Conservation

Senior Gwendolyne Fields Explores Conservation in Virginia and Namibia

Daniel Hyunbin Chung — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 18:02:35 +0000

Senior Gwendolyne Fields Explores Conservation in Virginia and Namibia Daniel Hyunbin Chung Fri, 02/17/2023 - 13:02

Gwendolyne Fields’ life has been defined by a connection to natural landscapes across the world. Growing up outside of the U.S., Fields developed an awareness of how global issues like climate change impacted environmental degradation and species decline in multiple countries. With these experiences fresh in her mind, Fields joined the Honors College at George Mason University interested in learning more about addressing these changes through conservation.

Her journey began in Honors 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry, a first-semester requirement in the Honors College designed to introduce students to scholarly research at the college level. Through the course, Fields’ interest in conservation blossomed as she investigated the anthropogenic and environmental factors of Cross-River Gorilla population decline. Working on this project gave Fields a sense of empowerment: “it made me feel like I could help fight against these threats a population faces or increase the population of endangered species.” Research became a potential avenue for positive action.

During her first year, Fields also toured and received an invitation to be a scholar at SMSC at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC), an opportunity coinciding with her growing commitment to supporting endangered species. Eager to dive further into conservation, she dedicated her Spring 2022 to studying at SMSC, specifically enrolling in the Endangered Species Program. There, Fields connected with various Smithsonian Institute professionals and attending their lectures, as well as researched at Smithsonian’s National Zoo and secured a nine-month internship lined up for this academic year. Fields also learned how to develop a conservation management plan for endangered species.

While employing her prior research skills to this project, she noted the challenge practitioners encounter considering the little existing research on particular species’ populations. This observation motivated her conservation pursuits during this past summer. Through a travel grant awarded by the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR), Fields travelled to Namibia to work with the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), an organization that aims to promote conservation, research, and local economic development. As a Cheetah Husbandry Intern, Fields ensured cheetah wellbeing through maintenance of cheetah enclosures, administering medicine, and regular feeding of [meat] sourced from local farmers. During her off-time, Fields worked on a research project mentored by Dr. David Luther and funded by OSCAR’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Fields compared the growth rates of 65 cheetah cubs aged 0-6 months in Somaliland and Namibia, using preliminary data collected by CCF to investigate the factors contributing to observed differences.

The opportunity to practice and research about conservation at once was a key experience for Fields. “There's a lot of questions that we can ask, which is why research is also really beautiful. You can be creative and figure out ways to share your findings, demonstrate what needs to be done with scientists and the community as a whole.”

Looking forward, Fields is excited to continue her research with CCF and ultimately publish their findings. Thanks to her time at SMSC, she has an internship lined up for her senior year at Smithsonian’s National Zoo as an Elephant Trails Intern. These opportunities, she emphasizes, were possible by stepping outside of her comfort zone: “Encourage yourself to do things that you might not think that you'd be interested in, or you might be scared to try. Still, go out there keep asking questions.”

Topics

Conservation

conservation-learning environment

Honors College

Sophia Chapin

rstaffo2 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 19:06:47 +0000

Sophia Chapin rstaffo2 Fri, 04/16/2021 - 15:06

Photo provided

"Being a part of the Honors College has played into the kind of person I always have been: someone who is thinking across disciplines," says Sophia Chapin.

Chapin has always brought this multidisciplinary perspective to bear, whether she's working on communications projects, environmental activism, or environmental science.

During her time at Mason, she spent a semester intensively studying conservation at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation in Front Royal, which provides undergraduate students the opportunity to study at the prestigious Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. As a result of her time there, Chapin interned with the Clifton Institute in Warrenton, helping them with a data analysis project that illuminates the relationships between bird abundance and vegetation.

Chapin previously held an internship at Huntley Meadows park in Alexandria during the first few months of the pandemic. While working at Huntley Meadows, she participated in an environmental and water quality evaluation project.

This semester, Chapin has worked with a group of students who received funding from the Patriot Green Fund to re-establish trees and restore an environmentally degraded site on campus near where the College Apartments once stood.

Her excellence in the environmental sciences has complemented her commitment to environmental activism. Throughout the past year, Chapin has been involved with the Virginia Environmental Justice Summit, an event hosted by the Mason Environmental Justice Summit. During her time working on this project, she helped to organize the event, create and promote press releases, publish articles, and coordinate a highly professional social media presence. In doing so, she showed her commitment to inspiring others to join the environmental and climate justice movements, which seek to address systemic inequality as a part of responding ongoing environmental crises.

While developing and cultivating a commitment to environmental issues, Chapin has also become a formidable communicator.

