Dickinson College
Environmental Science Major Jobs 2020
Environmental Science
Katie Overstrum
Major: environmental science
Hometown: Wallingford, Connecticut
Employer: Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
Job title: field research assistant, Department of Forestry and Horticulture
Job Responsibilities
I will assist in studies to increase the resilience of oak forests through plot establishment, plant identification, vegetation inventories and data entry.
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
Dickinson has helped me to become comfortable in both field, laboratory and educational environments, and I feel prepared to pursue work in any of these categories.
What are you most anticipating about your career or post-graduate pursuits?
I am excited to use my skills to help protect the forests of my home state. Looking towards the future, I am excited to apply these skills in pursuit of further education.
What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?
My Dickinson experience was definitely defined by time spent outdoors and in the field. I look back fondly on my student-faculty collaborative research experiences in both Carlisle and Iceland, my time spent in field based labs, my EcoLeague exchange experience at Prescott College in Arizona, and my years of hands on employment at the College Farm.
Internship Experience
I was an intern for Choate Rosemary Hall's Summer Programs in Wallingford, Conn. This sparked my interest in education, whether it be contributing to the overall body of knowledge or helping to share that knowledge with students and others.
Paige Baisley
Major: environmental science
Hometown: Wappingers Falls, New York
Employer: Dickinson College Farm
Job title: first year farm apprentice
Job Responsibilities
I will be assisting with vegetable production and training the student farm crew during the summer and fall. I will receive extra training on farm management, and I will focus my work in managing the greenhouses.
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
The community at Dickinson has helped me build my confidence and interpersonal skills. My courses and professors have helped me build skills to be a lifelong learner, to be critical of information and to form my own educated opinions.
What are you most anticipating about your career or post-graduate pursuits?
Working in the food system, especially during this pandemic, I am most excited to connect with people. Food unites everyone and it is so essential to provide equal access to healthy food. I am also excited to take a break from academia and work with my hands. Building mental and physical strength in a different capacity than school work while doing tangible work will be very good for my mental health. I am also very grateful to continue to work with the Dickinson community and hopefully contribute meaningfully to other people's experiences at Dickinson.
What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?
Living in the Tree House (Center for Sustainable Living) as part of a wonderful community was one of my most defining experiences at Dickinson. The Tree House community helped me live in line with my sustainability values and develop new sustainability habits. Living with like-minded individuals is an extremely rare opportunity, and I am very grateful for it. I am also grateful for how my housemates challenged me. Despite our similar values, we all had different experiences and perspectives on the world. I learned so much from my housemates about environmental and social injustices and how I contribute to injustice and can help reduce injustice. My housemates supported so much of my personal growth. The house has been an important place for many of my happiest moments, most thought-provoking conversations, and a place to seek comfort on my most stressful days.
Internship Experience
I worked for the New York State Department of Health as part of their Zika research team. I trapped and identified mosquitos to help determine the presence of mosquito species that could carry Zika.
Rachel Krewson
Majors: physics, environmental science
Hometown: Schwenksville, Pennsylvania
Employer: Triumvirate Environmental
Job title: environmental specialist
Job Responsibilities
I will be working to make sure hazardous waste is properly handled and disposed of as an environmental specialist.
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
Dickinson gave me research opportunities as an undergraduate that I wouldn't have had at any other institution. Additionally, its liberal arts education allowed me to become a double major in two different scientific fields, something that has helped me have an edge in the job market and have a more wholistic, interdisciplinary view on what I studied in my time there. I was also able to build my resume with my job experience at ALLARM, an organization unique to Dickinson.
What are you most anticipating about your career or post-graduate pursuits?
I eventually want to go back to school and get my master's degree in environmental engineering, but am working to gain experience and save money in the meantime.
What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?
My research, relationships with professors and other students, departmental events and other campus-wide events will always mean the world to me.
Internship Experience
- Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy - conservation intern in Schwenksville, Pa.; summer after my first year.
- Dickinson student research assistant - aquatic climate change research brought me to Iceland with Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Kristin Strock over the summers after my sophomore and junior years at the college and continued into a senior research project.
Kaia Xue
Major: environmental science
Hometown: Leshan, China
Graduate School: Duke University
Field of Study: environmental management
Graduate School: Duke University
Field of Study: environmental management
TAKE THE NEXT STEPS
Published May 6, 2020