LSC alumna Jenny Seifert (MS, 2011) recently accepted a position as Science Writer/Outreach Coordinator for the Water Sustainability and Climate(WSC) project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a project funded by the National Science Foundation.
Seifert joins an interdisciplinary team that is investigating challenges for water quality and quantity in Wisconsin’s Yahara watershed, where the UW-Madison resides, under pressures such as climate change, agriculture, urbanization and human demands. The project incorporates integrated scenarios, ecosystem modeling, field research, governance evaluations, information management and public outreach.
Seifert will be responsible for writing the integrated scenarios, which are research-based, but fictional narratives of four contrasting futures for the watershed. As thought exercises about the variable outcomes of social and biophysical drivers, the scenarios are intended to help guide discussions among researchers and decision makers. Seifert will also coordinate the public outreach efforts for the scenarios.
“This position will undoubtedly enable me to apply the suite of knowledge and skills I learned through my graduate studies, and I am excited to have landed a position that is so well suited to my ambitions,” said Seifert, who completed a joint Master’s degree in LSC and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies’ Environment & Resources program.
During her graduate career, Seifert focused on how communication can be employed as a tool to encourage environmental behavior change. Her primary advisor was Associate Professor Bret Shaw, and Professor Dietram Scheufele served on her committee.