LM+Draft+Pilot+Research

Since the beginning of my third year as an undergraduate student at RPI, I have participated in undergraduate research within the Science and Technology Studies Program. During the first semester, I began my work on environmental health by working on a global interdisciplinary project, titled //the Asthma Files//, which aimed to better understand asthma as a complex epidemic. During the second semester of that year, I shifted my focus from asthma to fracking in the Marcellus shale. RPI’s location in upstate New York makes it an excellent location for this research, and the project, titled, //the Fracking Files//, brought together researchers from a wide variety of backgrounds, in order to characterized the issue as another complex issue.

This project ties into the work I have already done as a part of //the Fracking Files//, adding to the complexity of the issue. Previous work has focused on the environmental and biophysical health issues; this research contributes an analysis of the social and community health impacts.