GRO Forum
Greater Research Opportunities Undergraduate Student Fellowships
Protection
OCTOBER 2016
oEPA
United States
Environmental
Agency
GROing with the flow
News from a GRO Fellow
Savannah Tjaden
"Water transcends the divides between nations, disciplines
and people," says Savannah Tjaden, a 2014 GRO Fellow.
When she chose to major in hydrogeology at Northern
Arizona University, Flagstaff, Ariz., Savannah did some
online research on water issues and the global water crisis. "I
immediately I knew I was hooked!" she says. "I knew it would
be a way to have a real impact on people's lives and leave a
positive mark on the world."
SAVANNAH TJADEN
Savannah is currently spending nine months in Pretoria,
South Africa, as the recipient of a Fulbright research grant.
She is working with the Water Research Commission, a
legislatively mandated government organization that funds
research on prevalent water issues in the country. Half of
her time is devoted to her own project on climate change
preparedness of existing transboundary water management
in South Africa. The other half is spent with the WRC learning
about water management challenges and solutions in South
Africa. Savannah attends events, stakeholder meetings,
public engagement forums and a wide range of presentations
aimed at disseminating knowledge and working toward the
practical application of that knowledge.
"I'm very passionate about transboundary water
management," Savannah says. This issue includes building
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Savannah Tjaden (continued)
relationships between countries,
preventing conflict, ensuring access to
shared water resources and ensuring
sufficient quantity and quality of water
for environmental flows in rivers
that cross boundaries. "Studying
the Influences of climate change on
transboundary water management
in South Africa is a once in a lifetime
experience," Savannah continues, "It's
exciting and I'm looking forward to
learning as much as possible,"
Savannah has always cared about
the environment, A native of Idaho,
she's spent lots of time outdoors.
The GRO Fellowship enhanced her
understanding of what it means to work
in an environmental field. "It opened
GRO Fellows Abroad
my eyes to the complexities of
environmental work, both the
research and the translation
of science into effective
policy," she says. Savannah
also calls her internship at
Region 10 headquarters in
Seattle, Wash., one of the
most influential experiences in
her college career. "I gained a
greater understanding of just
how important collaboration
and communication are to
make progress and protect the
environment," she says.
KEZIAH GROTH-TUFT
Mae Kate Campbell
Mae Kate Campbell, a 2015 GRO Fellow,
spent four months in Havana, Cuba,
shortly after the U.S. reestablished
diplomatic relations. "I expected to be
the exception, but there were more than
100 American students there," she says.
Mae Kate studied in the University of
Havana's Department of Philosophy and
History, taking courses in Marxist-Leninist
Keziah Groth-Tuft
"Living in a culture so different from my own meant
that I was learning loads of lessons every day," says
Keziah Groth-Tuft, a 2015 GRO Fellow, about her study
abroad experience in Amman, Jordan. In addition to her
coursework, she interned at the environmental organization
JoFoE, the Jordanian Friends of Environment. Keziah
researched funding opportunities for a project called Women
Empowerment for Solar Electrification of Rural Villages, or
"Solar Mamas." JoFoE trained illiterate Bedouin women to
be solar engineers and bring economic opportunities and
electricity to their remote desert villages. This project seeks
not only to provide clean energy, but to raise awareness of
climate change and empower women.
In 2016, Keziah studied intelligence analysis, international
refugee law, cultural diversity and social capital, and the
Scandinavian welfare state in Copenhagen, Denmark. A
large part of her coursework involved field learning and travel,
including multi-day trips to Sweden and Turkey. Keziah also
had the opportunity to visit the Red Cross, Danish parliament
and Trampoline House, an independent community center
that provides refugees and asylum seekers in Denmark with
support and community.
Keziah is working toward a degree in international studies with
a focus on sustainability at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. "I
chose globalization and sustainability as my focus instead of
focusing on a specific region because I see sustainability and
globalization as relating to a variety of social justice issues
such as global poverty and climate change," she says. "I
felt this was the best way for me to combine my interests
in international relations, social justice and environmental
issues." She is already looking for another
international opportunity - she's applying
for a Fulbright grant to work on a master's
degree in human rights and environmental
law at Lancaster University in England.

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philosophy, contemporary capitalism, Cuban film, and Cuban
history, art and culture.
She also gained experience with Cuba's unique agricultural
system, which developed after the collapse of the Soviet
Union. "It really affected the country," Mae Kate says. "There
was extreme economic hardship and they were desperate
to feed the people." With neither fertilizer nor imported oil
for machinery, she says, "Cuba accidentally developed an
organic system of urban farming. People started to grow
things wherever they could, and it's still that way." Mae Kate
was immersed in this lifestyle during a home stay at a rural
agricultural community. "I helped with some of the cooking,"
she says. "We worked outdoors in a wooden structure under
metal sheeting and there were chickens running around while
we were chopping vegetables." A member of a dining co-op
at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, Mae Kate cooks for 100
people one day a week, but she says, "I was totally lost here!"
