Student Stories

Meet a UArizona senior majoring in Economics at the Eller College of Management and minoring in Sustainable Built Environments. As a member of Students for Sustainability, she loves sharing the projects the group is working on across the UArizona campus.

Chris specializes in playing the oboe and the English horn which he uses to create music that synthesizes the world between music, art, science, and the environment. In the last couple of years he has composed two pieces of environmental sound art/music. His most recent piece carries people through the emotions felt as reading Earth’s Wild Music written by Kathleen Dean Moore.

From attempting to agree on dinner as a family, to leading an unproductive team meeting, trying to make group decisions is a scenario every one of us is challenged with. Collaborating in a way where all parties can actively participate while feeling seen and heard supports a healthy work environment, promotes interdisciplinary solutions, and encourages adaptability.

Ellie is a passionate UArizona student who connects other students on campus to various environmental opportunities through the Find Your Environment platform. Find Your Environment is a resource students can use to find the perfect green opportunity for them such as events, clubs, educational programs, courses, and more.

My name is Matthew Jensen. I’m the River Run Network Intern with Watershed Management Group here in Tucson. Every day, I wake up, I go to class, go to work, and live my life. Every day, I drink lots of water because everyone needs water to live.

Jacob is studying Natural Resources with an emphasis in Global Change Ecology and Management. He is an Intern Advisor for the Arizona NASA Space Grant Undergraduate Research Internship Program and a Liverman Scholar. He is researching soil respiration in the Sonoran Desert to investigate how different monsoonal precipitation patterns will affect soil carbon storage.

Q: What’s better than one program that supports diverse students in developing as environmental professionals?

A: THREE programs that support diverse students in their development as environmental professionals, gathered together on a late fall afternoon in Tucson, having a picnic!

Lexis is a sustainable student who is very involved across campus. Lexis is the co-chair of the educational outreach committee for SFS, the lead Spring Environmental Summit planner, the Earth Grant Program Assistant, a Bio/Diversity Project intern, and a Doris Duke Conservation Scholar.

Earlier this month, Earth Grant intern Maria Mata Robles traveled to Albuquerque, NM with her Earth Grant internship mentors at Southwest Decision Resources (SDR) for the 2022 Southwest Adaptation Forum (SWAF), an event planned by SDR in collaboration with Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center and several other organizations. She spent three days there, engaging in meaningful conversations about desert adaptation and gaining valuable experiences in conference facilitation.

Maya's favorite environment-related experience is the summer she lived in Colorado and interned at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. She conducted her own research project and hiked in the mountains every day! Maya specialized in stream ecology and aquatic insect research to study how they related to food webs in alpine streams.