G.E.M. Environmental has been awarded a grant by the Environmental and Sustainability fund, a component of the Arizona Community Foundation.
 
“In the short time that we’ve launched the Field Experience Program, we’ve already received tremendous support by the community,” Eric M. Welsh, GEM’s Executive Director said. “The grant from the Arizona Community Foundation will give us additional resources to offer hands-on science education for underserved college students in Yavapai County. The program will continue to expand its engaging activities, including field trips where students apply their knowledge, broaden perspectives on conservation, and gain insight into managing public lands.”
 
G.E.M. Environmental was founded in 2017 and offers STEM scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students, paid internships, community volunteer days, educational programs, regular blog series, and more. They have a partnership with Yavapai College and Drake Cement Mine, among other institutions in Arizona and New Mexico. GEM has successfully raised over $5K in conjunction with Arizona Gives Day, won an Arizona Gives Day incentive prize for the most dollars raised within 24 hours for a micro non-profit, and raised over $2K for Giving Tuesday to support the Field Experience Program.
 
Established in 1978, the Arizona Community Foundation is a statewide family of charitable funds supported by thousands of Arizonans. More information is available at www.azfoundation.org.

G.E.M. Environmental is excited to share another new addition to our monthly blog series - Science Stories. Each month, we interview a STEM scholar, student, or community member and ask them things like why they believe the STEM fields are important, how they got started in their field, to what they would do if they hit the jackpot. We hope that our new blog series will inspire, introduce a variety of fields, and create new conversations. 

Our guest this month is Karen Broman, AmeriCorps VISTA member based in Prescott, Arizona, serving Sonoran Prevention Works (SPW), a statewide, grassroots non-profit organization focused on harm reduction education, advocacy, and evidence-based programming for the benefit of Arizonans impacted by drug use.

Tell Us About You
Before high school, science was NOT my favorite subject, while math has always been my jam. Algebra became part of the study of Chemistry in high school, and all of a sudden something clicked. I LOVED Chemistry in the intense way that only a teenager can, so I had no trouble determining that Chemistry should be my major when I attended college. I went to a small liberal arts school, which allowed me to double-major in Chemistry and Biology, in addition to obtaining a minor in Spanish and studying abroad twice (Netherlands & Kenya). My dream had been to become a chemist for 3M, but it turned out that there were few opportunities there at the bachelor's/entry level. I had no idea what I'd do next. Realizing that I would need to be employed sooner rather than later, and that I had really enjoyed Microbiology coursework in college, I applied to a Medical Technology program at a large public university.

This bachelor’s level discipline, which may also be called medical laboratory science or clinical laboratory science, involves high-complexity laboratory benchwork, most often in a healthcare setting. Certified clinical laboratory scientists must be proficient in clinical chemistry, hematology, microbiology, and immunohematology (aka bloodbanking), and there are a number of other specializations one can pursue on top of these. We are also trained in various phlebotomy techniques. Any time your body fluids are collected for a medical reason, they are analyzed by medical laboratory professionals like me!

The tests we perform on your blood, urine, etc., are absolutely crucial to ensuring that your provider can make an accurate diagnosis and suggest the most appropriate treatment. I spent almost thirteen years working in a forensic toxicology laboratory within the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. More simply put, I did “drug testing.” The forensic piece means that every bit of labwork I performed was legally admissible in a court of law, and therefore, had to be as accurate as possible. For the nerdier readers, the bulk of my expertise lies in solid-phase extraction and mass spectrometric identification and quantitation of drugs of abuse in human urine.

Why do you believe that the STEM fields are important?
Regardless of whether individuals ultimately choose to pursue STEM careers, I believe that a modicum of STEM education should be required for everyone. STEM subjects encourage us to indulge our innate curiosity in a structured way. Think about, for instance, the scientific method that every kid has to learn: Make an observation or ask a question, Develop a hypothesis, Test the hypothesis by experimentation, Draw conclusions and apply them to future study. This approach provides us with a framework for inquiry and critical thinking that can be applied to any field of study, any kind of job, and honestly, many of the “problems” we encounter in our daily lives. STEM fields teach us that trial and error is a legit way to learn, that failure is not to be feared, and that there is much enrichment to be gained from being present and observant as we move through our lives.

Can you describe another aspect of your life or career that is influenced or enriched by the STEM fields that people would find surprising?
The attention to detail that my STEM job demanded, coupled with my strong math aptitude, have made me incredibly good at personal accounting, budgeting, filing my taxes, etc. After dealing with so many gross and/or hazardous substances in the lab, I am also REALLY good at pouring liquids from one container to another without spilling.

Have you ever participated in an internship?
While pursuing my medical technology degree, it was required to do clinical rotations in order to gain practical experience in each of the core competency areas I mentioned previously. This meant that I essentially got to be an intern for 4-8 weeks in several different laboratories at a few different institutions. I also had a part-time paid job for two months at one of these sites, the Mayo Clinic’s headquarters in Rochester, Minnesota. At the end of my clinical rotation at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, I was offered a full-time job there. Since I’d been there for a few months already, it was easy to see that the job and the workplace culture would be a good fit for me. Internship experiences like this are a great way for employers & prospective future employees to take one another for a non-committal test drive

What is something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
In a complete departure from my very nature, I quit my secure, federal government job in September 2017 and moved from Minnesota to Las Vegas, Nevada, where I spent almost a year serving as an Executive Producer for my partner’s first independent feature film.

