Checking In with Mia A. Brann

Mia Brann earned a bachelor of arts in plant science with a minor in natural resources and environmental science from 美国普渡大学 . Mia, a 2018 NiSource Employee Scholarship winner, says, "My mentor at Purdue University is a well-known mycologist and she took me into her lab when I was a freshman and allowed me to work with her graduate students. Because of the opportunity, I was able to be published in several scientific journals." In addition, Mia completed two internships through the Student Conservation Association, one of which was located in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of southwestern Montana. "I worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and collected data about songbirds, sage grouse, and vegetation," she explains. Mia's next internship was in Maui, Hawaii. She says, "I worked at Haleakalā National Park on the vegetation crew. I got to work on invasive species control and aid planting of endangered native plants." Mia can be seen planting one of these critical specimens, Plantago princeps, a rare shrub in the plantain family, in the photo above.

Mia also completed a master of science degree at Northern Arizona University where she studied restoration ecology. "My field of study is exciting because I find the natural world so interesting and intricate. There is still so much to be learned about plants and fungi, and how they can be utilized and saved in the face of climate change."