Old Pictures...

2.11.10

My cousin Carolyn sent me these old pictures. I guess she found them while she was going through my grandmother's picture box.

Carolyn, me, and Papa

Rocking out!?

Telephone Pictionary

1.31.10

This picture was taken back in December by my friend Ali. While I was staying in Washington DC for the weekend, a bunch of my friends agreed to play this game called Telephone Pictionary. It's one of my all time favorite games because it always makes me laugh. I used to play it with my students in Japan and they would always shock me with their ability to draw and write!

To explain the rules, each player takes a piece of paper and writes a sentence at the top of their page. They hand it to the person on their left and that person draws a picture of what they read. The drawer then folds over the sentence and passes the picture to their left. The second writer must then explain what's going on in the picture using one sentence. The game continues like this until the piece of paper gets back to its original author. It's fun to read them together at the end. Most times the story totally deviates from the initial sentence but there are some exceptions to this.

The picture below is one of my favorites from Washington DC.

I'm not really sure why, but the French guy at the bottom always makes me giggle. He looks so surprised. Well, maybe I would be too given Kate's evil stare.

Me Chalkbag, Yarr

1.17.10

Christine and I were at Eastern Mountain Sports the other day trying to pick her out a pair of climbing shoes when we had a brilliant idea.

Me: Christine, these chalk bags are sort of expensive.

Christine: Yeah, I know. They don't look that hard to make.

Me: Do you really think we could make them?

Christine: Yeah! I have a sewing machine!

And so it began. I found a really awesome website with step-by-step directions on how to make a chalk bag. It was lots of fun and we are both so proud to use our hand-made bags. Not to mention, having chalk makes it much easier to climb. Chalk is especially helpful when you start to slip off the rock/hold because it dries up the moisture on your hands.

Christine and I with our chalk bags. Here's is the plaid one, mine is the black in the middle, and the last one we made for our lab mate Christian.

When you pull the drawn string it looks like a bunny.

I choose girly skull and cross bones fleece for my chalk bag liner. The skulls have bows and heart shaped eye sockets.

You can either use chalk in stick form or powdered form. Most times, powdered chalk is stored in a 'sock' that dispenses the chalk when you squeeze it. If you look inside my back you will see the little sock of chalk that Christine and I also made.

The finished product! All I need is a carabiner to clip this onto a harness.

Two weeks off!

1.7.10

As my first semester of graduate (or maybe gradual) school came to a close, I was looking forward to a break from all the work. In contrast to years past, I decided that this year I would stay inside New York State. I was home in Buffalo for a few days, flew to New York City to stay with some friends, and then went back to Ithaker with Jon Newman. It was nice to spend a few days of my vacation in Ithaker before heading back to work on January 6.

Anyway, I decided it would be best to tell the story of my vacation in pictures. Here it goes!

Since I can remember, we have always spent Christmas Day dinner with my mother's side of the family. My aunt and her family always have a huge tree decorated with bubbling oil lights and heaps of tinsel. The tree looks so pretty in the dark.

Aunt Diane, Mom Hensen, and my mother

Here's Aunt Diane wearing her new, frilly apron. I think she's wondering why I took this picture.

Sarah Jane and Yuki (You will notice all the mashed potatoes on Sarah's plate. She waits a whole year to eat Aunt Diane's famous twice baked mash potatoes--and her fudge.)

Gifts for the Cousin Gift Exchange

Here are all my cousins from front left: Miranda, Scott (husband of Carolyn), Erin, Taran, Carolyn, Tyler, Ashley (sister of Caitlin), Caitlin (girlfriend of Ryan), me, Yuki (friend of Sarah), Sarah Jane, Ryan. There were some really interesting presents but I was very happy to receive sea monkeys.

My sister's friend Yuki (which means 'snow' in Japanese), joined us for the Christmas holidays. Even though she had never played before, she beat us all at Barrel of Monkeys!

I arrived in JFK airport where I was greeted by my friend James. James and I studied printmaking together at Binghamton University. I really enjoyed my stay with him and his girlfriend Nicole in Brooklyn. We watched Planet Earth, played Super Mario, met up with Jon (Jon also knows James from art class), walked around Brooklyn, and caught up. Unfortunately, I was unable to go to any museums with them because they were closed. We did however, see an albino squirrel in the Prospect Park. I should also mention that Nicole is an absolutely amazing cook! One evening, she made us beet raviolis and spinach goat cheese salad. The raviolis were such a pretty shade of pink that I almost didn't want to eat them.

