MESM 2024
Pronouns: she/her
Bio
Vivian graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2018 with a BA in Geography/Environmental Studies and a minor in GIS. Her passion for environmental science began during her undergraduate career, where she participated in the Wayne Lab at UCLA. There, she utilized environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect the presence/absence of native and invasive species in Southern California biomes. As a recipient of the CALeDNA Summer Research Program grant, she researched the effectiveness of remote sensing and eDNA in detecting invasive European sea lavender at the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve. After graduating, she began her journey in Corvallis, OR as an ORAU participant at the EPA, where she collaborated with scientists to develop the Decision Integration for Strong Communities (DISC) application to assist rural, low population communities and Native American tribes with their sustainability goals. She also studied the efficacy of green infrastructure on water quality in the Pacific Northwest, using the Visualizing Ecosystem and Land Management Assessments (VELMA) ecohydrological model. As a graduate student at Bren School, Vivian aspires to specialize in Water Resources Management and Pollution Prevention & Remediation to gain further insight on the environmental decisions necessary to influence water quality policy and management.