Ashleigh Meade '20

Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Summer 2019

This past summer I completed a 10 week long Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. There were over 100 interns at NREL conducting a wide variety of research projects, giving me the chance to cultivate long lasting connections with driven and intelligent students from around the country. The SULI deliverables included the completion of 10 page minimum research paper (mine ended up being 42 pages!), and a final poster presentation session. My research project involved water quality testing of the detention pond on NREL's South Table Mountain Campus. With my research I aimed to identify if the pond required maintenance based on the rate of water quality improvement from influent to effluent samples. My project also compared the percentage of impervious surfaces to pollutant levels for each of the pond's drainage basins in order to identify pollutants of concern, as well as determine which drainage basin composed a greater risk for high pollutant levels. My research involved a perfect mix of field work and computational analysis. I collected water quality samples for laboratory analysis and completed in-situ water quality testing using a multi-parameter probe, allowing me to gain hands on field experience. With the help of my three mentors I discovered a newfound interests in stormwater management, gained research as well as business world experience, and built networks that will last a lifetime... all while living in the beautiful state of Colorado!