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If you'd like to learn more about Karen and her projects, follow her here:
https://www.ascls.org/what-is-a-medical-laboratory-science-professional

Check back next month for more Science Stories.

Check out our latest trailer, which showcases the impact of our geoscience Field Experience Program and the GEM team. We hope you like it. :)

Please don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

#geoscience
#geology
#fieldworkprogram
#stemeducation
#stemprograms

Attention STEM students! Are you interested in becoming an environmental steward, gaining hands-on work experience in the field, and making professional connections? G.E.M. Environmental is currently hiring 5 interns to assist with the New Mexico BLM Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program. Interns will serve as field cartographers on a team, prepare and submit detailed reports of data collected, assist in the collection, storage, and maintenance of field data, perform GIS manipulation and analysis, and more! The deadline to apply is May 31, 2019 and interns are compensated for their work. Learn more and apply here.

#STEMinternship #geologyinternship #prescottazinternship #newmexicointernship #geoscienceinternship

G.E.M. Environmental is excited to share another new addition to our monthly blog series - Science Stories. Each month, we interview a STEM scholar, student, or community member and ask them things like why they believe the STEM fields are important, how they got started in their field, to what they would do if they hit the jackpot. We hope that our new blog series will inspire, introduce a variety of fields, and create new conversations. 

Our guest this month is Elise Gornish, Cooperative Extension Specialist in Ecological Restoration at the University of Arizona. Her program focuses on research and outreach of grassland restoration in arid systems. Elise received her PhD from Florida State University and did a postdoc at the University of California, Davis. She's originally from New York, but is glad to be out of the city.

Why do you believe that the STEM fields are important?
Everything relates to science - everything. If you think about what's in the news right now: immigration, war, natural disasters, healthcare...they are all related directly or indirectly to climate change, natural resources and other facets of science. To understand our world around us in all ways, we need smart, motivated people working in STEM and we need a populace that respects and believes in science.

How and why did you get involved in the STEM fields?
I was not interested in science perse when I was a kid. I liked being outside and always liked animals, but thought of science as old men in lab coats studying cells. I got degrees in business and English in college, expecting to work in marketing. About a year after I started my first job in the marketing field, I realized I was uninterested, unmotivated and just not excited about what I was spending my time doing every day. I started going back to school at night to figure out what I was interested in and took my first ecology class. I was blown away by how interesting it was. I took more related classes and then got myself in a few volunteer and internship opportunities to make sure that that field was something I wanted to go into. When I was sure, I applied to graduate school.

Can you describe another aspect of your life or career that is influenced or enriched by the STEM fields that people would find surprising?
Because I really love my job, because I'm really happy with how I spend my time at work each day, my life is really really easy. Working in STEM has made all aspects of my life better because I spend most of my time doing something that I find fulfilling.

What inspires you in your current position/role?
The good inspiration comes from students who are smart and motivated. I am currently working on a small project with two high school students who are just amazing. Seeing students now who I know will be super scientists when they are a little older is really inspiring.

The bad inspiration comes from a large number of people in the U.S. (and elsewhere) who seems to actively ignore or work against science. People who don't 'believe' in climate change, people who think that immunizations will hurt their kids based on something a celebrity tells them, people who think that education is a liberal plot of some kind - these types of people vote and help to shape decision making in this country for better or for worse. So, I am motivated to provide information in novel ways for people to access and hopefully learn something about science.

Have you ever participated in an internship?
I participated in quite a few internships before attending graduate school. They were diverse in type (hands on field work, lab research and public outreach), and location (a zoo, a museum, and a remote field camp). And, I learned really different things through each internship. The internships were incredibly helpful in helping me to understand what I wanted and did not want to do in graduate school and beyond. The internships also helped to make me a more competitive candidate for graduate school. Finally, the internships were important for developing a network - which is incredibly important as a scientist.

What work experiences (past or present) have been the most educational for you, and why?
My work in a remote field camp for several summers was extremely educational in that I learned fundamentals about field ecology, and I also learned about how to work with a group of people. Science is NEVER done in a vacuum. Whether you are the field assistant or the head of the lab, you will always have to learn to work with people and depend on others. This takes a very distinct group of skills.

What project(s) are you currently working on?
I am working on lots of projects - too many to type up! But generally, my program focuses on enhancing restoration outcomes in arid habitats. So, I look at how to control weeds in deserts; I investigate relationships between native plants and trees in dry systems; I am attempting to develop fundamental strategies for using seedballs for restoration; and I study trait-based restoration approaches.

I also spend a lot of time doing outreach, which is the delivery of my science to end users (people like land managers and ranchers). These types of folks don't typically read peer review publications (where scientists tend to publish their results), so I do things like give talks at workshops and field days and write blog posts about my work so that people who need that information can access it. Some of my work can be found on my webpage at gornish.arizona.edu.

