Two Co-Lin students participate in Brown University research internship
June 20, 2022
Beginning this summer, Brown University School of Public Health and Copiah-Lincoln Community College will be conducting an environmental exposure assessment in Simpson County. Two Co-Lin Simpson County Center students, Ramsey Jones of Mendenhall and Noah Overstreet of Magee, have been selected to serve as paid summer research interns for the project.
Dr. Erica Walker is the RGSS Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Founder of Community Noise Lab at the Brown University School of Public Health and will serve as the Principal Investigator for the project. This research project will measure and model air pollution, noise pollution, water quality, and overall environmental quality in the Jackson Metro area. Starting this summer, Dr. Walker will be working with faculty, students, and staff at Co-Lin’s Simpson County Center to measure air and noise pollution in communities throughout Greater Jackson.
“What is most exciting about this project is working with Co-Lin,” says Dr. Walker. “Not only is Co-Lin where I received my introduction to higher education, this project will look at environmental issues specific to my hometown.”
Dr. Walker will be working closely with Simpson County Center instructor Dr. Allison Duckworth and interns Jones and Overstreet. Together they will measure both air pollution and environmental sound quality at select sites across the county and beyond.
Interns Jones and Overstreet will work 10 hours each week carrying out field data collection by monitoring sound and air pollution sites in Wesson, Natchez, and Mendenhall. They will also locate potential sites for future data collection and recruit community members to take a National Environment Quality Survey. Additionally, the interns will download real-time data collected during field monitoring and laboratory experiments, clean the data, analyze it both statistically and visually, and maintain and update databases. The end goal is a poster presentation at an upcoming academic conference, a manuscript for academic publication, and a presentation to students and faculty at Brown University.
CUTLINE: Co-Lin Simpson County Center students Ramsey Jones (left) and Noah Overstreet (middle) have been selected to serve as summer research interns for a project with Brown University. Students are pictured with Simpson County Center Vice President Dr. Anika Floyd.