PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER
When she arrived at Tufts, Jennifer Skerker ’17, like many incoming freshmen, was uncertain about her path of study. She had applied to the School of Engineering, but beyond that, she felt completely undecided. Then, when she took a course called “Climate Change Engineering” freshman year, everything came into focus: environmental engineering was her passion. “We got to experiment with solar panels, attempt to make ethanol from corn starch, and go to a wind turbine testing facility. We were exposed to really interesting things,” Jenny said of the class, whose professor, John Durant, is now her advisor. Bridging the divide between the School of Engineering and the School of Arts and Sciences, and between STEM and the social sciences, Jenny’s work focuses on utilizing engineering to improve public health. The spring of her sophomore year, as a public policy intern for Northeast Energy Efficient Partnerships, she traced different state bills across the Northeast that related to energy efficiency. That summer, in conjunction with the National Science Foundation, she researched whether Turfgrass could be safely watered with treated effluent water. And beginning the summer after her junior year, she has been conducting research on air pollution in Boston around Interstate 93. Jenny began her air pollution research as part of Tufts’ Summer Scholars program, which gives undergraduates funding to pursue a project with a faculty mentor. That research evolved into her senior thesis, as part of a larger project called the CAFEH (Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health) Study. She was given access to data obtained by a retrofitted super-RV that drove around Boston collecting information on different pollutants. (Ironically enough, Jenny jokes, that RV failed inspection and is now being replaced by a more environmentally friendly automobile.) She explained that, as cars travel through tunnels, emission levels increase and tend to reach a maximum right before exiting the tunnel. This posits the question of where and how those emissions disperse once a car exits the tunnel, as opposed to when a car is travelling on an open freeway: a question Jenny seeks to answer. She knows that answering questions like this is rarely easy, but it is vital not only to reduce toxins in the air, but ultimately improve the lives of human beings. When I asked Jenny what she will miss the most when she graduates, her answer sounded familiar: “I love the little communities here. When I toured Tufts, my tour guide said that everyone is passionate about something, and that could not be more true. It doesn’t matter what that passion is, and students may have multiple passions, but everyone has something they truly care about.”
In our 30-minute conversation, I was struck by the sheer certitude of Jenny’s mission. Inspired by her summer work at the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach, she yearns to get more women and girls to pursue careers in engineering, and to expand engineering access to those who do not have the tools to enter the field. As an environmental engineer, she wants to do whatever she can to improve the world. Whether it be developing innovative ways to combat climate change, assessing pollution, or furthering sustainable energy, Jenny believes that now it is “more important than ever” to go into environmental fields. There’s a lot of work to be done, but if anyone is up to the challenge, she is. —DESMOND FONSECA ’20
“I want to find a way to make an impact and feel like I’m doing something good.”
JENNIFER SKERKER ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING MAJOR FROM LEXINGTON, MA
’17