Photo by Kayla Cook

Her journey as a communicator started during her first year at Mason, when she began writing about various social justice, cultural, and environmental issues for the Her Campus publication. During her first year, she also participated in the "Filming and Photography for Conservation" study abroad program in Nepal, which gave her an opportunity to explore her interests in conservation in connection with her skills as a communicator, while learning alongside students who were often pursuing careers in film or videography.

For the last two years, Chapin has been central to the Honors College Communications team, where she's managed a portfolio of communication projects that demonstrate her exceptional ability to tell compelling stories for a range of audiences. She often found opportunities to connect her strengths as a communicator with her academic interests by finding stories that make vivid the ways that the Honors College community is engaging with environmental issues. Her supervisor, Honors College Director of Communications Richard Todd Stafford, says of her: "Sophia is one of the strongest undergraduate communicators I have had the opportunity to work with; her awareness of audience, attention to detail, and ability to manage complex projects has improved the quality of every project she has touched."

Over the last year, as Chapin approached graduation, she took leadership over the Honors College alumni newsletter. In this role, she created the processes that enable the Honors College to reach its alumni community, while developing professional and interesting content that alumni would be interested in reading. Director of Advancement Valentino Bryant says that, ever since Chapin took over the project, alumni have been reaching out to him asking about how they can give back.

Leaving Mason, Chapin is interviewing for jobs that will give her the opportunity to combine these skills and interests. She says the Honors College helped her embrace the idea that she could find a multidisciplinary career: "I don't have to necessarily choose between environmental science and communications, but I can do something that is a hybrid of multiple things I'm interested in."

Topics

Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation

Ben Rhoades

rstaffo2 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 18:55:23 +0000

Ben Rhoades rstaffo2 Fri, 04/16/2021 - 14:55

Ben Rhoades in Spring 2020 with a B.A. in Environmental and Sustainability Studies, after making an impact on environmental issues at Mason.

From talking about climate change policy with President Cabrera to protesting Virginia pipelines, Ben was a constant presences in conversations about sustainability and environmental justice during his four years at Mason. 

Since graduating, Rhoades has been working with the Reston Association as a Watershed Specialist, assisting with the maintenance of water resources within Reston, Virginia. “It has been a great way to apply the skills I learned in Mason's Environmental Studies program and get work outdoors,” says Rhoades. As a Watershed Specialist, Ben works as part of a team responsible for the water quality of the lakes, drainage and erosion issues, boating, and recreational water activities. “It’s been a great experience coming right out of college and being able to practice some of the things about water conservation that I learned over the course of my time at Mason in the Environmental Studies department.”

Before graduating, Rhoades knew that he wanted to continue working in sustainability, "whether I’m an ecologist or some kind of social scientist, [I'd like to] generally [be] working to restore or improve ecosystems for the better of life, to improve and mitigate climate change, or working within social institutions to improve rights... within the context of climate change.”

Now, Rhoades’ career aligns with his long-term goal of improving ecosystems, and many of the first steps towards his career came from his experiences in the Honors College. "I don’t think I would necessarily be aware of all of the issues [or] the entirety of the issues that I want to deal with without the Honors College."

As early as his freshman year at Mason, Rhoades knew he was passionate about environmental sustainability. Through his Honors 110 course, the Principles of Research and Inquiry component of the Honors College, Rhoades conducted literature research on photography in environmental education. In Honors 240: Reading the Past, with Professor Johanna Bockman, Rhoades was introduced to the big picture of economic systems and injustice, which are at the heart of much of the activism he does surrounding climate change.

Throughout his time at Mason, Ben was involved in additional environmental research through OSCAR’s Summer Team Impact Grants. He’s worked on projects under the program for two summers — the first looking at agricultural fields in Fauquier County. The second summer, Ben researched the presence of microplastics in the tidal Potomac River. Both opportunities familiarized Ben with experimental design, data collection, and working as part of a collaborative research team, all of which he now uses in his career: “[They were] really invaluable experiences.” In 2020, his microplastics research project won the OSCAR Student Excellence Award.

While at Mason, Rhoades studied Wildlife Ecology & Conservation (WEC) at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) located in Front Royal, Virginia.  “It was a great experience not only because of the super-specialized conservation education I was getting from practitioners in the field, but also the experience of having such a small cohort of people living at [the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute] together.” 

Even now, Rhoades reflects on the value of a tight-knit academic community. “I am still friends with so many people,” he says of his peers in the Honors College. In addition to staying in touch with his old friends, Rhoades continues to meet and connect with new Honors College students through the Climate Change and Energy Transition reading group facilitated by Honors College Director of Communications, Professor Stafford. He has been enjoying staying in touch with activists from throughout the Mason community, sharing, “I still spend my free time thinking about preserving our global environment and fighting climate change [with other] GMU students and alum.”  

