Claire is a second year Masters student in the Environmental Sciences & Engineering Department. She is interested in pursuing a career in environmental consulting and water resource management upon completion of her degree (May 2017). For her Master’s Thesis project, Claire is working with the water quality test company Aquagenx. LLC to field and lab verify a new line of drinking water safety products. Before graduate school, Claire attained stormwater regulatory experience as a Water Quality Technician with The City of Durham Stormwater & GIS Services Division. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from Elon University in Environmental & Ecological Sciences, with minors in Biology and Spanish. In her free time, Claire enjoys playing rugby, running, and honing her archery skills at the local range.
Category Archives: Graduate Students
Elizabeth Christenson
Elizabeth finished her master’s at UNC with Dr. Marc Serre improving access to industrial hog farm data by mapping sprayfields and their annual nutrient application patterns in North Carolina using GIS and remote sensing. Data available here. Her current work as a PhD student is implementing a longitudinal water quality study to understand how land use characteristics affect the prevalence of antibiotic resistant, virulent E. coli and host-specific markers in watersheds with and without swine CAFOs. Laboratory work includes culture-based work and ddPCR. Spatial analysis will include wetland and riparian buffer variables. Areas of interest include microbial source tracking, potentially metagenomics in the future, worker/community member access to safe drinking water, and sustainable agriculture. After work, Elizabeth is learning Arabic (صحيح ), grows sunflowers, and plays ultimate frisbee.
Brianna Young
Brianna is a second year MS student. Her research interests include water quality and tracking pathogens in water. Her research will compare relative decay rates for coliphages in cold waters against relative decay rates in warm waters, as well as comparing these decay rates to bacterial indicators.