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Resource and Environmental Management
51社区黑料REM student restores habitats while building her resume in summer co-op
This summer, Resource and Environmental Management student Emma Dunsmuir is combining her passions for environmental education and field work while on a co-op placement with Dillon Consulting working on the City of Surrey鈥檚 Salmon Habitat Restoration Program.
As a community education team leader, she organizes community events, assists the Watershed Enhancement Team, and hires and manages crew members for projects such as invasive species removal while applying course concepts in ecology and climate mitigation.
鈥淢y favourite aspect of this placement so far is the variety in the work. For the first couple of weeks, I did something new every day,鈥� she says.
Now part-way through her summer placement, she and her team completed their work on the Living Dyke project at Mud Bay in Surrey, having planted 24,000 plugs of Pickleweed and Arrowgrass over two weeks to mitigate impacts of climate change. These plants help to reinforce the dyke, making the area more resilient to future sea-level rise and coastal flooding.
This is Dunsmuir鈥檚 second co-op placement, having worked for the federal government as an undergraduate research assistant with Fisheries and Oceans Canada studying salmon populations in the North Thompson Watershed. These experiences exposed her to different aspects and sectors of environmental work, something she was looking to gain from joining the co-op program.
鈥淚 joined co-op to gain work experience in the environment field to make sure Resource and Environmental Management was the right program for me. I really liked the idea of being able to test different jobs in the field and discover what I鈥檓 passionate about before graduating,鈥� says Dunsmuir.
Taking part in SFU鈥檚 co-op program has helped Dunsmuir narrow down her post-graduation plans, while helping to financially support her studies.
鈥淭he co-op program connects you with jobs in your field that pay better than most seasonal positions,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 helped me pay for my degree.鈥�
It鈥檚 experiences like these that Dunsmuir sees as the highlights of her degree so far.
鈥淚 have gained invaluable experiences and developed professional skills that will help me prepare for a career post-graduation,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 would say that co-op is the best decision I have made during my undergraduate journey.鈥