October 5, 2022
This summer I had the incredible privilege of participating in the Teen Research and Environmental Education (TREES) program at the University of Pennsylvania. I and six other students were invited to work directly under the tutelage of Dr. Jeffrey Field, Professor of Pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine and a world-renowned scientist in the field of environmental toxicology.
In a project that Dr. Field and several graduate students helped me design, I collected water samples from the Tuckerton, NJ bay area and tested them in the lab for microplastic particles using Nile Red fluorescent dye. I consider myself very lucky to have had a firsthand experience in a professional laboratory environment and access to the resources that helped me see my project through, such as the dye and fluorescence microscope.
I would highly recommend this program to any high school students interested because it allows students to take a wide variety of pathways based on their specific interests and provides excellent support for their visions. I also thoroughly enjoyed the informative lectures from professionals in various fields within environmental science and toxicology, as well as the many field trip experiences that enhanced my understanding of renewable energy, waste management, and plant life.
It was a wonderful way to spend my summer, and I am so grateful for the chance to participate.
