Simpson College Students along with Faculty Members Present at International Conference

Simpson students Brody Crouse, Dayton Gatewood, Mary Hendon, Katie Pantzar, Trenity Rosenberg and Kyle Werner along with their mentors Asawti Subramanian and John Pauley had their paper “The Compounding Effects of Agriculture on the Water Quality in the state of Iowa, USA,” accepted for presentation at The Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability.

The conference was held at the University of Ljubijana in Ljubljana, Slovenia from February 1st to 3rd. The group prerecorded their presentation with the help of alum, Natasha Shipp ’21, which was uploaded to the in-person and online conference.

The group had been working together since September 2021, researching the water quality problem in Iowa. The main concept presented was understanding these water quality issues are not only ecological problems as much as they are political, economic and cultural problems.

After presenting their research to the City of Indianola Sustainability Committee and the Indianola City Council, they decided to take the findings internationally. The team submitted a proposal-abstract summary which was peer-reviewed by experts in the field. This allowed them to be accepted into the conference.

Opportunities like these are especially important to the student at Simpson. It allows students to understand the research process while helping the Iowa communities.

“Simpson can establish itself as a leader in undergraduate research and this will really help the academic, cultural, and pragmatic sophistication of our students,” Pauley states.

For more information on the International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability, visit onsustainability.com/2023-conference.