When bioproducts and biosystems engineering student Katherine Tomaska landed a water resources internship at Young Environmental Consulting Group the summer after her sophomore year, she wasn’t sure if she would be interested in studying erosion.

“At first I wondered, ‘Will I just be looking at dirt all summer?’” said Tomaska, now a senior majoring in bioproducts and biosystems engineering (BBE). “But, the fieldwork was actually super fascinating and much more involved than I had anticipated. I loved learning about the natural processes that happen and how that impacts human development and residential areas. That solidified for me that I wanted to go into water and natural resources.” 

Tomaska learned about the company after its founder, and University of Minnesota alumna, Della Young, came to speak to her CSE 1001 freshman orientation class. As an intern, Tomaska mapped gullies and erosion throughout the Lower Minnesota River watershed district. Now, she has a job lined up as water resources engineer at Barr Engineering, an environmental consulting company headquartered in Minneapolis where she interned last summer. She’ll start after she graduates this May. Continue reading the full article.