Student Introductions: Sara Mueller, Wildlife and Fisheries Scieces M.S.

Greetings all! It is a pleasure to meet you and join you in the AEE530 community of learners.  While we all share a passion for learning and teaching, we all come at this challenge with a variety of perspectives and experience.  I am as excited to share with you, as I am to learn from you.

I am currently a MS student in Wildlife and Fisheries Science.  I also completed my undergraduate degree under the same degree title here at Penn State.  I initially entered the program with hopes of becoming a full time environmental educator; however, I have fallen in love with research and will likely find myself on a path to a university faculty position. Some of my current research involves using macroinvertebrates (stream insects) to determine water quality, comparing the stomach contents of fish to determine their ability to adapt to invasive species, and invasive species ecology in northwest Pennsylvania.  My MS thesis revolves around the macroinvertebrate communities in the D.C. area in response to invasive algae and human development.

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Baba Dioum, a Senegalese environmentalist is attributed to the quote:

"In the end we will conserve only what we love.
We love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we are taught."

This is the framework that I believe can be used to foster a better understanding of the natural world around us, which will ultimately lead to the sustainable lifestyles any “green” or “eco” movement dreams to achieve. Although it is easy to see how applicable this is to young, malleable minds, it is not too late to change older and more experienced minds as well.

To students of all ages, I encourage everyone to never stop discovering!