As an alumnus, Rhoades reflects on all the opportunities, both in and out of the classroom, that Mason presented for his success. “All of my projects had something to do with the environment or environmental impacts from people; it ties perfectly in with the watershed work I do at the Reston Association.”

Rhoades’ advice for current students is to make the most of the privileges they have and use those privileges to demand change. “Mason students have a lot of power in that they’re at this great point in their lives where they have incredible access to academic resources and political resources. They can combine those [resources]” to advocate for a better future.

Topics

Environment

Sustainability

Conservation

Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation

Honors College

Office of Student Scholarship Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR)

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute offers hands-on learning for Mason students

alin23 — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 02:00:21 +0000

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute offers hands-on learning for Mason students alin23 Thu, 12/05/2019 - 21:00

“[Our mission is] teaching conservation through practice."

– Robert Barrett, Assistant Director of Recruitment and Outreach at SCBI

From the beautiful rolling hills to the on-site labs, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute offers an extraordinary opportunity with hands-on learning experiences for all students interested in any aspect of conservation.

On October 21, 2019, George Mason students had the unique experience of touring the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI). Located in Front Royale, Virginia, just along the border of the Shenandoah National Park, the preservation focuses on taking care of endangered species and researching ways to conserve and protect wildlife.

After arriving at the institute on “Conservation Day,” the group of Mason students boarded a van for a tour of the expansive area SCBI provides for their animals. Bill Clark, an employee at the institute, as well as our tour guide, began by recounting the original purpose of the land before becoming the Smithsonian Biology Conservation.

Clouded Leopard cub at SMSC. Photo provided by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services.

Opening in 1908, the location to be known as the Smithsonian Conservation was a United States Army Cavalry Remount Station. Here, horses were trained and bought to be used in the cavalry, infantry, pack and field artillery and transportation corps. Fast-forward to 1975, the Conservation and Research Center is established, now with the intention of helping a broader range of animals.

Today the 3,100 acres of land in Front Royal features pastures, streams, ponds, and forests for endangered animals to reside in as they are cared for and studied. On the tour, students were able to see a slew of animals, from Persian Onagers and Maned Wolves, to a Przewalski Horse and Micronesian Kingfisher. All of these animals are endangered or threatened, and not seen often in the wild.

“By the time you find out an animal is endangered, you usually don’t know enough about it and there are not too many left to study,” Clark says. “[Trying to learn more] is one of the things we do here.”

For conservation, most animals reside at the institute for reproduction purposes. One animal in particular, Walnut the Red Crown Crane, provided an extra challenge for scientists at the SCBI.

Attempting to find a suitable mate for Walnut had previously proved difficult when the Red Crown Crane took to killing her husband. Not wanting to risk another incident, the Smithsonian Conservation had birdkeeper Chris Crowe reenact the courting gestures of Walnut’s species. To everyone’s relief, Walnut accepted Crowe’s advances, allowing him to get close enough to artificially inseminate her, and earning her the name “The crane who fell in love with the human” from the Washington Post.

At the institute, elements like streams, Alfalfa fields, and Chinese bamboo are maintained to simulate the habitats familiar to the animal residents. Many of these habitats are disappearing, and often due to human activity; another project at SCBI focuses on discovering a solution.

The BiodiversiTREE Experiment is one of SCBI’s initiatives which plants different species of trees to discover what can survive in the area. This 100-year-old project looks to explore how forests react to climate change over a long period of time.

Adding to their efforts of protecting our environment, the SCBI also has set up a solar field, which produces 20 percent of the power the facility uses.

At the end of the tour, students met with SCBI’s Assistant Director of Recruitment and Outreach, Robert Barrett, for information on how to get involved at the institute through the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation program. “[Our mission is] teaching conservation through practice,” Barrett says. “Faculty favor teaching conservation as it’s practiced in the real world; there is a lot of experiential learning. You are actually using a lot of the tools and the techniques and the technologies of conservation, not just learning about them in a classroom setting.”

The Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) offers three major undergraduate semester-away programs: Conservation, Biodiversity, and Society; Wildlife Ecology and Conservation; and Endangered Species Conservation. For each, students are provided housing on the SMSC campus, and face a mix of classes, research experiences, and job practicums as they work alongside other scientists. More programs and courses are offered over the summer, and graduate school and internship opportunities are also available for interested students.

Honors College junior, Marie Tessier, worked full time at the conservation through the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR) program, and describes her time there: “It was a really awesome experience getting to work along scientists in the lab. [We were] working on stuff that’s never been done before.” At the institute, Tessier studied spermatogenesis - the production of sperm cells - with lambs.

“It really is an incredible place to study,” Barrett concludes, and it’s hard to disagree after touring the impressive conservation facilities. Clearly, the programs and facilities at the SCBI offer hope to many threatened animal species while providing meaningful opportunities for George Mason students to make a difference.

Photo provided by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services.