Today I made my first trip to McMichael since my freshman year. As a creative writing major, I find reasons to visit the science building are few and far between. But today I found myself headed there for an interview with Dr. Niedziela, to talk about the research that scored her academic advisee, Lauren Stranahan, an invite to the prestigious Posters on the Hill event in Washington D.C.
For the past two years, Stranahan has been researching the effects of pharmaceutical drugs on aquatic wildlife. Her goal is to show that trace amounts of these drugs that are released into the ocean have a negative impact on the wildlife that lives there.
I may not have conducted an experiment in years, but even I can appreciate what Stranahan is doing. I’m excited to be working on this story because Stranahan’s research shows how the work we’re doing here at Elon can have an impact on the world outside the Elon community. She is a great example of someone who took a project for school and thought about the big picture. And because of her dedication to that picture, her voice will be heard in Washington D.C. this April.