Kayla McClendon joins our NSF REU Site.

Please meet Kayla McClendon, Geographical Sciences-Urban Studies Major, Arizona State University. She is joining our NSF REU team this summer in Orlando and Belize. We are thrilled to have her join us! Please read more about her below in her own words. Welcome, Kayla.

I am a current junior atArizona State University pursuing my Bachelors in Geographical Sciences - UrbanStudies and a certificate in Energy and Sustainability. Being an internationalcommunity scholar is to be a scientist that consistently works within theframework that we are an interconnected global community and that our sciencehas global societal implications.  Public scholarship is advancing scienceand technology through the distribution of information to communities andworking alongside community members to understand, analyze, and interact withour world in new and innovative ways. The UCF Belize Site does just thatthrough the use of geospatial theory and technology in conjunction withharnessing community knowledge to enhance and create new ways of understandinglocal and global environments. To combine traditional scientific methods withthe insights and partnership of community members makes UCF Belize a uniqueproject and a premiere example of using science to make a better future forall.