A day in the life. Suesa's Science Challenge!

From following monkeys through ancient ruins in a Sri Lankan jungle to growing algae for wastewater treatment and biofuel production, I've worked a lot of different science and STEM-related jobs in my day.

This is my entry into Suesa's Science Challenge and there is still time for you to join!

I am currently an Environmental Analyst in California and on any given day I use models and GIS (mapping software) to assess environmental (climate, air quality, noise, water, etc) impacts of several different projects located around the state. Projects include a wide-range of activities like stream restoration, water treatment plants, or even new regulations which helps keep things interesting; but since it is what I do everyday, I want to write about other things!

I've done science-y things at Rift Valley lakes in Kenya, jungles in Sri Lanka, bayous in Arkansas, state parks in Indiana, and in California, Seattle, Louisiana, North Carolina and Alabama. I've worked in one of those crazy suits handling nasty acids in a positive pressure clean lab and in negative pressure biological labs. You never know where STEM will take you!

Here are brief descriptions of other STEM jobs I've had and research projects I've participated in:

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Studying the Lake Bogoria Ecosystem in Kenya

Lake Bogoria is a Rift Valley lake that for extra bonus points is alkaline and has thermal features! Flamingos flock here to eat the spirulina that grows so well in these kinds of lakes. I observed flamingos, counted wriggling invertebrates from muddy sediment samples, took water quality readings, watched zebras and ostriches frolic, and used my free time to explore the lake and nearby community.

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Recording Monkey Behavior in the Historic Ruins of a Former Capital of Sri Lanka

This was one of the best research projects ever. I basically followed a family/tribe of monkeys around through the jungle in the scenic ruins of a former capital of Sri Lanka. Every few minutes I was supposed to take detailed notes on what my monkey was doing or which species of plant it was eating. Making life a little more exciting was the fact that there were illegal traps set out in the woods and I even tripped a few!
To see more great photos of Toque Macaques, check my post here.

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Isolating Bacteria from Superfund Sites that Eat Harmful Pollutants

This was a cool project! We went to a really polluted Superfund site, grabbed some dirt, and used bacteria that were already living in that dirt to find species that could use a certain family of pollutants (PAHs) as a food source! I then used UV light to further breakdown some of the (potentially harmful) byproducts the bacteria made. Bacteria are incredible and some have been found that can even eat plastic!

Note: Superfund sites are the United States' most polluted sites. It sounds like "Super-Fun" sites, but trust me, they aren't! (Unless you want to see the next Godzilla, Swamp Thing, or Incredible Hulk be born)

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Using Coral as Records of Historical Climate and Ocean Conditions

While I spent a lot of time reading up on this and trying to make it happen, I didn't end up doing this for my PhD research. The concept is amazing though. Just like tree rings can be used as a record of climate going back thousands of years (now with even seasonal precision!), some species of coral can be used as a record of ocean temperature, pH, salinity, etc. going back centuries. The concept and technology that makes this possible is kind of crazy. I won't get into it here, but look up isotopic fractionation and elemental ratios and the equipment that is capable of measuring them (ICP-MS) if you are interested.

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Using Algae for Wastewater Treatment and Biofuel Production

My PhD research focused on using algae to improve the quality of water leaving wastewater treatment plants with the added benefit that the algae could be used to create biofuels. The whole concept of wastewater is shifting to one of resource recovery. Wastewater contains lots of valuable things that could be put to great use if properly separated: water, nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, and much more!

The goal of my research was to see if special species of algae or algae that occur naturally at wastewater treatment plants could be used to remove additional nutrients (viewed as pollutants in a wastewater context, but as fertilizer in an agricultural one) and then be utilized as a source of biofuels (methane, biodiesel, ethanol, etc).

I found out lots of interesting things, but in short, algae worked really well at removing more nutrients from wastewater effluent and in several ways it worked even better in the company of bacteria and other microorganisms that were present. Getting biodiesel from algae can be a somewhat tricky process and maximizing the concentration of lipids in algae required a delicate balancing of nutrients so the algae ended up being short on one at the end. Getting methane from algae or other decomposing organic material is much easier and may be the best way to go with this concept, especially since wastewater treatment plants already put off lots of methane and we are building natural gas power plants like crazy right now.

You can download my dissertation here if you get really interested in this topic!

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Project Drawdown - 100 Solutions for Reversing Global Warming

I wrote about this here and elsewhere, but in short, I was a research fellow for Project Drawdown and got to research lots of interesting climate solutions such as growing bamboo, building with wood, multistrata agroforestry, and other agricultural practices that sequester tons of carbon.

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Environmental Conservation in Arkansas

I worked for Audubon Arkansas where I got to kayak and hike, give presentations, and design, manage, and help implement habitat and stream restoration projects. I learned a lot and had a ton of fun at this job and hopefully made a difference. It also inspired me to write two books!

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Environmental Disaster Response

I worked as an Environmental Scientist doing air and water quality monitoring at environmental disasters around the United States. I spent months in Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida immediately following the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico and went to train derailments, factory fires, and pipeline spills in Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas. I met interesting people, saw amazing and awful things, and learned a lot!

That's it for my post! Let me know what you think in the comments. Feel free to check out my other posts on photography, sustainability, travel, and science!

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The (much younger) author holding a healthy, but drugged (ketamine!) monkey for weighing, measuring, etc.

Much of the material for this post can also be found at:
https://steemit.com/science/@johnniec/using-algae-for-wastewater-treatment-and-biofuel-production
https://steemit.com/science/@johnniec/scientists-of-steemit-tell-us-about-your-research-on-science
https://steemit.com/photography/@johnniec/toque-macaques-in-polonnaruwa-sri-lanka