As a premiere U.S. environmental program, Environmental Sciences at UVM attracts top-notch faculty involved in cutting-edge research. Environmental Sciences students have opportunities to work on research projects with faculty and graduate students, or conduct independent research projects, in the laboratory and in the field.
Students can find funding for undergraduate research projects on a competitive basis through programs at UVM. The UVM Office of Fellowships, Opportunities and Undergraduate Research helps students identify funding opportunities to support their undergraduate research proposals. Undergraduate students benefit by engaging with scholars as they conduct their research.
Learn more about undergraduate research opportunities in the Rubenstein School >>
As a student, Bryce collaborated with Associate Professor Stephanie Hurley of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to write a grant proposal, which resulted in a UVM undergraduate research award.
With his grant, Bryce worked with Stephanie, a postdoctoral associate, and a graduate student to study biorention systems—high-tech rain gardens that catch, slow, and filter stormwater runoff from rooftops, roadways, and other human-made surfaces. The research informs the design of future green stormwater infrastructure best management practices in Vermont to help clean water flowing to downstream ecosystems.
Bryce presented his findings at the UVM Student Research Conference. He also shared his grant writing and research experience at a UVM Office of Fellowships, Opportunities and Undergraduate Research event to help other undergraduates get started in research.
“I have always been interested in climate change work and feel it is an important ecological problem to which I would like to contribute through research,” said Olivia. “The community of the Rubenstein School helped to foster some amazing opportunities and helped me to develop personal relationships with my professors."
Olivia became a research assistant in Rubenstein School faculty's biogeochemistry and global change ecology laboratories. She learned how a lab operates and how to run instruments used in ecosystem science research. As a sophomore, she applied to the UVM Honors College to pursue a senior research thesis with her faculty advisor Associate Professor Carol Adair. She studied soil carbon and its relationship to climate change and conducted a computer meta-analysis of data gathered from 61 sites across the globe.
Olivia is now a PhD student at the University of Michigan where she conducts global change and ecosystem ecology research.