Here is James, Nicole, and me. I was really sad to leave them but promised that I would come back soon; especially since I learned about the fancy Kernel bus that goes to Manhattan every weekend.

Before heading back to Ithaca with Jon, I met up with a whole bunch of other friends including Stephanie, Edelbug, and Yuta. I also met some of Jon's friends from Connecticut. At one point, Jon came down with a 24 hour flu bug so we decided to stay in New York City for an extra day. We ended up taking the bus back to Ithaker on New Years Eve.

Jon Newman's Christmas Present (a t-shirt quilt)

Jon and I

Ta-da! It's Ithaca Falls!

Intense

Jon throwing icicles at icicles.

Spending time with Jon Newman is one of my favorite things. We went climbing at the rock climbing wall, watched several great movies, and he taught me a few things about math and Matlab. Just as he was about to head back to Atlanta, his flight got delayed and he had to stay an extra night. I'm just glad that he didn't have to stay the night in Philly. :)

My NSF Fellowship

11.16.09

For the past few months, I have been working really hard to complete a research proposal for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Receiving this fellowship would be beneficial for my lab as well as my future career in the environmental field. I spent a great deal of time revising my three essays (personal statement, previous research experience, and project proposal) but finally submitted my application on November 10th (two days before the deadline!).

I've copied my project proposal below. Feel free to ask me to clarify anything or provide me with any suggestions. I would love to hear what you think. I will find out the verdict sometime in April. Wish me luck!

Stormwater Runoff and Pollution Transport: New Models for a Changing Urban Environment

Keywords: Urban Runoff, Pollution, Infiltration Practices

Human population growth and expanding urban development have critical impacts on the quality of water resources. Urban stormwater runoff often contains various pollutants including heavy metals, nutrients, sediments, oils, and synthetic organic compounds. If left unaddressed, urban growth will reduce water quality and impair surrounding ecosystems.

Publically funded alternative stormwater management practices such as rain gardens, constructed wetlands, and infiltration basins are being implemented in major US cities like Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago. These strategically-placed vegetated areas treat contaminated stormwater as it infiltrates downward, restoring deleted aquifers. In some cases, these alternative approaches do not meet their expected potential. They perform well in areas with deep soil profiles and deep groundwater tables. However, in areas such as the Bronx in New York City where the water table is near the surface, increased groundwater levels result in flooded households and increased runoff generation. Since nearly eighty percent of the United States population lives in urban centers (Tipping Points 2009), accurate scientific tools are needed to (1) develop improved models of urban stormwater runoff, (2) evaluate the ability of alternative hydrologically defensible practices to improve the quality of urban runoff, and (3) educate policy makers as they strive to effectively manage water resources.

In urban and suburban settings, complex flow paths make it difficult to identify the source of contaminants. Since the majority of urban landscapes are covered with paved surfaces, stormwater runoff, termed Hortonian overland flow, occurs when the rate of rainfall exceeds the surface’s infiltration rate. Therefore, expanding cities can anticipate increased Hortonian flow responses, and ultimately higher instances of pollution wash-off. In addition to Hortonian flow, saturated excess flow refers to the runoff produced when the soil is saturated. Variable source area (VSA) hydrology is a concept incorporating the spatial and temporal variation of saturation runoff production. Urban rain gardens are designed to alleviate excess runoff from nearby paved surfaces and may behave as a VSA if contributions from the surrounding landscape are not realized. Coupled Hortonian and VSA models will contribute substantially to our limited understanding of pollution flow paths in cities.

To date, several scientific models have been developed to explain the transport mechanisms of urban stormwater runoff and pollutants. Physically based models are classified by their depiction of spatial conditions (distributed, semi-distributed, lumped) and hydrological processes (Hortonian or VSA flows). In general, distributed models represent runoff production more precisely than lumped models. However, many distributed models rely solely on Hortonian flow processes. Due to our limited scientific understanding of urban runoff processes, my research objectives include (1) developing a coupled Hortonian and VSA runoff model, (2) evaluating the model through field studies, and (3) using virtual simulations to propose holistic community-based stormwater management strategies.

Unlike other runoff models, the Soil Moisture Distribution and Routing model (SMDR) is a grid based model that accurately represents VSA runoff and pollution spread over mixed urban landscapes (Easton et al. 2007). While Easton et al. (2007) applied the SMDR model to urban areas with a shallow groundwater table, I will extend the model’s application to urban areas with deep groundwater tables so it can be implemented more broadly. At Cornell University, I am implementing a model to predict the transport of agricultural pesticides into the groundwater via subsurface paths of least resistance, termed preferential flow pathways. The knowledge I have gained from this study is transferable to my proposed research and has inspired my interest in groundwater conservation. Urban runoff that is concentrated with pollutants will eventually make its way to the groundwater, where it is extremely difficult and costly to remediate.

