Page 25 - 1052-5173-27-11
P. 25
2017–2018 GSA-USGS Congressional Science Fellow Announced
Melanie R. Thornton is excited to serve developed an integrated surface-groundwater hydrology model
and facilitated workshops with stakeholders that guided the devel-
as the 2017–2018 GSA-USGS opment of short-term recommendations for bi-state water man-
agement and education.
Congressional Science Fellow. Thornton
Thornton has extensive leadership expertise, having served as
was raised in Houston, Texas, USA, and the graduate-professional student body president at WSU for two
years and as director of communication for the National
earned the Girl Scout’s Gold Award, Association of Graduate-Professional Students. She has experi-
ence in collaboration and communicating scientific information,
where she collaborated with a YMCA as her stakeholder engagement project required leading meetings
and workshops with both scientific and non-scientific audiences.
Melanie R. Thornton camp, serving underprivileged youth, to
create an activity program focused on She is enthusiastic about collaborations between science, policy
and public outreach, and developing strategies that use science to
education and well-being. Thornton earned a B.S. cum laude from empower humanity for the betterment of our communities. In her
fellowship year, she is looking forward to utilizing her communi-
Texas A&M University in 2011 with an environmental geoscience cation and problem-solving skills and deepening her understand-
ing of how Congress and federal agencies work together to draft
major and geography minor. While at Texas A&M, she partici- public policies and prioritize funding.
pated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program Thornton will be working in the office of Senator Tom Udall
(D-NM) on a range of science policy issues.
and wrote her undergraduate thesis on the Southern Ocean and
Antarctica’s contribution to changing climatic conditions.
Thornton received an M.S. (2012) and Ph.D. (2017) in environ-
mental and natural resource sciences from Washington State
University (WSU). Her doctoral research was part of an interdisci-
plinary project, supported by a USDA-NIFA grant, which sought
to address water resource sustainability in the Pacific Northwest.
The focus of her research was on the Spokane River Basin, where
she utilized collaborative modeling and worked with stakeholders
and scientists to jointly solve regional watershed challenges. She
www.geosociety.org/gsatoday 25
