People of PRI

Amber Schmidt: Grad Student and Illinois Indiana Sea Grant Scholar

Dec 6, 2023 9:45 am

Matt Finzel, INHS graduate student researcher

Oct 25, 2022 2:00 pm

At 4 or 5 years old, INHS grad student Matt Finzel remembers exploring the great outdoors, letting curiosity be his guide! Now he's using large datasets from INHS to search for indicator plant species of high quality wetlands in Illinois.

Rohini Vembar, INHS graduate student researcher

Oct 25, 2022 2:00 pm

INHS graduate student Rohini Vembar grew up surrounded by science, and—even as an elementary school student—knew she wanted to go into some STEM field.

Sophia Sagrestano, ISWS graduate student researcher

Oct 25, 2022 2:00 pm

Sophia Sagrestano's path toward a master's degree in atmospheric science started with watching the local meteorologist each morning before school in her childhood home. Now she's working with Water Survey researchers to better understand the planetary boundary layer and how it impacts lake effect snow formation over Lake Ontario!

Mario Navarro, Lily Hearn, and Tahj Crofton sitting

Lily Hearn, Tahj Cortes Crofton, and Mario Owens Navarro, 2022 Potter interns

Sep 12, 2022 8:00 am

Lily Hearn, Tahj Cortes Crofton, and Mario Owens Navarro have been working with PRI scientists on research tackling some of the most pressing environmental issues. This group of undergraduate students was part of the first cohort of the Illinois State Geological Survey's Paul Edwin Potter Internship Program.

Miriam Schlessinger, 2022 PRI SROP intern

Aug 1, 2022 1:00 pm

Miriam Schlessinger, an undergraduate at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville recently participated in the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP), a 10-week hands-on summer internship at PRI that aims to enable undergraduate students from underrepresented populations to explore careers in applied science.

Liane Rosario, 2022 Potter intern

Aug 1, 2022 8:00 am

Liane Rosario, a senior at the University of Illinois Chicago studying earth and environmental sciences is a 2022 Potter intern working on coastal research at the ISGS Lake Michigan office, gathering data using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in caves and on beaches, and measuring the depths of Lake Michigan via boat using bathymetry data.

Ahmani Browne, 2022 PRI SROP intern

Jul 26, 2022 8:00 am

Ahmani Browne, a senior studying marine biology at Mitchell College, is working with Liang Chen, a research climatologist at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS), studying the risks of winter severity in the Midwest due to climate change. Browne and Chen are using state-of-the-art climate models to quantify past and future winter storms, and investigate strong-wind and heavy snowfall events using climate simulations. Browne recently answered some questions about his internship experience.

Caleb Bohus, 2022 Potter intern

Jul 12, 2022 8:00 am

Caleb Bohus is a member of the first cohort of five Potter interns at the Prairie Research Institute (PRI). The Paul Edwin Potter Internships. Bohus, a junior at Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale, has been working with Joe Devera, a senior paleontologist at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) and the Smithsonian on a paleontologcial project.

Shruti Deekshitula, graduate student researcher

Jun 15, 2022 8:00 am

Shruti Deekshitula is a graduate student researcher at the Illinois State Water Survey and an information science student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Apr 22, 2022 11:15 am

Congratulations to all of the undergraduate students presenting at the Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 28 and the PRI scientists who mentored them!

Jordyn Chace in the Mark Davis Lab in NRES and the Illinois Bat Conservation Program

Jordyn Chace, graduate student

Oct 27, 2021 8:00 am

Jordyn Chace says she has always wanted to be a conservation biologist, even before she knew that it was a real career. Now she's a bat genomicist with the Illinois Natural History Survey.

Jessica Homan, social media intern

Sep 8, 2021 8:00 am

Social media intern Jessica Homan’s passion for her work revolves around communications. She was drawn to intern at the Prairie Research Institute after learning about the impact its services and research has on citizens and scientists in Illinois and beyond—plenty of good stories to tell!