I am from Harrisburg, PA, about four hours away, and went to Cumberland Valley High School. In high school I participated in Key Club, Quiz Bowl, and my high school's Latin Club. I enjoyed and excelled in my science and mathematics classes and consequently participated in science and math competitions such as Science Olympiad, PA Math League, and Chemistry Olympiad. I received Third Place in my region's Chemistry Olympiad and gained an invitation to participate in the national competition. Outside of school, I also was greatly involved in the start-up and continuation of my dad's small business making and selling pierogies to restaurants and at local fairs, and I still help out whenever I visit home.
I decided to come to the University of Pittsburgh because it was not too close to home but, at the same time, not too far, and because it has a strong engineering program with great access to co-op opportunities. I am planning to major in chemical engineering and possibly obtain a minor in bio-engineering. I have always enjoyed chemistry and math classes throughout high school and now at Pitt. During the previous two summers I worked as a summer intern at an environmental chemistry laboratory. My experience at the lab showed me that while I did want to pursue a career pertaining to chemistry, I also would enjoy a career that presents more variety day-to-day, such as chemical engineering. I hope to one day work as a pharmaceutical chemical engineer.
The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy (PPC) Works for the preservation, enhancement, and restoration of Pittsburgh's four main parks: Frick, Highland, Riverview, and Schenley. The PPC focuses on both infrastructure and ecological restoration work of the parks. The organization aims to manage invasive plant species and to restore native plants to the parks, while maintaining each park's historical landscape and providing recreational benefits for all current visitors.
The purpose of my team's project is to help the PPC in its preparation for the restoration of Panther Hollow Lake in Schenley Park. In a continuation of the work begun by Team 9 of the ENGR 0715 Spring 2008 class, my team aims to validate the previously developed procedure of soil sample collection to help model the movement of soils through the watershed system and to continue the collection of data. In addition, my team plans to analyze orthophotographs and old United States Geographical Society Topographic surveys of the Panther Hollow Watershed to get an idea of the degree of erosion in the park over the last several decades.