Olivia Arias

Undergraduate Fellow

“It would be really cool to be an environmental lawyer. I'm actually interested in working for nonrenewable energy companies and being an environmental presence, trying to move them towards sustainable change.”

Do you think you can take any lessons you've learned from bird research to your policy career?

“Further in my policy career, I won't be so immersed in nature, learning about birds. To make, enforce, or change laws on the environment, I have to know what’s in the environment and how research works. A big issue in policy is that scientists, lawmakers, and politicians have no idea what's going on with each other's work. They can't actually make decisions that will help everyone because they are so one-minded. Being around this environment now is helping me see what's important, and it will give me a good mindset.”

Olivia worked with Solny Adalsteinsson's Tick & Wildlife Ecology team during summer 2018. Learn more about their prescribed fire and tick-borne disease ecology research here.