As an environmental science major, Angelica Klein ‘15 took advantage of Whittier’s small size classes, benefited from one-on-one faculty mentoring, and presented at academic conferences. Not only that, but as an undergraduate student, she was able to do research and conduct lab work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), one of the top national laboratories for science, energy, biosecurity, and defense.
Poets in the environmental science program have the opportunity to work closely with one faculty on a scientific undergraduate research project. Klein worked with Professor of Environmental Science Cinzia Fissore at the College’s lab for about two years on a collaborative project with Fissore’s colleagues at the University of Minnesota and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The goal of their work is to investigate whether Sphagnum peatlands from northern latitudes are already showing responses to climate warming.
At LLNL, Klein specifically worked on the extracted holocellulose from the sphagnum samples to conduct the graphitization process, then these graphitized samples were sent to the accelerator mass spectrometer which gave them the radiocarbon date of each sample.
“Opportunities like the one that Angelica had - to work in a national lab and on a large research project - are somewhat infrequent for an undergraduate, but we as faculty try to put our contacts in good use to benefit our students and to have an impact on their future career,” said Fissore.
Fissore has been studying for years the various aspects of the responses of soil organic carbon to a changing climate, in particular to rising temperatures.
“Working in northern peatlands is extremely important for someone in my field because peatlands store large amounts of soil carbon that, if lost, would greatly contribute to global warming,” said Fissore. “Peat forms at a very slow rate, which means that once carbon is lost to the atmosphere, there is no quick and easy fix to sequester it back into the soil.”
While working with Fissore, Klein also had the opportunity to attend the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Conference held in San Francisco.
“It was an incredible experience for me,” said Klein. “It was here that I was able to present our initial findings with Dr. Fissore in a poster session. I gained a lot of experience about how to present and I also was able to sit in some lectures discussing the most recent scientific work being done at that time.”
Klein, who calls Hong Kong home, has always had a love for the environment. Growing up she dreamed of being a photographer for National Geographic, but after taking environmental science in high school she was hooked to soil.
While at Whittier, Klein was involved in the urban agriculture club, worked at the Registrar’s Office, and now works at Kaplan International where she puts her minor in Chinese to work as a she is a chaperone for international students.
In addition, Klein took part in the Sustainable Whittier Project during her junior year.
“It was such a great opportunity to work with the Whittier Conservancy and Heritage Housing Partners and learn more about the process of affordable to low income sustainable housing,” said Klein.
What are Klein’s plans for the future?
“I’d like to work in sustainable, organic urban farming in the L.A. area or in Hong Kong,” she said. “Then at some point next year I would love to work for WWOOF, an organization that allows people to volunteer on a farm and gain experience farming. Finally, I want to attend grad school the fall of 2016.”
