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Raissa Mendonca gets a sample of the water at West Branch State Park as part of a biogeochemistry project at Kent State University. (Photo taken by Jim Maxwell)

A 4,000-Mile Journey Leads to “Sticky” Award-Winning Research for Kent State Graduate Student

Though she had an interest in science at an early age, Raissa Mendonca had no idea she would end up over 4,000 miles away from her hometown of Recife, Brazil studying and doing award-winning ecological research in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. She probably did not expect to be wearing a bug net over her head in Manitoba either. Now, while pursuing her Ph.D. at Kent State, Mendonca conducts research in Costello’s lab that focuses on ecotoxicology and biogeochemistry and how environmental disturbances affect aquatic communities and ecological processes. One of her recent projects resulted in her being first author on a peer-reviewed journal article and earned her a $5,000 award to continue pursuing her research.

Tags: Research & Science, Biological Sciences, Raissa Mendonca, Dave Costello, international, Graduate Studies, award, Environmental Science and Design Research Institute