s harmful nature, it should not be the reason why ski areas are labeled as environmentally unfriendly. This is because, if Gunstock Mountain Resort is truly is a reasonable model for a New Hampshire ski area, then visitor commutes are the largest contributor to a ski area’s overall carbon footprint. Thus, when heading off to the hit the trails, consider carpooling or taking the bus.  In closing, I would like to thank the staff and management of Gunstock Mountain Resort, the Center for Environmental Studies and the Thomas C. Black 1980 Fund.

Skylar Smith ’18 – Epidemiology Research Assistant, BU School of Public Health

This internship was supported by the Thomas C. Black 1980 Fund for CES.

I worked as an Epidemiology Research Assistant to Dr. Jessica Leibler in the department of Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health. I had the unique opportunity to pioneer a research project that Dr. Leibler wanted to pursue regarding the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) datasets. These datasets are publically available through the National Center for Health Statistics (NHCS) website and contain hundreds of variables describing patient visit/patient diagnosis characteristics for patients visiting emergency departments nationwide. The survey itself allows for a four-stage probability sample that is meant to be representative of all ED patient visits in the U.S. My work primarily centered on the analysis of homeless patients visiting the ED (and more specifically, weather-related or environmentally-related injuries/diseases experienced by the homeless population in the U.S.). I looked at the most recent available data, years 2005-2010, and I analyzed the frequency and types of skin infections found among homeless patients (vs. non-homeless patients) using statistical programming languages like R and Stata. We hope to continue to work on this research project in the future and possibly submit this research for publication.

Matthew Tarduno ’16 – GREEN21

This research project was supported by the Scheffey Fund for Environmental Studies.

I spent the summer interning at the District Office of California State Senator Carol Liu in Glendale, CA. Working under District Representative Vickere Murphy, I helped handle environmental issues at the office. Over the summer we had one long-term project: making formal comments on the Environmental Impact Report and the Cost Benefit Analysis of the State-Route 710 North Study. Together, these documents outline the environmental implications of a number of strategies aimed at reducing traffic congestion in the communities north of Los Angeles. In addition to this project, I also helped respond to constituent inquiries, maintained the Senator’s environmental website, and helped my office put on a water forum designed to identify ways that communities in California’s 25th Senate District could conserve water.

Sarah Vukelich ’16 – Shut it Down: People vs. the Vermont Gas Pipeline

This internship was supported by the John Hallowell Ohly, Sr., 1933 Memorial Fund

I worked in Vermont on a campaign to stop the Addison County Natural Gas Project, a fracked gas pipeline cutting through sensitive ecological areas and land directly adjacent to rural homes. I worked with 350 Vermont during a 10-week internship doing outreach to ratepayers, helping organize a rally and encampment on the State House lawn, and helping with media communications and legal work. After the end of my internship, I stayed in Vermont to work with Rising Tide Vermont, an all-volunteer organization focused on taking direct action to target the root causes of climate change and climate injustice. In addition to building a powerful campaign, Rising Tide has brought people into broader climate work and helped build a deeper analysis among those opposed to the pipeline.

Grace Weatherall ’16 – Earthjustice and Atlantic Puffins Listing

This internship was supported by the Thomas C. Black 1980 Fund for CES.

I interned with Earthjustice, a national environmental law firm based in Washington, D.C., which works with large environmental organizations, small interest groups, and large environmental law firms such as the Natural Resources Defense Fund (NRDC). My work for Earthjustice consisted of carrying out research for Erica Fuller, an Earthjustice lawyer based in Ipswich, Massachusetts. I conducted research on population status and abundance trends, and the possible need for legal protection, of the U.S. population of Atlantic puffins, which nests on five small islands in the Gulf of Maine. Atlantic puffins were almost completely extirpated from the United States by the beginning of the 21st century, due to hunting of the birds for the meat and eggs, but they were reintroduced in in 1973 by Project Puffin, a project under Audubon led by Stephen Kress. Today, Atlantic puffins in the United States number around 2,000.

Julia Yarak ’18 – Summer Programming Coordinator at the Mohawk Forest Apartments

This internship was supported by the W. Conant Brewer Internships Fund.

I worked at the Mohawk Forest Apartments, an affordable housing neighborhood in North Adams, Masschusetts, as a Summer Programming Coordinator. Along with a co-worker from Williams, I was in charge of a group of approximately 10 children ages 7 to 12. I was also assigned to 4 teens who worked in the day camp. Over the course of the summer, the teens created a tip sheet on how to conserve energy, then distributed it to all the residents of the neighborhood. They helped implement a composting program that they taught to the younger kids and they created a recycling rewards program. They helped the younger kids participate in a neighborhood clean-up, and supervised the kids on field trips to farms, to a history museum, and on hikes. Both the kids and the teens learned about the importance of farms, of not littering, and of recycling and compost as well as how they can do them.

Elena Zifkin ’16 – Production of Ranger Programs in the National Parks

This internship was supported by the John Hallowell Ohly, Sr., 1933 Memorial Fund

My summer research involved a seven-week road trip to thirteen national parks where I conducted the fieldwork portion of my thesis research. I did intensive research at five of these national parks: Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Teton, and Mesa Verde, where I interviewed interpretive rangers and museum curators, attended ranger programs, and visited all of the visitor centers and museums. My goal was to see how the National Park Service (NPS) presents human history alongside natural history, and how it discusses the relationship between humans and the environment– both historically and currently. I was particularly interested in the language the NPS uses, if any, surrounding climate change, i.e. do they say “climate change” or “human impact on the environment” or do they mention that it is human caused at all? Through this experience I was able to see the parks from a new perspective, meet wonderful and thoughtful park rangers and see some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the world.

[1] Lucy Bergwall, Sara Clark, Eirann Cohen, and David Kruger, Ephraim Williams Had a Farm (2013).

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