What is something that people might be surprised to learn about you (hobby, skill, interesting story)?
I used to be in a metal band called deathsintence. We did covers of 80's love ballads. It was awesome.

I am also the Director of a new program called GALS (gals.arizona.edu), which takes underserved high school girls out into the back-country to learn about science and develop leadership skills.

You won $10 million in the lotto. What would you do?
First the boring stuff: Pay off my house, and my brother's house. Put money in a college fund for my daughter and nephews. Donate $1 mil to charity.

Then the fun stuff: Buy an early edition of Don Quixote for my husband. Buy a flock of sheep for my backyard. Install a video game room in my house. I would probably start drinking more ridiculously expensive kombucha and wine too.

~~~
We enjoyed hearing about your exciting work, Elisa. Thanks for sharing!

If you'd like to learn more about Elisa and her projects, follow her here:
Twitter: @RestoreCAL
Instagram: gornish_restoration_lab

Check back next month for more Science Stories. Want to be featured? Contact us.

Did you hear the exciting news? G.E.M. Environmental won an Arizona Gives Day incentive prize for the most dollars raised within 24 hours. This means we earned an additional $1,250 for our Field Experience Program. Woohoo!!! A great big THANK YOU to all our donors who made this possible. We couldn't have done it without you!

Great job to all AZ non-profits who also placed. Read the full list of winners here.

Meet Eric Welsh, GEM's Executive Director, and his dog Timber (pictured left), the Vova Scotia Tolling Duck Retriever. Timber is a rescue and previously feral dog from the Navajo Nation. His other dog Hondo (pictured right) is a mixed healer and rescue from the Coconino animal shelter. Eric is an Arizona native and has always been fascinated with the beauty and intrigue offered through National Forests and Public Lands. Eric’s dogs often accompany him to field work sites, providing support through their endless energy and curiosity.

Jessica R. Cook is GEM's Business Manager and Chairmen of the Board. She is deeply passionate about GEM's mission and protecting wildlife. Jessica was born and raised in Arizona and currently resides in Prescott with her husband Brandon, dogs Winslow and Bella, and two cats Damien and Pablo.

Meet GEM’s Public Relations Coordinator and Grant Writer, Amie Winters, and her dog Loki the pug. Amie is originally from California and currently resides in Prescott. Loki often accompanies her to various GEM project sites, like the PUSD Indian Ed Program community garden building project (pictured left). Loki is a certified therapy dog and loves to interact with people from all walks of life.

Sharon Andrus Felker is GEM's Director of Scholarship. In addition to working at GEM, she is the Business/HR/Transportation Manager at Northpoint Expeditionary Learning Academy (a Charter High School) in Prescott. Pictured here is her loving dog Primrose the rottweiler, who is also service trained.

Conner Gooding is GEM’s Geologic Consultant. He is a native of Texas and has worked in a variety of fields ranging from mineral exploration, education, materials testing and inspecting, to geologic consulting. He's pictured with his dog Carl, a mixed Heeler and reservation rescue who often accompanies him to job sites.

We hoped you enjoyed learning more about us and the animals we love.

We're excited to share another Scholarship Success Spotlight!

Our April spotlight is on Alexis Riche, GEM's first quarter 2019 scholarship recipient from Dallas, Texas. Alexis completed her undergraduate studies in Washington, D.C., while putting herself through school. She's now working toward a graduate degree in geology in Flagstaff, Arizona. As a first generation college student, she's come a long way. Alexis has moved around a lot, but no matter which state you find her in, she'll probably be typing avidly in a coffee shop.

My Current Work and Passion
My focus is on geochemistry, and I am currently working on two projects. One focuses on determining the source of uplift in the Colorado Plateau, which is currently unknown. The other focuses on bringing self-identified STEM students who may not have been exposed to geology before college into the fold. My ultimate goal is to teach geochemistry at a university level while conducting research I am passionate about. There is so much still to learn about the planet we live on, and I am excited to dedicate my life to unraveling a piece of the mystery and encouraging others to do the same. I especially think it is important to mentor students like me who, as first generation, did not really know how to go about continuing my education past high school and could really have benefited from a guiding hand.

What This Scholarship Means To Me
As a first generation college student, navigating academia has been difficult and expensive. I come from a relatively large family, and my parents couldn't afford to contribute to my college tuition or living expenses. Naive and in need, I took out thousands in student loans. This scholarship from GEM means that I can pay off some of that debt, which has been looming over me since I started this journey through higher education.

Why is STEM/geology important to you? 
I chose geology because, unlike some other professional fields, it is completely exploratory. The chance to be a part of something that is so dynamic makes the prospect of working for the next several decades less intimidating or disheartening. Part of what makes geology so interesting is that it is truly applicable, because it is the study of the world we live in, and it integrates so many other sciences such as chemistry and physics. I also think that, as a woman and a first generation college student, it's important to represent those demographics within STEM fields. 

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Way to go, Alexis! We're proud to support your educational pursuits and wish you luck as you embark on your geological career.

Read more Scholarship Success Stories HERE.

Are you a STEM major? Consider applying for one of our scholarships! Visit our Scholarship page to learn more about eligibility and apply online.