Montclair State University

Jennifer Cocciardi, New York University, NY

Scott Evans, State University of New York at Geneseo, NY

Marco Finocchiaro, Montclair State University, NJ

Marco is a senior at Montclair State University. An outdoorsman at heart with an interest in music, Marco’s scientific interests lie in aquatic ecology. He has conducted a comparison of zooplankton communities in vegetated and non-vegetated areas of Little Lameshur Bay in St. John’s, USVI. Recent projects have included a comparison of benthic macroinvertebrate communities between three northern New Jersey lakes and testing the effects of predator inclusion and exclusion on macroinvertebrate communities in Lake Wapalanne, Branchville, NJ. Currently Marco is testing the effects of variations in salinity on the invasive aquatic plant species Eurasian Water Milfoil.

Diana Flores, Montclair State University, NJ

I am currently a Junior majoring in Geoscience and minoring in Geographic Information Systems at Montclair State University in New Jersey. I come from a Mexican family and am the first in my family to face the challenge of a higher education. I am grabbing all of the opportunities that I can that will prepare me in a career in the sciences. This has been my second REU during my undergraduate years and my third research project overall. I am extremely appreciative of skills and knowledge that I gained from the Forest Lakes Research.

Kiara Jones, Saint Augustine's College, NC

Jaime Jonathan Jordan Jr., University of California-Riverside, CA

Sara Kelly, California State University-Monterey Bay, CA

My research interests include surface hydrology, hydrogeology, fluvial geomorphology, and snow and ice processes. I’m currently working towards a muti-year sediment yield assessment following the 2008 Basin Complex Fire in the Upper Carmel River Watershed, CA. My previous research experiences include hydraulic modeling of culverts to assess barriers to salmonid migration in the Coast Dairies, CA, quantifying the hydrologic budget for a small forested lake in northwest New Jersey, and mapping glacial retreat for six small glaciers in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, AK. In the future, I hope to study surface water groundwater interactions and sediment transport following dam removal.

My poster presentations include: Assessing Anadromous Fish Passage Through Culverts in the Coast Dairies, CA, S. Kelly at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, National Conference, Anaheim, CA, October 1, 2011; Assessing Salmonid Passage Through Culverts in the Coast Dairies, CA, S. Kelly and C. Nicol at the National Marine Sanctuary, annual Sanctuary Currents Symposium, Seaside, CA, April 9, 2011; and in preparation Hydrologic Budget Assessment of a Small Forested Lake in Northwestern NJ, S. Kelly, D. Flores, J. Jordan, A. Lutey, K. Barrett, J. Galster, D. Ophori at the American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 8, 2011.

I am proficient with GIS, GPS, orienteering using a map, compass, and topographic features, surveying (using an auto-level, rotating laser, and total station), measuring stream flow (using an electromagnetic flow probe, pigmy meter, partial flume, and floats), and environmental modeling (using Stella, Vensim, HEC-RAS, and Microsoft Excel). In my free time I enjoy volunteering for the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, Youth in Wilderness trail maintenance program, hiking, backpacking, running, skiing, kayaking, cooking, and gardening. My future aspirations include obtaining a Ph.D. in hydrology or hydrogeology, working for or in conjunction with government agencies as a hydrologic consultant, and climbing Mt. Whitney.

Amber Lutey, Lehigh University, PA

My name is Amber Lutey and I’m currently a junior at Lehigh University majoring in Earth and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Social Psychology/Sociology. I’m from Westfield, New Jersey and graduated from Westfield Senior High School in 2009. During my sophomore year I did research on freshwater systems and bioreactors and this past summer I helped to calculate hydrologic budget for Lake Wapalanne located in the School of Conservation. At school, I’m also a member of the Green Action Club and Alpha Chi Omega sorority. With my environmental science degree, I hope to pursue a career in governmental research and policy.

Elena Noonan, William Paterson University, NJ

Cade Weston, Taylor University, OH

Hi, my name is Cade Weston, and I'm from Morral, OH. I attend Taylor University, where I will graduate in 2012 with a degree in Sustainable Development.

In the summer of 2011 I worked at the New Jersey School of Conservation where I phosphorus in forest lakes. By regualarly monitoring phosphorus concentrations at various points in the lake as well as during storm events, and combing this with the hydrologic budget, I was able to begin developing a phosphorus budget for Lake Wapalanne. Additionally, I did tests on the bioavailability of phosphorus in sediments throughout the lake. Various fractions of phosphorus were analyzed, including: readily desorbable phosphorus, algae available phosphorus, Olsen and Mehlich III phosphorus.