Jared Sheldon ’18 is spending the summer swamped in chemical data as an environmental consulting intern.
Sheldon, a chemistry major with a pre-engineering concentration, is interning with Hughes Environmental Consulting Agency, in Syracuse. Through this opportunity, Sheldon works with his lab instructor, Dr. Donald Hughes, adjunct professor of chemistry and director of Hughes Environmental. He works as a research assistant, completing analyses of potential hazards in landfill sites in Westchester County.
The primary goal for Sheldon this summer is to condense on-site data into more user-friendly forms. Hughes Environmental is contracted to collect and analyze data on chemical substances in landfills. His findings will determine any posed hazards that may affect a potential building site for a hotel. “My agency is trying to figure out what the potential hazards are if the landfills are not properly taken care of,” says Sheldon. “Right now, the pressure to build the hotel has allowed some hazards to be ignored, and we are trying to bring these hazards to the public’s attention.”
Sheldon is a recipient of an Ignite Summer Fellowship, a merit-based summer internship award that provides financial support for students in the College of Arts and Sciences. Recipients must meet the fellowship’s competitive requirements and complete a summer internship for academic credit. Sheldon heard about this internship through Dr. Laila Kobrossy Audi of the Career Services Department, and from Dr. Hughes. “Everyone I went to along the way supported me,” says Sheldon, “especially Dr. Hughes and Dr. Kobrossy Audi."
At Le Moyne, Sheldon is active in the sciences, participating in Le Moyne’s chemical engineering dual-degree partnership with the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University. He will earn his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Le Moyne, and has automatic acceptance into Syracuse’s graduate engineering program. Through his time at Hughes Consulting, Sheldon is learning about the various fields he may enter after graduation. “I did not know the types of work environmental consultants are involved with. I thought this would be a good opportunity to find out whether or not I would want to do similar work,” says Sheldon.
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