Austin College junior Katie Collins will be the featured speaker at the Environmental Studies Lunch Talk at noon on Tuesday, October 31, in Wright Campus Center, Room 231. She will discuss her 2017 summer experiences at her internship at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas. This event is free and open to the public. Individuals are welcome to bring their lunch. Students without a meal plan may sign in at the dining hall free of charge.
Collins, a Dallas native, is completing majors in environmental studies and biology at Austin College.
From June through August, Katie and the other interns were primarily responsible for helping field technicians maintain experimental fields and collect data samples at The Land Institute. They also attended weekly seminars presented by the researchers to learn more about how people are trying to change the agricultural system.
Collins is interested in investigating long-term solutions to environmental problems, particularly the issue of feeding a growing population without degrading natural resources. “My internship at The Land Institute provided me with an option for a future career path that accomplishes my interests,” she said. “If I were to go to graduate school for plant genetics or agricultural ecology, I would still be doing what I want to do, and I am grateful for the unique experience I had this summer in Kansas.”
The work of The Land Institute, a non-profit organization founded in 1976, is led by a team of plant breeders and ecologists in multiple partnerships worldwide and is focused on developing perennial grains, pulses, and oilseed-bearing plants to be grown in ecologically intensified, diverse crop mixtures known as perennial polycultures. The Institute’s goal is to create an agriculture system that mimics natural systems in order to produce ample food and reduce or eliminate the negative impacts of industrial agriculture.
Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned a reputation for excellence in academic preparation, international study, pre-professional foundations, leadership development, committed faculty, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 40 percent of students representing ethnic minorities. A residential student body of approximately 1,275 students and a faculty of more than 100 allow a 13:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. The College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and cultivates an inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. Founded in 1849, the College is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.