Jenn Galler is a first year graduate student at Johns Hopkins University studying Environmental Sciences and Policy. She is also a Community Organizer for Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. Her passion for the environment started at an early age when she always wanted to be outside and was intrigued with the natural world.
In fall of 2021, she was taking pre-req classes at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she worked with the Director of the Environmental Science department on microplastic research. She took samples of both the water and invertebrate species in the TN river, urban creeks, and rural creeks. From there she took the samples to the lab to analyze how many microplastics particles were present and if there were differences in the waterways. They came to discover that, yes, there were a multitude of microplastics that were in the water and that invertebrate species (mainly snails) were consuming them. The majority were in the form of polyester fibers from clothing. This is because when people wash their polyester (petroleum-based plastic) clothes, the water from their laundry machine would find its way into these bodies of water.
Jenn wants to work on water quality issues in her future career so she’s excited to start field work with Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® to learn how to conserve and protect our watersheds.