This section outlines the accomplishments of featured ES students and alumni and highlights  internship, activism, research and career opportunities available to ES majors and minors both at IWU and after graduation. If you are a student or alumnus and wish to submit or update your profile, please contact the ES Student Assistant.

Students

Danny Burke is a junior Environmental Studies (Policy) and Hispanic Studies double major. He is a recipient of the John and Erma Stutzman Peace Fellowship, which will enable him to pursue an internship related to environmental justice in the Hispanic community. Danny plans to attend law school upon graduation in order to pursue a career in environmental law. Contact Danny.

Robert Guise is a senior majoring in Environmental Studies (International Environmental Sustainability) and English. He held internships at the Blue Schoolhouse Organic Farm and with the Action Research Center, where he tested water quality in local streams and rivers. Robert studied abroad at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and, upon graduation, plans to attend graduate school overseas or enter the Peace Corps. Contact Robert.

Leslie Morrison is a senior Environmental Studies major and a Morris K. Udall Scholarship honorable mention recipient. She studied in Costa Rica for Dr. Harper's Tropical Ecology class and in Australia with the School for International Training. Leslie is highly involved with the Sierra Student Coalition, acting as president her junior and senior years. She has also conducted research on the effects of climate change on soybeans and the effects of PCBs on rats with the University of Illinois. Contact Leslie.

Will Palmisano is a senior Environmental Studies (Chemistry) major. He is currently conducting research with Dr. Hoffmann on the quantitative analysis of estradiol in water systems. This will be Will’s third year as a Residential Community Advisor, a position that entails the promotion of sustainable living and peer education on environmental issues. Will is spending the summer interning with Project Vote Smart, a nonpartisan organization that provides political information to the public to help them make educated voting decisions. Contact Will.

Olivia DeMeo is a junior Environmental Studies major and Music minor.  She studied Green Politics in the United Kingdom/European Union for a semester while abroad in London.  She volunteered over May term at Sugar Grove Nature Center and worked on their native plant garden.  She also volunteered over the summer ('07) with the Sierra Club in Las Vegas, NV.  During summer '08, she will be doing research at the University of New Hampshire through their Institute of Earth, Oceans, and Space.  Olivia plans to attend graduate school to study environmental science. Contact Olivia.  

Kelly Petersen is a sophomore Environmental Studies (Ecology) major with minors in Hispanic Studies and Biology. As vice president then co-president of the Sierra Student Coalition, and a member of the group's Talloires Declaration committee, she played an important role in IWU's adoption of the document as well as various other environmental initiatives on campus. Kelly has also served as a volunteer both at Funk's Grove and for the Ecology Action Center's environmental education program.  She has been an active member of GREENetwork and has worked as the Environmental Studies student assistant.   Contact Kelly.

Alumni

Michael Koenitz-Hudac is a 2008 graduate with degrees in Environmental Studies and Business Administration.  Michael has enjoyed studying the many similarities between a healthy environment and business.  He interned at the Ecology Action Center where he developed a marketing plan to promote recycling in the Bloomington and Normal communities.  His senior project outlined an environmental certification program for small retail businesses to adopt.  Currently he is employed with Walgreen Co. in Deerfield, IL as a Purchasing Coordinator. Contact Michael.

Leslie Coleman graduated in 2007 with a double major in Environmental Studies and International Studies (Development). She co-founded the campus chapter of the Sierra Student Coalition and also participated in internships with the Illinois EPA, The Land Connection and the Merck Family Fund. A recipient of the Morris K. Udall Scholarship, Leslie is spent the summer after graduation working on a local organic farm and has been in The Gambia (West Africa) since September 2007 working as an NGO Development volunteer with the Peace Corps. Contact Leslie.

Kathryn Rinder graduated in 2007 with a major in Environmental Studies and a minor in History.  She studied abroad in Australia with SIT's Sustainability and the Environment program. She participated in an environmental education internship with the Student Conservation Association in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and also served as an intern with the Ecology Action Center. Kathryn spent the summer after graduation working as a naturalist on a ranch in Colorado and currently has a temporary internship with the Sierra Club.  She later plans to pursue environmental consulting in the Northwest. Contact Kathryn.

