Portfolio

Portfolio

Blanka Herrmann

Technical Writing

University of Sopron

20 essays

3 years

Having to write so many essays in such a short time (up to 5 each semester), I quickly streamlined my process:

- creating an outline and a skeleton of the document

- writing bibliographies

- formatting

I also created a template to further accelerate the process of writing essays. This included:

- a cover page

- page numbers

- Times New Roman, 12pt, justified

- image captions

Proposed Natura 2000 Site Management Plan

I created this management plan for class. We had to mark an approx. 2 km2 (450 acres) natural area in our hometown and assess the types of land cover, threatened habitats and species, and create a Natura 2000 site management plan following the EU’s guidelines.

- 29 pages long document

- 8 maps created in QGIS

- 14 tables

- based on the EU’s Standard Data Form

- content: maps, habitat description, threats, prohibited activities, relevant laws, management by habitat type and for specific species

Teacher feedback: “Fastidious, quality work.”

Habitat and Plant Survey of Ash-Alder Swamp

Teacher feedback: “Your work is nice, fastidious; you can tell it’s not just cut together.”

5 pages

Species Conservation Plan for the Fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina)

Essay on the Ócsa Landscape Protection Area

Teacher feedback: “Nicely organized, exemplary work.”

Teacher feedback: “Very fastidious and substantial work.”

9 pages

Data visualization University of Sopron

Management of Textile Waste

Learning more

When looking at other’s graphs, I am always taking note of what works and what doesn’t, and thinking of how they could be more effective in communicating their point.

I also look to guides and resources on how to make my graphs look better and be more accessible.

When creating a graph for my thesis, I struggled with how to avoid breaking the y axis. One of these blogposts helped me troubleshoot my problem and appropriately communicate the data.

Thesis: Analyzing the Methodology of Trap-nests

When writing my thesis, I needed two sets of colors to depict two aspects of my research:

- contrasting bees vs wasps

- contrasting ‘Method-K’ vs ‘Method-T’

I wanted these colors to look nice together, but also be different enough to clearly communicate the two ways in which I was interpreting the data.

I also wanted bees and wasps to be portrayed with warmer, friendlier colors. In contrast the methods would be portrayed with more analytical looking, sterile colors.

Presentations University of Sopron

11 powerpoints

1 poster

Presentations given

In 3 years, I gave 11 powerpoint presentations. I quickly developed a template that I used to streamline the process.

This worked so well, I used it for my thesis defense.

Having to make so many powerpoints, I also got practice in creating effective slides with little text. Overview

Nature Conservation Overseas

Urban Flood Mitigation through Habitat Restoration

Presented in 2 minutes

I love sharing my lived experiences with others. Even during my gap year in Seattle, I knew I wanted to share my new knowledge with my schoolmates. So I asked if I could be a guest speaker at my university’s Eco Club. As the former Media Coordinator, I had the honor of designing the posters for my talk!

Topics covered (in approx. 1 hr):

- What does a Nature Conservation student do, when let loose in the USA?

- How do our native plants cause harm abroad?

- What causes the big wildfires in America?

- How can we combine landscape architecture and nature conservation?

There have been three notable opportunities for me to present outside of class:

In highschool, I shadowed a vet for a day. I made a powerpoint of the experience, and with my Biology teacher’s permission, presented it to the class.

At the end of my junior year at uni, I presented on my thesis project as part of a student conference.

After a 9 month gap year in Seattle, I returned to my university to present on “Nature Conservation Abroad” as a guest speaker at the university’s Eco Club.

shaking voice → ad lib jokes

I’ve always struggled with stage fright and public speaking, but am constantly looking for opportunities to step out of my comfort zone.

The first time I presented at university, my voice shook uncontrollably as I started talking.

This past Spring, I presented to a room full of people, all without a script and with ad lib jokes and comments. The enthusiasm of the audience was so energizing!

