The Facilities Department is excited to announce its selection of Stacia Sheputa as the new Environmental Health and Safety Intern here at St. Edward’s University. Stacia is a graduate student in the third cohort fo the Environmental Management and Sustainability program (MSEM) at St. Edward’s. During her semester as an intern Stacia will assist the university with various projects ensuring the compliance of university practices with the EPA, TCEQ and other environmental rating standards. These projects, which are part of the university’s Environmental Management System, will include assisting the Facilities Department with the development and maintenance of environmental records, preparing required documentation for submission to federal, state and local authorizes, conducting environmental compliance self-audits of facilities, collecting and evaluating data that concerns utility consumption and waste reduction, and assisting with the inventory of hazardous chemicals. This internship is critical for upholding sustainable practices on campus with the Facilities Department and will definitely keep Stacia busy during the Spring 2015 semester!
Stacia received a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Social Sciences with minor degrees in Psychology and Philosophy from St. John’s University. During her time at St. John’s, Stacia studied abroad in Spain, France, Italy and Bermuda. During Stacia’s time in Bermuda she volunteered with the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo where she acquired a love for conservation. While working towards her undergraduate degree Stacia interned at the Alley Pond Environmental Center in Queens where she conducted research on the “Queen’s Giant”, an old Tulip Poplar tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) which is estimated to be the oldest and tallest living monument in New York City. Stacia focused her undergraduate research on urban development and sustainable cities that encouraged her to apply to the Environmental Management and Sustainability graduate program at St. Edward’s.
Stacia’s current research is being completed with fellow students Pamela Millan and Amanda Maxon on deer population density at the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve in the hopes of finding potential correlations between vegetation and stress levels. Stacia plans to attend the “Science for Parks, Parks for Science” conference at the University of California at Berkeley to present the groups data.
This is the second sustainability assistant position developed by the university. The first was the Sustainability Graduate Assistant, which is currently filled by Christine Lacayo MSEM ’16 within the Office of Sustainability. These positions have been created to continue the university’s progress in and plans to become more sustainable.