When searching for a job, recent graduates who have gained experience in their field through internships, fellowships or part-time work have an advantage over their peers. Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) strives to provide these meaningful experiences so that young professionals, who will one day be responsible for working with communities on Great Lakes issues, will be more prepared, knowledgeable and confident in their abilities. IISG’s 2024 cohort of six interns has wrapped up their meaningful work and professional development training as part of the program. Read about some of these interns — their backgrounds and work projects — below.

If you are an undergraduate student interested in our Summer Internship Program check back in January or contact Angela Archer for more information.  

Connor Adamek, Community Sustainability

This past summer, Connor Adamek, worked as an intern with Kara Salazar, IISG sustainable communities specialist. Adamek is a senior at Purdue University majoring in natural resources and environmental science, with a concentration in watershed management. He is passionate about ecology and the interconnectedness of the environment as well as communicating and educating. Adamek is looking for ways to blend these interests to help others understand environmental complexity.

Adamek spent the summer working alongside Salazar in Purdue Extension on a variety of projects. These include researching and writing about renewable resources and septic system management, taking trips around Indiana to aid in community development projects, and helping design websites to better showcase educational resources. “The position has allowed me to learn a lot about how to work with communities, make connections in the field and meet new people. This opportunity has revealed Extension to be an interesting possible option to satisfy my communication and environmental interests as a career,” he said.

Julia Bell, Community Engagement (the National Park Service)

Julia Bell is a senior at Illinois State University enrolled in the Department of Geography with a concentration in nature and society and an environmental studies minor. Her focus on geography has provided valuable field experience and coursework, including a class called Our National Parks, where she learned the physiology and cultural history of each park.

Bell spent this past summer working with staff members at the Indiana Dunes National Park, especially with Erin Argyilan, the park’s education coordinator. Through Argyilan, she learned the park’s history and about research to assess park management needs, from which she made suggestions about applying these insights to park projects.  

The other aspect of her work involves field research. Bell analyzed park visitor habits and current management strategies. One of the most pressing issues at the Indiana Dunes National Park is the degradation of the dunes due to social trails. Social trails are formed when visitors leave the official park trails to create a shorter path or to access an off-trail view. This can cause habitat fragmentation, which puts threatened and endangered species at risk as they travel between their fragmented habitat, and dune collapse when dune systems are eroded. And it can facilitate the spread of invasive species. 

Anja Kranenburg, Community Engagement (Chicago Wilderness Alliance)

Anja Kranenburg is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign studying natural resources and environmental sciences with a concentration in human dimensions of the environment. She is very passionate about sustainability, especially the interactions between people and the environment. After college, she hopes to go into the field of sustainability outreach and engagement. She commented about her internship, “I am super excited for this position to help me contribute to fostering these interests and helping me grow in my professional life.”

This summer, she worked with Laura Reilly, managing director of the Chicago Wilderness Alliance. She helped with various projects, including planning the alliance’s annual congress.

Eve Mehl, Water Resource Economics

Eve Mehl is a junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying agricultural and consumer economics with a concentration in public policy and law. She was a water policy intern under the guidance of Margaret Schneemann, a water resource economist working on water affordability metrics for the Chicagoland area. She contributed to Schneemann’s water rate data collection, a tool for municipalities in rate restructuring efforts. She also worked on conservation outreach materials for communities that are using highly stressed aquifers. Her research topics included groundwater conservation, sustainable water use, groundwater legislative actions and municipal water rate structure. Eve is passionate about sustainable development, water conservation and environmental law.

Erin Schimenti, Stormwater Infrastructure

Erin Schimenti is a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is pursuing a dual degree in sustainable design and communication, as well as a minor in game studies and design. She spent the summer working as a stormwater infrastructure intern under the supervision of Eliana Brown and Layne Knoche. This work is centered around the Red Oak Rain Garden on the U of I campus.

Schimenti created botanical drawings of the RORG’s plant species, trained under the garden’s communication coordinator, and gained hands-on experience at weekly volunteer workdays. Through these tasks, she learned not only about the functionality of rain gardens, but also the importance of engaging with people they are meant to benefit. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career where she can continue to connect communities with nature.

Other interns in 2024 included Anna Melody, who worked with Margaret Schneemann, and Grey North who assisted Megan Gunn, aquatic education associate.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a partnership between NOAA, University of Illinois Extension, and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, bringing science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Contact: Angela Archer