Also, field studies assessing runoff quality from rain gardens and other strategies will be used to test model results and quantitatively measure the ability of alternative infiltration practices to reduce stormwater runoff and pollution loads. Furthermore, I will use the SMDR model to analyze the impact of population expansion and alternative stormwater management practices on the quality of urban runoff.

Lastly, I plan to incorporate the influence of human decisions on changing land cover over into the SMDR model. As a Bioengineering major at Binghamton University, I developed a solid foundation in mathematical modeling that is directly applicable my proposed research. Zellner et al. (2008) combine agent based models and game theory to predict the outcomes of zoning restrictions and policy incentives on land use change in Michigan. By adapting the approach of Zellner et al. (2008) to urban settings, optimal stormwater management strategies will be realized.

My research will assist urban policy makers as they work to safeguard groundwater and surface water resources from urban pollutants. I also plan to encourage the use of effective alternative stormwater management practices through public education initiatives. As a current Ithaca Sciencenter volunteer, I will collaborate with Sciencenter staff to create hands-on activities and demonstrations for children and their families. Through Cornell’s Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) program, I will use my research themes to actively engage middle school girls interested in science. In connection with Cornell’s Prisoner Education Program (CPEP), I will develop a college level course on hydrological processes and pollution transport for incarcerated men looking to obtain their Associates degree. Finally, I intend to publish my results in peer reviewed journals and present them at national (e.g. scientific conferences) and local (e.g. New York State Fair) events.

Our abilities to reduce the unintended consequences of urban expansion hinges on our scientific understanding of urban hydrological processes and our willingness to share this acquired knowledge with the public. As city populations continue to increase, holistic consideration for changing human and environmental responses must define stormwater management strategies. The research areas proposed here will lead to the development of accurate science based tools and facilitate effective public decision making as it pertains to improved urban water quality.

References:

Easton et al. (2007), Water Resources Research, 43, W03413, doi:10.1029/2006WR005076.

Tipping Points in Complex Environmental Systems. A Report by the NSF Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. 56 pp.

Zellner et al., Land Use Policy (2008), doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.04.004

Taking the Hoffman Challenge!

11.1.09

Today I met a group of lab mates and friends at the Hoffman Challenge Course. This high ropes course was located about 10 minutes from Cornell's campus on the very top of Mount Pleasant. And if I'm not mistaken, Mount Pleasant is one of the highest points in Tompkins County. The view was beautiful and the course elements were amazing.

There were a variety of challenge courses and I tried to do as many as I could. However, I still wasn't able to do them all. My favorite element involved jumping off a mock Cornell clock tower, free-falling for 10 feet, and finally being caught by the rope you were attached to. Safety was of utmost importance; it was mandatory that all participants wear helmets and harnesses. Christine and I also slide down the zip-line together. We had upper body harnesses that allowed us to fly out of the clock tower head first. We looked like "Superman"/Superwoman.

View from the Top of Mount Pleasant

Tony and Helen getting ready for a fun day up in the trees.

Veronica and Nate trying out the Jungle Gym element. I completed this element with a student named Dan. It took us a while and we were very tired at the end but it was worth the struggle.

Christine and Christian hanging out on the Jungle Gym.

Here, I'm climbing up the clock tower with the plan of jumping off. The first element I tried was called the King Swing. You free-fall for 10 feet before your harness kicks in and leaves you swinging 8 feet above the ground.

Nate is getting read to jump off of the King Swing.

Christian on the Grape Vine Element

Go first-years!

(me, Christine, and Christian)

The whole gang from left to right: Christine, me, Holly, Stephen, Ali, Nate, Veronica, Helen, Christian, and Tony.

Sunset from Mount Pleasant

Halloween in Ithaca

10.31.09

I was initially planning on dressing up as Jubilee Lee from X-Men but was unable to find suitable attire at a reasonable price. Due to the abundance of autumn leaves and our love for the earth, Christine and I decided to dress up as a couple of trees. We were more than willing to give out hugs to any self-professed tree hugger.

The Trees

(Christine and I)

Olive Oil and Popeye

(Veronica and Nate)

From left to right: Peter Pan (Sam), Popeye (Nate), Olive Oil (Veronica), Jimi Hendrix (Christian), (Helen), Bob Villa (Tony), Tree1 (Christine), and Tree2 (me).

Silly Shot