For our last Sustainability Feature of the semester, we are highlighting senior intern Grace Mundinger. Grace is an Environmental Science & Policy major with minors in Math, Political Science, and Biology. Outside of academics and her work as an intern with the ISE, she has been a leader in the Sustainability Club, a member of the Scuba Club, and she works at the library on campus. Currently she’s reading The Secret Life of Sharks by A. Peter Klimley, a book about the cognition and behavior of sharks!
As an intern with the ISE, Grace has helped a lot behind the scenes to keep the office and all our projects running. This year, she worked to collect travel data from student and faculty trips, including athletics and club trips, to calculate greenhouse gas emissions for Clarkson’s annual greenhouse gas inventory. Additionally, she has taken the lead with our intern Angelina Zeoli to coordinate the annual Take it or Leave it event hosted by the ISE. Every year TILI helps our campus divert clothing, mini fridges, microwaves, school and dorm supplies, etc., from the landfill. Students instead donate these items to TILI, which is then open to other students, faculty, and staff, as well as local nonprofits, to take items and give them a new home.
At this spring’s Research and Project’s showcase, Grace participated in the poster presentation session, sharing the research she has completed for her senior capstone project. This project, working with Professor Stefanie Kring, was titled “Phosphorus Loading Study Proposal on Goose Bay & Cranberry Creek.” Her work included using GIS to visualize the phosphorus pollution problem at Goose Bay & Cranberry Lake, as well as creating a fieldwork proposal for research to be completed this summer by Clarkson students. The next day, at Clarkson’s Celebration & Recognition of Excellence Weekend, Grace received the 2025 ISE Outstanding Service Award.
Expanding her education beyond Potsdam, Grace studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia and had the chance to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef! As she looks to what comes next, Grace is interested in using math and geospatial analysis to analyze oceanic and climatic problems. Wherever she may end up, the ISE is confident that she will excel and have a positive impact on the world.
The Institute for a Sustainable Environment is working to feature sustainability initiatives, like Grace’s efforts, taking place on campus. At Clarkson, we are committed to including sustainability in everything we do. If you have a project, story, or other sustainability work you’d like to share, please email Evelyn (laferrep@clarkson.edu).
