What she's doing now

Science Leader Courtney Dwyer '12

Right after graduation, she headed to Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico for a six-month internship sponsored by the National Park Service and the Student Conversation Association to carry out several long term ecological studies focused on vegetation, arthropods, air quality and erosion. She is in Bogotá, Colombia, teaching biology at a bilingual school while studying Spanish, ornithology and visiting national parks, and planning for graduate school.

Connecticut College, Biological Sciences, 2012
High School:
Woonsocket High School, Woonsocket, Rhode Island 

Research Posters

"The Influence of Temperature on Ammonia Oxidizing Archaea and Bacteria." Courtney Dwyer, Anne Kearney, and Professor Anne Bernhard, Summer 2009

Conferences Attended
New England Estuarine Research Society Conference, Salem, Conn., Spring 2009

Internships
Summer 2009 - Professor Bernhard's Molecular Ecology Lab, studying the effects of different salinities, temperatures and pH on abundance of ammonia oxidizers 
Summer 2010 - Summer Sustainability Intern for the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment, carrying out the College's greenhouse gases inventory, and wrote the waste material and recycling report 
Summer 2011 - Save the Bay in Providence, Rhode Island, as the Habitat Restoration Intern, conducting fieldwork associated with salt marsh restoration

Academic Year Research
Four semesters in Professor Anne Bernhard's molecular biology lab

Study Away
Did directed research on the effects of traffic noise on bird communication in Carara National Park, Costa Rica, through the School for Field Studies, Center for Sustainable Development, Fall 2010

Future Goals
Research in an ecology lab or work for an environmental NGO

Awards
Received biology department's Dorothy Richardson Biology Award, Spring 2010