After experiences like climbing the highest mountain in
Cuba, where she says, "I saw more stars than I thought it
was possible to see," Mae Kate hopes that Cuba will pursue
environmentally responsible and sustainable growth in
the face of challenges like a possible increase in tourism
and associated development. She did some research on
environmental legislation in Cuba and says, "They recognize
that they are in a unique position, just now industrializing
heavily." She believes that the Cuban people value the
environment, and hopes that the government puts effort and
money into reducing air pollution and preserving the country's
beautiful beaches and remaining green spaces.
Maya Kaup
Maya Kaup, a 2015 GRO Fellow, has always loved animals.
She's studied busy, active squirrels, and has always wanted
to work with an animal at the other end of the energy
spectrum, the sloth, which she says appeals to the focused
and methodological part of her personality. In 2016, Maya
studied abroad at the National University of Costa Rica, and
while she didn't get to work directly with sloths, she learned a
lot about tropical ecology and the environmental challenges
facing Costa Rica, a major tourist destination.
The construction of large resorts in the country has
implications beyond clear-cutting and pollution. "The
guests don't leave the resorts, so they don't support local
businesses," Maya, a student of Willamette University,
Salem, Ore., says. "Local residents with smaller hotels
and eco-lodges lose business to them." Another issue is
the rise of for-profit wildlife sanctuaries, where animals like
sloths are taken from the wild and kept for tourists to visit.
Animals often are kept in sub-optimal conditions with poor
nutrition and little medical care. "I want to educate people
that animals including sloths are being exploited," she says.
"Many of them aren't released back to the wild. It's about
earning money, not conservation."
One of the perceptions that stuck with Maya after her trip
was the difference between living in Costa Rica and being a
tourist. "It's beautiful outside of the cities, where the tourists
go," she says. "But people living in cities don't necessarily
share that connection with nature. Most don't experience the
natural beauty of the country." She hopes that the Costa
Rican government will continue to enact environmental
protection laws and set aside land for conservation.
Grace DeSantis
"Studying in Costa Rica was the most eye-opening four
months of my life," says Grace DeSantis, a 2015 GRO Fellow
who attends SUNY College at Pittsburgh, Plattsburgh,
N.Y. "I saw the most incredible pieces of nature. I swam in
bioluminescent water, looked down into an active volcano,
hiked through rainforests teeming with biodiversity, zip lined
through a cloud forest and snorkeled in the most beautiful
coral reefs." She not only became more appreciative of the
environment, but also the people she encountered. "I met so
many people who touched my heart, including my welcoming
and generous host family, a great group of friends who I'm
still in contact with today, and professors who taught me so
much more than just the class agenda," Grace says.
Her favorite memory is a field trip for her Tropical Ecology
and Costa Rican Environmental Policy classes. The group
stayed at a family-owned lodge in San Isidro del General
for two nights and participated in multiple activities, such
as determining the species richness of trees and shrubs
in highland versus lowland rainforest plots and going on a
sunrise hike up to the top of a mountain called Cerro de
Saquira. They learned about the family's environmentally
friendly practices, such as building the entire lodge out of
fallen trees rather than cutting down standing ones, and
using local and home-grown produce, meat and medicines
rather than buying imported products. "Visiting this lodge
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SERA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Research
and Development (8723P)
Washington, DC 20460
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
$300
EPA/600/N-04/198
October 2016
www.epa.gov/research
Grace DeSantis (continued)
was such an incredible trip because I got to experience the
workings of an in-progress sustainable lifestyle," Grace says.
Studying in Costa Rica helped Grace realize what she wants
to do after completing her bachelor degrees in environmental
science and environmental planning and management.
"I'd like to focus my professional career on environmental
management. It fascinated me to hear about another
country's mentality towards the environment and I aspire
to continue studying similar topics in the future," she says.
"I hope to have the opportunity to travel within my career
and help others learn about and implement environmentally
friendly practices."
Humanizing Science
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Jose Marrero Rosado
Biochemistry and anthropology don't seem like subjects that
go together, but 2015 GRO Fellow Jose Marrero Rosado
is using this interesting combination of majors to study
anthropogenic contaminants, which are those that come from
human activity. "In both fields I can find answers related to
'what is going on?' or 'what went wrong?'" Jose says. At the
micro level, biochemistry gives him the opportunity to learn
how something as seemingly unimportant as a small protein
can cause a problem when it doesn't fulfill its function. "On
the other hand," Jose says, "with anthropology, I can transfer
some techniques used in biochemistry and molecular biology
to answer questions about what went wrong at the biological
level when one finds skeletal remains."
A student at Syracuse University, Syracuse, N Y., Jose is
currently working in two research labs, investigating the
toxicity of two chemicals discovered in Onondaga Lake and
also lead poisoning in skeletal remains from 19th century New
York City. "I feel a responsibility to understand how humans
are polluting the world, but more importantly, how we can
fix it," he says. While research like his can benefit humans,
he notes, "It's the well-being of all the other organisms that
makes me particularly interested in this topic."
Jose believes that being a GRO Fellow gives him a duty to
not take the environment for granted. "It must be respected,
protected and taken care of," he says. "GRO Fellows want to
know what, how and why, and with these answers, change
the world for the better, regardless of how minimal."
JOSE MARRERO ROSADO

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