The Floating Wetland Project, established by Dr.
Changwoo Ahn, is an interdisciplinary team of students (the Rain Project
Student Leadership Group) bringing together aspects from their respective
fields. I am currently a core member of this group, and I am also participating
in Dr. Ahn’s ecological sustainability class that is engaged in the Floating
Wetland Project. The Floating Wetland Project is intended to further research
the impact that floating treatment wetlands (FTW) have on water quality and to
determine if they are a viable tool to clean waterways, including stormwater
ponds.
I was drawn to this project because I have a
passion for ecological restoration. During the summer of 2014, I interned for a
local environmental management company performing maintenance on stormwater ponds.
In this position, I observed the poor quality of these ponds and the absurd
amount of pesticides that are introduced in order to maintain them. I am very
interested in helping to find a much safer, cheaper, and greener method of
maintaining stormwater ponds and reducing human impacts on the waterways that
are downstream from these pools. I currently serve as the Undersecretary of
Sustainability for GMU’s Student Government, which has made me even more aware
of the poor quality of GMU Fairfax campus' waterways and stormwater practices
and the urgency to address these issues.
After college, I plan on entering the field of
environmental remediation and restoration in with a focus on stormwater
management. This project is allowing me to have firsthand experience and
research in my desired field. Currently, the project is in research and development
mode working up to our tentative May 8th launch date and the proceeding data
collection.
