As a returning adult student with kids, I’m writing this post in response to this picture because I WISHED I had a professor who put in a policy on children in the classroom in the syllabus. I didn’t, but my professors were fine with me missing class, giving extensions, or having to take make up exams due to family/kid/illness issues.

That being said as a senior undergrad, I was asked by one of my professors when he heard I was going on to grad school, “How will you manage being a graduate student with kids?” Hmm…I somehow managed undergrad with kids, and I didn’t just “manage”, I was the top student in my degree program because I was motivated and determined. While I wanted to throttle him for his inability to grasp that a female student with kids could be successful, but would just have to do things differently than a typical male or female student without kids…I instead calmly assured him that I had a plan and would be fine.

This past week, I traveled to the University of Illinois at the Urbana-Champaign campus to present some of my research at the Emerging Contaminants in the Aquatic Environment Conference. Because of my research to date, I framed it as soil having the potential to mitigate the presence of antibiotics in the environment, especially in the groundwater within the area. I found that the concentration of antibiotics in the groundwater at The Living Filter was typically lower than concentrations found in surface waters receiving wastewater treatment plant effluent. In fact, The Living Filter at Penn State is based upon the premise that soil can act as a filter and remove contaminants and chemicals that would unwanted in the environment, specifically in groundwater. So, it was nice to have my research confirm that this site is actually performing the way it should!

Diagram demonstrating how soil can act as a filter         Source: https://www.denbow.com/soil-stormwater-management-tool/soil-as-a-water-filter/

Each year, the Graduate School at Penn State holds a Graduate Exhibition for graduate students in all fields to present their research to a general audience. Graduate students may choose to present a poster, visual art or performance art. Judges are randomly assigned either posters or a visual art and winners are selected based on oral presentation, visual representation of the research, organization, and clarity. I presented a poster about the data from my groundwater and wheat sampling over the past few years. I had judges with background ranging from turf grass to linguistics. All of the people, including judges, who stopped by my poster were intrigued by the topic, because many of them had not considered the fact that low levels of antibiotics may be reaching our groundwater and/or being taken up into crops. I felt the experience was worthwhile as a professional experience as a graduate student as well as sharing knowledge to the general public. It definitely reinforced that we as scientists need to work very hard to relay this information to the public. It is not enough to share it within our own scientific community anymore, especially with regard to emerging contaminants.

I also walked away with 3rd place in the division of Physical Sciences and Mathematics for the poster competition and a request to present my research at an environmental engineering and consulting firm. Overall, a productive way to spend a Sunday afternoon.