Saving the World, or at least her part of it

When Sara was in her first year as a student at Penn State's Altoona campus, she took a course that really made her stop and think. And she came to the conclusion that she didn't want to stay in her major any longer. Funny how things that sound good in theory don't work out very well in practice.

She attended a career information fair as part of looking for a different course of study. She picked up a brochure that touted geo-environmental engineering, and, having no idea what that was, asked the man at the table about it. He told her that a geo-environmental engineer was someone who in their own small way is trying to save the world. Intrigued, Sara probed deeper and learned of the many, many innovative ways that engineers are working to clean up sources of pollution and create waste-management systems. What she heard convinced her to switch her area of study to geo-environmental engineering.

She did well in her studies and began looking around for an internship in her field. She managed to get a summer position with the federal Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) regional field office in Somerset, PA - just miles from her home.

As an intern, she participated in the design of several projects that prevent "agricultural waste" from entering the streams that feed the Chesapeake Bay. When animal waste is enters the bay, it provides the nutrients for massive algae "blooms", which cloud the water and eventually sink into the depths and die. The ensuing decay process robs the water of dissolved oxygen, and asphyxiates the Chesapeake clams, fish and other aquatic life in the process. Part of restoring the bay to health involves building systems to keep the "nutrients" on the farm.

Stepping up from her summer intership, Sara expects to begin working full time with the NRCS after her graduation in December 2002. She'll be designing and overseeing the construction of onsite agricultural waste treatment systems, acid mine drainage treatment systems and other projects. In her own way, she'll be helping to save the world.

Sara Hillegas was an undergraduate student in the Department of Energy and GeoEvironmental Engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State.