Student fuses environmental studies with economics

You’ve combined environmental studies and economics in some really interesting ways. Tell us about your research project.

My environmental research methods class, taught by Dr. David Salisbury, developed a group research proposal concerning a small indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon Borderlands.

My aspect of the project was called "Non-timber Forest Products and Economic Independence in the Peruvian Amazon," which would promote diversification of income and sustainability of the Amazon rainforest in the face of illegal logging.

Four students are presenting their individual research proposals at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting this April in Boston, an opportunity that Dr. Salisbury urged us to take advantage of. Although all four students are graduating this spring, the proposal will be further developed and hopefully there will be funding for future university students to work on it.

When you’re not thinking about the Amazon, we hear you’re interested in a region a little closer to home?

I interned this past spring at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, which is a non-profit organization that works as a partnership with different organizations to develop comprehensive plans to promote Bay health and biodiversity.

I emailed the organization to gage interest in a possible internship and the Alliance was quick to respond. The Richmond office was small, consisting of only two full time employees, although there are offices in four other cities within the Bay's watershed.

While there, I sat in on a planning meeting for the Alliance's annual James River Sojourn trip, which is an week-long educational kayaking trip during the summertime. I also learned about the importance of water quality testing as an indicator of Bay health. The Alliance mobilizes volunteers to take water quality samples throughout the state as part of a large, integrated database. I also got a first hand look at environmental education. One morning I traveled to Amelia Middle School and aided in a classroom project in which students learned about indicator species and river health from the collection of "leaf packets."

What are your plans for the future?

I don’t have any definite plans for the future, although I would like to work in the environmental consulting sector. I also intend to go to graduate school for environmental economics in the next few years.

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