Action | Student News
Undergrads Use Stanback Internships for Real-World Study on Suicide Rates, Cancers and Environmental Toxins
Assisting Weisler on his research in Salisbury were two other Stanback interns and Duke undergraduates in environmental sciences, Stacey Tsougas and Melissa Fiffer.
Tsougas was Weisler’s first intern, working during the summer of 2003. “I went down to Salisbury to visit residents, and the smell of the asphalt plant was so prominent,” she says. “I’ll never forget the moment that Dr. Weisler and I discovered the unusual number of suicides in the area.”
Fiffer began working with BREDL in 2004, after her sophomore year. She initially worked with community organizer David Mickey on researching the air quality policy process. She attended policy meetings, held in-person interviews with policymakers, and even went to the state’s Rules Review Commission with a petition concerning the hydrogen sulfide rule.
“It just happened that the summer I was working on air toxics policy, the North Carolina Division of Air Quality was considering a new health standard for hydrogen sulfide,” Fiffer recalls. “I went to the Rules Review Commission, which reviews every rule proposed by a state agency, and watched the review process. Typically, it is only industry groups that petition costly pollution rules. But this time we thought, ‘Why can’t an environmental group petition?’ So we petitioned the hydrogen sulfide rule because it had a glaring omission—it exempted the pulp and paper industry.”
While she was working with Mickey, she caught wind of the work going on in Salisbury. Intrigued, she helped Weisler with his work whenever possible.
In her junior year at Duke, Fiffer informally worked with Weisler, staying in the loop on his research. In the spring of that year, she formally reconnected with BREDL and Weisler through for-credit independent study.
“Most people don’t realize that you can do an independent study with people outside of your department, and even outside of Duke,” says Fiffer, “This was a great opportunity, and I was able to get credit for my work!” She studied hydrogen sulfide, learning that it is a neuro-modulator, meaning that it can cause mood swings and severe depression.
Weisler
and his team have received national recognition for their work and have
presented their findings at three national medical conferences. The air
toxins study was featured in the January 2006 issue of O: The Oprah
Magazine.
In her senior year at Duke, Fiffer drew on her Stanback internship experience. She incorporated her research with BREDL into a term paper for a public health class, using her research in the paper.
Lisa Turner is experiencing a similar advantage from her experience as a Stanback intern. Turner’s involvement in Weisler’s research has given her a leg up in her classes this year, especially Environmental Toxicology and Statistics. “Knowing what went into our study makes me realize how I can apply statistics,” she says.
Fiffer is in a “modified” 3-2 program. She spent three-and-a-half years as a Duke undergraduate, and now she has entered the Nicholas School for her Master of Environmental Management degree, which she will complete in a year and a half. Fiffer’s concentration is environmental health and security. She will graduate in May 2007.
She is not yet finished with her Stanback experience.
She has secured another Stanback fellowship for this spring semester as an MEM student and will prepare BREDL’s Salisbury research for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. She’ll continue the research that Lisa Turner started in Haywood County and, she hopes, expand the study to other communities.
Has the Stanback experience affected Fiffer’s career aspirations?
“Oh, definitely,” she says. “My work with BREDL has solidified my interest in environmental and public health.” After earning her master’s degree, she hopes to work in air pollution policy either at the government or non-profit level. Her long-term goal is to attend law school and become an environmental lawyer.
Turner is equally passionate about her Stanback experience. “Everyone should do this,” she says, “There are so many options. Jump on this opportunity while you can.”
Weisler, too, is appreciative of the Stanback program, and the interns he’s had.
“Fred and Alice Stanback’s very thoughtful gift to the Nicholas School in the form of funding internships with nonprofit environmental groups was truly a brilliant idea,” Weisler says. “With the help of our three great Stanback interns to date, we have been able to investigate important topics that we could have never explored in the community public health, environmental, and medical arena.”
Katherine Jennrich MEM’07 is the 2005-2006 Nicholas School Student Communications Assistant.