Mikela Pryor My CAFS Experience

Mikela Pryor My CAFS Experience

Mikela Pryor, Pharos of Alexandria Global Learning Award Recipient.

“Through my future work and research, I would like to make sure that engineering regulations at the local, state and national levels are based on sound, scientific research, especially when it comes to environmental regulation. Given the fact that climate change is accelerating, it is imperative that we work as diligently as possible to ensure that our planet is in a condition to service itself and the growing population that will be upon it in the decades and centuries to come. Nutrient pollution in storm water treatment is only a small portion of that work, but it leads to something bigger. If proper implementation of storm water treatment systems is applied at the local scale, it will have a great effect on its larger hydrologic system.”

Mikela was the 2019 recipient of the Pharos of Alexandria Global Learning Award. This award recognizes a junior or senior undergraduate, or graduate student who has excelled and demonstrated leadership on the local, national and /or international levels as shown by their activities and offices held at each level. Mikela will be graduating fall 2019, after which she will be attending graduate school at Texas A&M University to further her studies in biological and agricultural engineering.

am MIKELA PRYOR, a fourthyear Biological Systems Engineering student in the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences at Florida A&M University (FAMU). I was drawn to the field of Biological and Agricultural Engineering because of its take on protecting water resources. I have always been interested in protecting the environment, even as a child, but my passion for it didn’t peak until I began researching about the issue of the global water crisis in my teenage years. I realized that I have always been so fortunate to have clean, accessible water, but with climate change accelerating and an increasing population, water resources are growing scarce. Again, my interest in water resources led me to study Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) at FAMU.

Throughout my undergraduate studies, I have excelled beyond what I thought I was capable of, inside and outside of the classroom. As a research assistant, under the supervision of Aavudai Anandhi, Ph.D., assistant professor in the BSE program, I developed a strong technical and research background. Under her tutelage I participated in research and experiential projects, geared towards finding solutions to many of our agricultural and environmental problems. I have assisted with projects such as using models to determine cotton growth stages in Florida, bioremediation potential in the Savannah River Basin in South Carolina to analyzing water quality in the Ochlocknee River Basin, in northwest Florida. My research experience extended beyond the campus of FAMU. During one of my summer internships, I was an undergraduate researcher at the Texas A&M University Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department. I worked on research, which

focused on the effect of septic facilities waste water on soil and water quality. These research experiences have solidified my dedication to advance the knowledge and understanding of the environmental field.

Like many of my peers in the college, as part of our professional development, I had several opportunities to attend and participate at professional conferences and meetings such as the Association of 1890 Research Directors and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).

I decided to complement my academic background by gaining experience outside of the classroom, working for the USDA–Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Ohio during the summer of 2018. My main duty was to assist civil engineer technicians implement various conservation practices. I prepared soil and contour maps, conducted watershed delineations and performed a variety of survey work where I developed topographic, cross section and profile data. The work experience with the NRCS gave me hands-on experience in conservation engineering practices used in stream restoration, flooding and storm water management. I also developed Geographic Information System software and other computer-aided designs and software used for surveying and data analysis.

Academics and maintaining good grades are important, but I also believe that one of the best and rewarding things any college student can be engaged in, is volunteerism. The end result for use of your time and talents does not always have to come with a monetary reward, but should be about service for the greater good of the community. For the past three years I have been involved in several community projects and professional organizations. I volunteer at the Sustainability Education and

Engagement Destination garden on FAMU’s campus, and have participated in community service events with the FAMU Green Coalition and FAMU’s Chapter of the ASABE. During the 2018- 2019 academic year, I was selected as a Student Fellow of the FAMU Sustainability Institute, where I worked on a project to implement reusable food containers in the FAMU Food Court. I have also served as president of the FAMU ASABE Chapter during the 2017-2018 academic year and the secretary of the FAMU Green Coalition in 2018-2019. I was also a USDA 1890 Scholar.

The College of Agriculture and Food Sciences (CAFS) has helped to shape me into the student, researcher and professional that I am and will continue to be. I joined CAFS as a sophomore after transferring into the Biological Systems Engineering Department from prepharmacy. I was looking for a field that I could help change the world and make it a better place. I found that in CAFS. From the moment I joined the department, the BSE family welcomed me with open arms and I quickly learned that agriculture and natural resources was the avenue through which I would leave my mark on the world. Due to Dr. Anandhi’s mentorship, I have decided to continue research at the graduate level. I would also like to express special thanks to Charles Magee, Ph.D., who helped me to see the many avenues in which I could use a degree in BSE; Ivanka Anguelova, ASABE student advisor, who helped me cultivate my leadership skills; Dev Satyanarayan, Ph.D., advisor for my senior design, who helped hone my problem-solving skills and let me see myself as an engineer; Nathaniel Bailey, Ph.D., BSE program director, who provided guidance on my journey each step of the way; and Betty Hudson, administrative assistant who helped me to navigate the administrative processes throughout my matriculation at FAMU.