Congratulations to Ahlyia Leclerc and Isabella Winston who presented at the RPI 15th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium last month and were awarded first and second place, respectively for best oral presentation in the Engineering and Physical Sciences category!
Ahlyia’s work was entitled “Investigating the impact of prescribed burns on black carbon concentrations in salt marsh sediments.” Ahlyia has spent the last year working to determine whether fire history affects the accumulation and storage of black carbon in Delaware coastal marsh sediments. As part of this project, Ahlyia collaborates with Andrew Wozniak and Chris Kelly at the University of Delaware. This year, Ahlyia will conduct experiments to determine how hydrothermal conditions may alter the amount and composition of black carbon in sediments and other environmental matrices.
Isabella’s work was entitled “Do naturally occurring benzenepolycarboxylic acids affect the measurements of dissolved black carbon?” Isabella has worked closely with Riley Barton on this project, which seeks to determine whether benzenepolycarboxylic acids that occur naturally in soils, wildfire ash, and post-fire surface water could result in an overestimation of black carbon in environmental samples. Isabella will continue her research as part of the Wagner lab in the upcoming year.
