My Academic and Scientific Career

My Background

I received my Bachelor of Science degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in biology and earth science. The thread tying these sciences together was the basis of my passion for both: both are methods of inferring the history of the world based on present conditions.

During my time at Trinity, I expanded my leadership, scientific, and communication skills as a TA for biology lab classes, a peer tutor for two first-year writing seminar classes, and a Mellon undergraduate scientific-literary researcher.

In 2017, I began studies at an unconventional master’s program at Western Colorado University based in Gunnison, Colorado. This program focuses on project-based learning, allowing us to work with community organizations to gain real-world experience with the multi-faceted, complex problems associated with environmental work while making connections that will serve us throughout our careers.

My masters work

Moving to Colorado for my graduate studies at Western Colorado University helped me discover the perfect interdisciplinary application for my scientific backgrounds in biology and geology: reclamation of abandoned industrial and mine lands. Involving ecology, soil science, geology, communication, and outreach, this work is essential to the wellbeing of both American citizens and our natural world.

My master’s project was the co-founding of WARM, an innovative nonprofit that allows students to learn on the ground skills of reclamation while forming important collaborative partnerships with nonprofits and federal and state agencies. Together with my research mentor, we spent much of 2018 conducting outreach across the state with government agencies like the EPA, Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, & Safety; nonprofits like Trout Unlimited; and universities like Fort Lewis College to form our Board of Directors, which had its first meeting in January 2019, and our Technical Advisory Board. We also conducted our organization’s first site assessment in August 2018 at an abandoned mine site north of Silverton, Colorado, collecting rock samples and field water quality measurements with the help of a local contractor based out of Gunnison, geochemist Scott Effner, PG of Whetstone Associates. I worked with Effner to write and implement a geochemical analysis plan and quality assurance plan using EPA standard procedures and quality assurance protocols, which would ensure that the data generated would be robust and useful to all our stakeholders.

My work since then

Follow my graduation from Western Colorado University in 2019, I moved to El Paso, Texas, where I worked for two years at a copper mining company’s refinery and rod mill. I took my position as a hazardous waste coordinator there because I wanted to get firsthand knowledge of hazardous waste at the source: within private industry. I knew this experience would fit my career goals of working in remediation, as working with industry as potentially responsible parties is tantamount to this work. Though I loved working there over two years and learned a lot about hazardous waste compliance during my tenure, I left because I wanted more diverse and varied environmental project work under my belt.

In 2021, I accepted a position with the EPA’s Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START) contract. In that role, I served in the field on various projects including as lead scientist on complex, multi-contaminant Superfund site cleanups, as well as working as a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act subject matter expert on various private-sector projects. In 2023, I accepted a position as a corporate-level manager of environmental compliance and regulatory affairs at a regional waste disposal company, Milestone Environmental Services.

To read more about my work experience, visit my profile on LinkedIn.