Harvard is the oldest college in the United States, founded almost two centuries before the Rev. Isaac Anderson established Maryville College in the foothills of East Tennessee, and come fall, the name Harvard will be on a Scot’s curriculum vitae. Junior Gianna Mantegna ’27 has earned a coveted summer research internship at Harvard Forest, one of the nation’s leading ecological research sites affiliated with Harvard University.
It’s a highly competitive program that draws top undergraduate researchers from across the country, and when Mantegna learned she had been selected, it took a while for the reality to sink in.
“I was incredibly excited, but also a bit shocked,” she said. “I remember that I was talking to one of my mentors that morning about how anxious I had been the previous week waiting to hear back from the interview. I joked that ‘Maybe the acceptance is just waiting in my email right now,’ not realizing that they had actually emailed me during that hour. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and disbelief at being chosen for such a selective role.”
Mantegna, a native of Lakeland, Florida, who is pursuing an individualized major in Computational Environmental Science, will spend the summer conducting hands-on research in ecological data and environmental monitoring — work that places her alongside scholars at one of the most respected research institutions in the world and that reflects both the interdisciplinary nature of her studies and the kinds of hands-on scholarship emphasized at Maryville College.
At Harvard Forest, Mantegna will contribute to research that seeks to better understand the impact of environmental practices through data. According to the research project’s web page, it “will bring together the use of simulation models and spatial analyses to better understand physical, biological and social processes on the New England landscape.” It’s an opportunity Mantegna sees as both exciting and meaningful.
“The most interesting part of this research topic is finding ways to put real numbers to the effect that operations like logging or conservation sites have on forest ecosystems,” Mategna said. “I hope that my contribution to this project will allow future scientists to have a quantifiable reference.”
She is also eager to build new technical skills and expand on what she has learned in the classroom, specifically through the use of ArcGIS, a Geographic Information System (GIS) designed to create, manage, analyze and map spatial data in both 2D and 3D. Applying classroom skills to real-world problems, she said, is one of the reasons she pursued her individualized career path, and she credits her Maryville College experience with helping her earn the internship.
“Without the support from my professors to push through the challenging work, and also the opportunity to learn these skills, I would have felt much less prepared for this internship. (In addition) while at Maryville College, I have made amazingly talented friends who encouraged me to apply to places that I would have never considered, like the Harvard Forest program. Without their support, I would not have felt confident enough to submit an application.”
Beyond the classroom, her involvement in campus organizations — including the Programming Team, the Scots Science Scholars and the Clayton Center for the Arts technical team — has further shaped her problem-solving abilities and leadership skills … as well as traits that make her ideally suited for working as part of a team.
“My work with all three of these teams has greatly affected my character,” she said. “I always thought of myself as a good leader, but my work with each of these teams has shown me how to be a better leader and a good follower.”
Maryville College is a nationally ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges, located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville. Maryville College offers more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”
Karen Eldridge, Executive Director of Communications: karen.eldridge@maryvillecollege.edu.
Follow KnoxTNToday on Facebook and Instagram. Get all KnoxTNToday articles in one place with our Free Newsletter.