Ryan Smith graduated in 2007 with a major in Environmental Studies (Policy) and a minor in Political Science. He co-founded IWU's Sierra Student Coalition and interned with the Illinois EPA in Springfield and Greenpeace USA in Washington, DC. Ryan was also the recipient of the IWU Student Leadership and Distinguished Service Award for service to the community.  Since September 2007 he has been in The Gambia (West Africa) conducting environmental education work with the Peace Corps. Contact Ryan.

Megan Guse graduated in 2006 with a major in Biology and a minor in Environmental Studies. She is currently pursuing a Master's in Environmental Science from Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Concurrent with her studies, Megan works for the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, where she utilizes GIS systems, writes grant proposals and promotes alternative transportation. She will be spending the summer conducting water quality assessments of rivers for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Contact Megan.

Jeff Scott graduated in 2007 with a major in Art and a minor in Environmental Studies. He spent the summer after his graduation working on a small organic farm in Northern California and currently works with AmeriCorps as an education intern at a farm in Northwest Wisconsin. In the fall of 2007, he will move to a farm in Vermont to work with at-risk high school students. Contact Jeff.

Amanda Solliday graduated in 2006 with a double major in Environmental Studies and Biology. She will soon finish a Master's degree at Cornell University in the Crop and Soil Sciences program, with a focus on International Agriculture and Rural Development. Amanda recently studied international agriculture in Mexico as part of the program. In the fall of 2008, she will be starting a job at EPA Headquarters (Office of Pesticide Programs) in Washington, DC. Contact Amanda.

Kylee (Billings) Eblin graduated in 2003 with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Environmental Studies, and is now enrolled in a PhD program in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on environmentally-relevant levels of arsenicals in drinking water in the US/Mexico area. Kylee studies how low levels of these arsenicals cause malignant transformation of bladder cells. She has published her work in the journals Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, Toxicological Sciences, and Toxicology. She will graduate in May 2008 with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology, and will work for S.C. Johnson and Sons in Racine, WI as a research toxicologist. Contact Kylee.

Erinn Howard graduated in 2003 with a major in Biology and a minor in Environmental Studies and is now pursuing a PhD in Microbiology at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on bacterial degradation of oceanic sulfur compounds and its implications for global climate change. Erinn has published articles in several prestigious journals, including Environmental Microbiology, Science, and Applied and Environmental Microbiology. She also acts as the assistant editor for the Association for Women in Science Magazine and serves as a judge for the environmental division at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair, a state science fair for high school students. Contact Erinn.

Stacy Kolegas graduated in 2003 with a double major in Art and Environmental Studies. Upon graduation, she worked as an environmental education instructor in New York and later as the Executive Director of a nonprofit environmental education organization, Yampatika, in Colorado. Stacy currently serves as an Environmental Programs Assistant for the City of Phoenix's Office of Environmental Programs, which provides technical and regulatory assistance to city departments and pursues initiatives in pollution prevention, air quality, brownfields, the Clean Water Act and sustainability. Contact Stacy.

Amy (Cline) Graham graduated in 2002 with a major in Economics and a minor in Environmental Studies. She attended law school at Florida State University, graduating with Certificates in both Environmental and Natural Resource Law and Land Use Law. While at FSU, she clerked at the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation and WildLaw, two environmental nonprofit law firms, and also interned at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. After graduation, Amy worked as a legislative assistant at the Florida Senate and is currently employed as a policy analyst in the School Choice Office at the Florida Department of Education. Contact Amy.

Amy N. Turner graduated in 2000 with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Environmental Studies. Amy received her Master's of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University. Following an internship with the Illinois EPA’s Governor’s Environmental Corps, she joined SRA International, Inc., an international consulting firm in Arlington, VA, as an Environmental Policy Analyst. There she has worked on projects related to the Superfund program, the EPA's Abandoned Mine Lands Program and the Department of Energy's response to catastrophic events.

Amy Farrell received a degree in Biology in 1998 and was the first student to graduate with a contract minor in Environmental Studies at IWU. She earned her Master’s degree in Policy Analysis from Indiana University. Upon receipt of her M.P.A., she served as Policy Analyst in the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs overseeing and evaluating EPA regulatory work. In 2003, Amy became a Policy Advisor to the Administrator of the EPA. She was later promoted to Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances. In her various roles in the federal government, Amy has worked on the Clear Skies legislation, the Persistent Organic Pollutants Treaty and Hurricane Katrina and Rita responses.