Benjamin Karls, Outstanding Senior

“Ben is a capable and hardworking student. He shows deep interest and involvement in the project. He critically examines experimental procedures and looks for the ways to improve them if necessary. He exhibits excellent time management, is well organized with his experiment working as clockwork. Ben is a pleasure to be around, he is positive, enthusiastic, polite, responsive to me and his peers, always willing to help.”

-Katerina Dontsova, nominator

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was raised in the Phoenix area, so not too far from Tucson. So, I came here to the University of Arizona. I saw this program and it was rated well. I was looking for new opportunities so I could get involved more with research and environmental science.

My mom, she's a teacher, really big into environmental science. In high school, I started my own green club like eco-friendly club. From there I realized, I wanted to do more with environmental science and was, like all right, how can I push this forward. That's how I ended up here in the Environment Science Program.

What have you enjoyed about your major?

What I liked about this major, I feel it does a good job of bringing a lot of courses available to you and not feeling like you have to take one set path beyond the different emphasis. I felt I was able to freely pick out courses that I was more interested in and explore different areas of environmental science that you don't always get to explore. I've also met people in different majors, they're kind of more on a one set track so they can reach their goal. I really like this aspect of more interdisciplinary learning.

I've really enjoyed the professor's they've been nice and they're friendly. You go to office hours if you have questions, and they all do a really good job of helping.  When they have research opportunities and stuff like we have professors come in and talk to students. I thought that was a good opportunity for people to interact with professors and get involved because not every major does that. That’s key to helping students so they can realize there is more than they have heard or seen.

Any clubs or leadership positions you enjoyed?

I'm part of the University of Arizona Rotaract Club, which is a service-based organization on campus that's part of a larger international group called Rotary. I’m the treasure for Rotaract, so I help make leadership decisions, where to volunteer, raising donations, and where we should donate. Also I organize social events, so members feel they're involved and don't feel neglected. I’ve talked to some, and some of them feel like other clubs just expect them to show up and they don't really value their time.  Everyone's a student here, everyone should feel like they're welcome. That's been pretty fun because I get to help the community and also hang out with close friends.

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Any scientific research?

Currently I’m working in the lab with Katerina Dontsova over at Biosphere 2. This is my second year I’ve been in there. I do research looking at the transport of energetic contaminants which are the residuals from explosives that land on the surface. I’ve been studying how these contaminants are transported in the surface runoff and that's been interesting. I wasn't sure I was going to always want to do soil stuff but then I started doing it and started mapping out the big picture. It made me think, how this impacts the real world, what does this mean in the bigger picture, and what are the implications of this research. I started to really enjoy research, because I started to feel a connection with what I’m doing in the outside world, and it makes me feel like you're doing something cool.

Biggest challenge being a college student during the pandemic?

Definitely socializing. For me the academics were not too hindered. But I found that in the two years when I wasn't in school, people that I did know we're no longer there because they graduated and all sudden there's all these new people that I didn't know because they were on-line for two years. It felt weird to come back to campus and see these people that I really didn't interact with or even have classes. I felt like I lost a little bit of that social connection when you go to in-person classes because you hop on the Zoom call and that the most interaction you have. That was challenging because it felt like there wasn't always a support team like if you're in a class.  It’s a little more awkward to approach people because you'd have to email them or something. That was the most tiring.

Next steps?

I was originally going to go for a master’s degree, but I started talking to professors, and I’ll be jumping straight into a PhD program instead. That's exciting. In the past month I decided, so it's very much new but exciting to think what's coming up. I mean these three and a half years went by pretty fast.

Words of advice?

I’d say talk to your teachers. I felt it has helped me. I know many people, for various reasons, like letter recommendations, where you feel like you end up just talking to them anyways. But if you casually talk to professors, go visit them during office hours, and get to know them. If they know your interest, they'll suggest research opportunities and they can be an unexpected support group. So, I’d say talk with professors, I found it to be a very helpful. When I go to events, I know the professors and they talk to me as like a colleague and that's nice being able to have those conversations.