George Thomson Wins the Teuvo Airola Memorial Award in Environmental Geomatics

When I started my first semester at Rutgers, I had only a vague idea of what I wanted to pursue as a career. I had grown up in Manville, NJ, a town whose fate has been indelibly tied - for better or worse - to climate and nature. It was when I decided to pursue a major in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, though, that my interest in the natural sciences developed into a passion for ecology and conservation. My experiences as an EENR student have profoundly shaped me, both academically and personally. Working at Hutcheson Memorial Forest sparked my interest in unique places as focal points for conservation and research. A spring break Study Abroad trip to Costa Rica broadened my cultural, social, and scientific perspectives. And being part of the EENR community introduced me to a group of peers who shared their own passions for ecology with me. Soon after becoming an EENR major, I decided to pursue a certificate in Environmental Geomatics. Since then, GIS has become central to my study and work in ecology: under the mentorships of Dr. Juan Bonachela and Dr. Myla Aronson, I gained lab experience using GIS and applied my geospatial skills to a variety of research and management projects. I also completed a G.H. Cook Thesis, where I utilized cutting-edge GIS technology to study the process of light competition between forest trees. After graduation I will begin a Scientists in Parks internship at Fire Island National Seashore, where I will be protecting endangered nesting shorebirds and aiding the conservation of one of the world’s few remaining maritime holly forests. In the future, I hope to pursue a career that blends ecological research with conservation and land management, especially to protect some of the world’s unique and storied natural areas.