7月的高温已经让人受不了了.m.,当 斯特拉·坎宁安，21岁 arrives at a site on the banks of Waller Creek in downtown 奥斯丁. 交通高峰期的嗡嗡声, 她沿着水边走, using a handheld device to collect data about the air quality.
五分钟后, 坎宁安爬到街道上, 哪里的城市噪音更大, 然后朝另一个方向走. She pauses to make sure the data has synched with an app on her smartphone, 然后向北走了几个街区去下一个地点.
Cunningham’s morning walks are part of her eight-week summer internship with the Nature Conservancy, funded through the 跨学科科学研究所(i4) at St. 爱德华的. 该研究所是由一项为期五年，耗资1亿美元的基金建立的.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Improving 本科 STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program.
Urban ecologists in the 奥斯丁 office of the Nature Conservancy are studying the effects of multiple efforts to reintegrate nature throughout the Waller Creek watershed. 这条小溪蜿蜒流过居民区, 德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校, and an urban waterway that winds through downtown before joining Lady Bird Lake. Cunningham and her four teammates collect data about air quality, plants and 野生动物 along the creek to track and measure changes in this urban ecosystem over time.
每天早上7点到9点.m., Cunningham visits four sites along the creek to take air-quality measurements along the creek and on an adjacent roadway, 所以她的团队可以比较两者. She then meets up with her colleagues for the day’s field research, which includes bird counts and surveys of the 植被 and trees along the creek. The students also check 野生动物 cameras that capture images of animals using the creek — raccoons, 负鼠, 鸟——偶尔还有人.
During one survey, Cunningham’s team encountered someone living in a camp in the creek bed. “Those interactions opened my eyes to different ways people are using the creek, 还涉及到城市生活的各个方面,她说。. “当我还是St. 爱德华的, the social justice dimensions of homelessness are always on my mind.”
Cunningham got interested in fieldwork during a weeklong research experience the summer after her freshman year,当 she did 植被 surveys at a park in northwest 奥斯丁. 数学专业, 她正在考虑从事数据科学方面的职业, which develops methods to analyze large datasets like those generated in environmental field research.
Her team this summer includes environmental science majors from the University of Texas and high school students interning with the 奥斯丁 Parks and Recreation Department. Cunningham says one of her biggest takeaways is learning how to work with colleagues from different backgrounds. “Being able to use their expertise and collaborate on a diverse team was a great opportunity — not just to learn about myself, 而是学习如何与他人合作,她说。.
早上7点刚过, Cunningham starts the day’s air-quality monitoring by walking along Waller Creek near the Dell Medical School campus downtown.
个人空气监测装置, 或帕姆, syncs with an app that automatically downloads the data to a spreadsheet Cunningham can process later on her computer.
The PAM collects information about the levels of carbon dioxide, 一氧化碳和空气中的微粒物质, 还有温度, 湿度和气压.
The team’s research measures the impact of restoring urban green spaces on air quality, 植被, 野生动物, 甚至是使用市中心公园的人.
Cunningham takes a snack break before her team starts the day’s field work near the Waller Delta, 小溪与伯德小姐湖交汇的地方.
The team uses a quadrat made of PVC pipe to mark off a one-square-meter area for 植被 surveys.
在数完样方内的花之后, Cunningham and her colleagues set out traps to collect bees, 苍蝇和黄蜂是传粉者.
Some sections of the creek have been restored with a biodiverse range of native plants, and the team wants to see whether those “no-mow zones” have more pollinators than areas that are mowed.
Cunningham takes a snack break before her team starts the day’s field work near the Waller Delta, 小溪与伯德小姐湖交汇的地方.
这个小组在下午3点前结束实地工作. 回到她的公寓, Cunningham uses part of the afternoon to go through the day’s air-quality data.
在她空闲的时候, 坎宁安在健身房锻炼, 去上瑜伽课, 或者骑自行车去巴顿泉.
坎宁安在思想库做志愿者, 儿童博物馆, where she helps kids with projects like using craft materials to create their own shadow-puppet show.
博物馆提供“地球”等亲身体验的展览, 风, 激励,” which lets kids interact with a representation of a cloud. “孩子们有疯狂的想法，精力充沛, and that playfulness was something I wanted to keep in my schedule by working at the children’s museum,她说。. 坎宁安正在考虑从事数据科学方面的职业, which would connect her interests in environmental research and mathematics.
罗宾·罗斯的故事
摄影:Chelsea Purgahn