Student Spotlight: Miranda White

Name: Miranda White

Classification: Senior

Field of study: Integrated Environmental Science

GPA: 3.96

Hometown: Downey, California

Career Goal: Specialist in Wetland Mitigation or Restoration

Favorite Scripture: Isaiah 40:29-31 “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Student Involvement: B-CU Women’s Volleyball, Environmental Science Honors Society, Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP) Member

As an B-CU Excelsior Scholar and a student-athlete, I have had the opportunity to be a part of various experiences at B-CU. It has been an intense journey combining my love for volleyball and my serious interest in environmental science. With these experiences, I have recognized how significant our daily activities and actions can affect the earth. Creating change is more than reusing, reducing, and recycling, it is the self-realization that humans are the only species that have the power (advancement in technology) to impact the evolutionary fortunes of all other species on the planet. The big steps that I tried to take early on as a young environmentalist turned into smaller, more attainable steps. With a great team of professors in the Integrated Environmental Science program, I was determined to learn more about my field of study.

As I grow and mature as an Integrated Environmental Science Major, I have gained an entirely different worldview, not only based on my life experiences and lessons, but also from the wisdom of my advisors, professors, and colleagues. I am changing every day and constantly yearning to become more self-reflective and open-minded so that I can understand others and natural systems at a greater depth. Never staying cognitively stagnant in my understanding of our permanent and complex relationship with the earth. 

I have been involved with various research projects in the Integrated Environmental Science Program, including the construction of a treatment wetland to reduce nutrient loading from storm water runoff into coastal waters with Dr. Cho, implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of native vegetation buffers at controlling nonpoint source pollution, and using Bayesian conditional probability to identify environmental indicators for harmful algal blooms in Indian River Lagoon (Dr. Reiter). 

It is expected that with the completion of these projects, I can fully extract the skills in the field and lab needed for my graduate and post-graduate degrees in the immediate future. 

I hope that one day, I can not only change the world for the better, but also change how people view their true roles and impacts on our planet as well.