I grew up in a bilingual (Hungarian-American) household.

In school, I studied German (5 yrs) and Latin (4 yrs). I always wanted to learn Spanish, so when I had a gap in my studies in 2019, I took up private classes. I hope to continue learning and become proficient.

Lectoring

I try to use my language knowledge to others’ benefit. I have helped lector or translate:

- PhD, MSc, BSc thesis abstracts

- Scientific papers

- Contracts, legal documents

Entomology

Hydrology

Obstetrics

Forestry

Mechanics

Immunology

Law

Ornithology

Botany

Scientific Language

I saw a big gap in professional language knowledge at my university, and am currently tackling that on two fronts:

Language Studies Lectoring,

Translating

Bachelor’s Thesis

BSc studies - done in Hungarian

Thesis - written in English (unprecedented)

- defended in Hungarian

English jargon

- Wrote a list of 400+ terms

- Online curriculum under development

Scientific terms

- Drafted a three-part guide to learning scientific names and pronounciation

Media Coordinator

Kaán Károly Eco Club

As Media Coordinator of my university’s Eco Club, I was responsible for: - designing posters for events - managing email communication and social media

20+ posters

3 semesters

looping animation of upcoming events

added value

voting for Hungary’s best wildlife species

September summary post on facebook

created interactive polls on instagram for Earth Day, reaching up to 90 people

kaan.karoly.okoklub 5h

kaan.karoly.okoklub…

Event Coordinator Kaán Károly Eco Club, Green Track Campaign

At the end of 2021, we heard of an EU-wide opportunity that we wanted to take part in as the Eco Club.

The European Commission’s “On the Green Track” campaign, aimed to “mobilize the European youth in the run-up to COP15 (UN Biodiversity Conference)”.

Our photo exhibition was one of 32 accepted events around the EU.

I was one of two coordinators for the event. I acted as Creative Director and Media Coordinator, while Mátyás Csorba was the contact person between the Eco Club and the Green Track team.

writing the proposal

creating and managing the photo submission process

The planning, execution and wrap-up spanned a full semester.

calling for submissions

delegating tasks

designing the exhibit and printing

Threatened Habitats and Species of Hungary

We used the exhibition to raise awareness of Hungary’s threatened habitats and species.

The exhibition was made up of 50 photos taken by students and employees from all faculties of the University of Sopron.

The photos were organized into four categories: Forests, Grasslands, Wetlands, and Urban Habitats. Each category had an introduction written by one of the Eco Club members, and all photos had descriptions written by the photographer.

adding text, translations, and interactive elements

advertising the event

I created the graphic used for the event. It depicts several protected species of Hungary.

Objectives

Engaging students and employees from all faculties

Actions & Outcomes

- the call for submissions and the exhibition was advertised across all campuses and dorms

- we recieved a good number of submissions across all faculties

Reaching international students

- the submission process and the event was completely bilingual (except for the seminars)

- we had several submissions from international students

Organizing a high-quality professional event

- this was the biggest event the Eco Club has put on in recent history

- the event was opened and closed with a seminar on topics related to the event’s theme

Educating a wider audience on Hungary’s natural treasures

- the exhibition was free and open to the public

- a group of 50 women from the Faculty of Pedagogy visited the exhibition

Unexpected

outcome

- the event popularized the Eco Club and inspired students to join

50 photos 150+ visitors

Where did we get submissions from?

