Course Work
Throughout my four years at Ithaca College, I have pursued numerous course in biology, chemistry, environmental policy, earth system science, and much more. The most relevant courses to my career path are listed below.
Natural Resources and Ecology
In this course, we primarily focused on the cultivation of non-timber forest products. The course functioned as a student run business in which we cultivate varieties of oyster and shiitake mushrooms, tap maple syrup, and tend honey bee hives.
Our mushrooms were grown primarily in a growth room. I learned how to inoculate, incubate, pin, and fruit mushrooms. I spent countless hours tending to our precious oyster mushrooms. We also learned how to inoculate and care for shiitake logs.
Into the wee hours of the night, our class took turns boiling sap down to maple syrup.
Our "sugar bush" was a stand of 96 sugar maple trees that produced 19.6 gallons of maple syrup over the winter of 2013.
Our bee yard consisted of three hives from which we harvest honey and bees wax.
All of our products were sold to either local restaurants or the general public. From this course I learned the inner working of a small cooperative business and learned the ecology and cultivation of mushrooms, maple syrup, and honey bees.
General Ecology
In this course we performed several experiments that demonstrate basic ecological priciples. In one particular study, we supported the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on a mitigation wetland area here on campus. THe study was conducted to test if the new wetlands were serving the same ecological functions of a natural wetlands.
We performed quadrate sampling along transects through the wetland and recorded the species richness and abundance in each quadrate. We extrapolated these results to represent the wetland as a whole. We performed the same procedure in a neighboring natural wetland and compared our results to determine if the mitigation wetlands were functioning as mandated.
Enfield Creek Watershed Assessment
This watershed assessment was my senior research project. We performed this study in order to characterize the water chemistry of the Enfield Creek Watershed in Enfield, NY prior to any further industrial development. Our results were shared with the USGS to support their study of the Enfield Creek Watershed. In this study we tested pH, alkalinity, specific conductivity, turbidity, and inorganic ion concentrations.
We worked with community members to attain surface and ground water samples throughout the watershed. We used an ion chromatograph to test for inorganic ion concentrations. Our results are meant to characterize the watershed at different conditions throughout the year. If we have baseline data on ion concentrations, we can monitor the chemistry. If ion concentrations were to change dramatically, we may not be able to determine exactly what is causing the fluctuation, but we will be able to guide further testing.