FNR Field Report Grace Walker

Throughout the summer, Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources will be featuring various students and their work in the field.
Grace Walker
First, we hear from Grace Walker, a senior in Aquatic Sciences. She is doing an internship this summer as a Seasonal Aquatic Biologist with the Muncie Bureau of Water Quality.

In just over a week on the job, Grace has been doing quite a bit of electrofishing and also has started working with IDEM to collect some tote barge data as well.

Her research project will be looking at the changes in species abundance above and below a few dams, which were removed from the White River last year due to age and disrepair. Data had been collected over the last 40 years above and below the dams in terms of species found in those spots. Now that the dams have been removed, Grace will aim to see if the change in habitat has affected where the fish are now.

Check back throughout the summer to see what other FNR students are up to as they take their studies from the classroom to the field.

 
Grace Walker
Grace Walker

Featured Stories

Jared Trask sits with brown and white chickens in a grass field
Of mice, birds and men: Purdue researcher builds a simulation of how wild birds and rodents affect the spread of avian flu on farms

Trask is writing a new narrative about rats, birds and people as he pursues his doctorate in...

Read More
Facade of Pfendler Hall
FNR Celebrates Awards, Honors from Spring, Summer 2026

Several Forestry and Natural Resources students, staff and recent alumni have been recognized for...

Read More
Scientist uses 3D water sensor near water.
Purdue Researchers Use 3D Printing to Make Open-Source Alternative to Costly Groundwater Sensors

A plume of contamination spreads underground. A building's foundation weakens. A wetland...

Read More
Jarred Brooke holds a flapper in front a field that is smoking after a prescribed burn.
Jarred Brooke Receives Early Career Award for Prescribed Fire Work

Jarred Brooke, Extension wildlife specialist, was honored with a Career Achievement Award at the...

Read More
A landscape image of a mountainside town in Norway.
FNR Field Report: Brett Cox Recaps Week 2 of Sweden Study Abroad Trip

Sophomore forestry major Brett Cox recaps week 2 of the Sustainable Natural Resources study...

Read More
Three students chosen for study abroad scholarshipss.
From Sweden to Norway to Turks and Caicos

Morgan Hamilton, a rising senior majoring in aquatic sciences, has had an...

Read More