Faculty of Forestry

Faculty of Wood Engineering

Faculty of Pedagogy

Faculty of Economics

Other

Setting up the exhibition Opening ceremony and

Volunteering

Where it all started

2014

Budapest

3 weeks maintaining grounds - cleaning enclosures - prepping food and feeding

Habitat Management

2021 Sopron

Removing reed from protected fen

2023

Budapest

Removing invasive Elaeagnus trees

Invasive Species Management

2020 Kunpeszér

Contributed to removing 2000+ saplings a day

2022

Portland, OR

Collected data on biological control species

2023

Seattle, WA

Removed various invasive species at 3 sites

Remote

Wildlife Surveys 2023 Ócsa

2020-2021

Helped with data collection of 90 video clips for PhD research at UMT

2021-2022

Tagged nearly 500 camera trap images for Chicago Wildlife Watch

Plant Surveys

Aided in data entry and interpreting of bird banding

Surveyed multiple orchid species

Sopron

Bachelor’s Thesis

University of Sopron

Analyzing the Methodology of Trap-Nests

For my BSc thesis project, I compared two variations on the trap-nest. These are used to examine the life history of solitary bees and wasps.

Key takeaways

- Longer reeds = higher occupancy

- Longer reeds ≠ higher cell numbers

- Preference for diameter varies among genera

18 trap-nests

3000 reeds

40% occupancy statistical analysis on 1400 nests t-tests ANOVA

Independently identified bee, wasp, and parasitoid taxa to the genus level

Feedback

Thesis booklet

I made a booklet for my thesis defense. Each member of the committee recieved one. The booklet included the most important stats, graphs, and photos.

Imre Demeter, PhD (external reviewer)

“…its structure and style are clear and understandable.”

“The […] literature […] has been thoroughly compiled and is well presented.”

“The paper shows that the author has shown great interest in her work.”

Katalin Tuba, PhD (internal advisor)

“The student shows an exceptional level of confidence in this subject. It is rare for university students — especially at BSc level — to be confident in statistical evaluations.”

“Working with a smart, curious student is easy.”

Internship HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research

I completed a 6 week internship at the same lab I did my BSc thesis at. I worked on two projects:

The project

Studying spider and shield bug diversity and abundance on an urban to rural gradient.

Surveying urban pollinators with trap-nests.

My contribution

Separated spider and shield bug specimens from wet samples for later identification.

Identified live bee, wasp, and parasitoid taxa to the genus level and recorded data on the nests.

Final Exam

University of Sopron

In Hungary, all university students close their studies with a final oral exam. It is a culmination of all of your studies, and is notoriously difficult.

Studying for the exam was a good exercise in summarizing and simplifying complex material.

The 42 topics were organized into 3 categories:

- Habitats

- Geology and Geography

- Law and Policy

42 topics

350 pages of material

2 months studying final grade

5.0 (avg of 4 grades)

Geology and Geography Law and Policy

99 pages of material summarized in 1 map

Habitats

- 14 topics

- 65 habitats

- topography, hydrology

- climatic / edaphic factors

- base rock, soil

- habitat structure, species composition

- distribution (national and global)

- protected, threatened, and rare species

- threats, management

- 534 slides

photos of all species I had to know for each habitat (approx. 500 plants, 200 animals total)

- schematic drawings for all 65 habitats

Science Communication

Illustridae

In March 2020, when I had some extra time on my hands, I started illustridae, a personal project. I shared drawings and illustrations on social media, and started a website and blog to go with it.

I enjoy sharing my experiences and things I learn with others. This happens on two main channels: illustridae and my personal instagram account.

First blog post “Crash Course for First-Year Students: 21 useful tips”

Favorite resources for ConBio students

A database of 160+ websites, guides, and resources I hope to make public.

Topics include: data viz, maps, data sources, image sources, sources for literature, science education

In the Works

I have many ideas for guides and resources I want to create for the blog, mostly geared towards Conservation Biology students.

Three-part guide to learning scientific names

- basics of Latin and binomial nomenclature - learning scientific names - study tips for tests

Infographics

Gala Lepidoptera aimed to highlight the beauty of moths

Personal instagram

Whether I’m on a conference, field trip, or working in the lab, I enjoy sharing knowledge with others.

This also helps me better understand a topic, and learn more when answering people’s questions.

Illustrations

◀ The state birds of all the states I passed through on a train ride from Seattle to DC.