Vairleene Einstein and Anna Kay Sitzman (Environmental Studies ’22) presented their research last weekend in the Mentored Undergraduate Research Poster Competition at the Annual Professional Development Conference of the National Association of Biology Teachers in Atlanta, GA.  They competed against other college students who have conducted research in their discipline and were judged by scientists and science educators in their respective fields. 

In the competition, Einstein *placed first* for her presentation entitled, “Community Buy-In of Innovative Water Management to Facilitate Change” based on her work with Dr. Aimée K. Thomas to study attitudes and actions of participants enrolled in an educational stormwater management summer program. Loyola Academy is a collaborative design + science workshop that incorporates an interdisciplinary approach of techniques in the hopes of understanding the social, cultural, and ecological implications of how New Orleans manages water, from the historic sole reliance on gray infrastructure to the innovative green infrastructure being implemented to reduce flooding in the city. This work was funded by Entergy, AT&T, and the Jean and Mary DeKernion Research Fund for Life Sciences at Loyola University New Orleans.

Sitzman presented her work entitled, “Combined Sewer Systems, Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptations in the Great Lakes Region” which she conducted with Dr. Nancy Beller-Simms through the prestigious 2021 William M. Lapenta NOAA Student Internship Program at the Climate Program Office in Silver Spring, MD last summer.