Eco-Representatives

Katelyn Shimek is a Computer Science major pursuing a career in renewable energy. She joined Eco-Reps to broaden her own knowledge on sustainability and more importantly to engage with others as community and sustainability go hand-in-hand.

Rhode G. Villarreal is a current undergraduate student at UHD, majoring in Business Administration with a minor in HR. She believes change comes when we create a personal connection with the positive and negative effects of recycling, organic agriculture, and sustainable practices. Bringing awareness to the community is essential. We can start by encouraging our circle of friends, colleagues, classmates, and family to make daily conscious decisions toward the sustainability of our planet. Being an Eco-Rep has allowed her to expand her knowledge and influence on recycling, and she's grateful to CUAS for the opportunity. Rhode hopes the impact will reach beyond the University. At UHD, Gators encourage Gators to recycle! 

Stephanie Davis is graduating this semester with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and a minor in Psychology.  Being chosen as ECO-Rep has been an enriching experience that has taught her how processes and effects of recycling, conserving, and other factors of sustainability affect life on our planet.  She has a passion for sustainability, helping others, and looks forward to sharing her knowledge in the career field that she chooses.

Jalan Dixon is in his senior year completing his degree in Pre-Med Biological and Physical Sciences. Through his experiences as an eco-rep, he hopes to gain increased knowledge of how to live sustainably and spread this knowledge throughout the community. Jalan believes that certain practices such as the use of renewable energy and maintaining plant-based diets will be vital in not only sustaining the current health of the population but also protecting the viability of the planet so that future generations will have a safe place to live. 

Mali Tanovanh is a senior majoring in accounting. She hopes to build upon her knowledge of sustainable issues and initiatives so that she may apply them in her personal and professional life to make a significant, positive impact. Her future goal is to become a certified public accountant.

Angelica Gamboa's major is chemistry.The meaning of  sustainability to her is the process of regulating something to prevent any sort of damage. For example, maintaining ecological balance by avoiding the depletion of natural resources. The hope for her future career is to be able to be a part of a change in her community no matter how small it is.

Catlin Bolden's major is in psychology with hopes to minor in criminal justice. Catlin hopes her future career significantly imporved peoples lives and she is able to help people in need with the  information that she has learned. Sustainability to her means an economic set or certain set balance in the environmental growth.

Denience Joseph's major is Political Science with a minor in Public Policy Administration. To her, sustainability as a concept and potential lifestyle refers to a lasting commitment to preserving our natural environment through initiatives, policies and actions that focus on limiting or completely eradicating the negative effects of our aggregate impact on the planet's ecological health. As of now, she still contemplating various career choices, but she does maintain the desire to impact or enact public policy that deals with the environment, natural resources, and the like.

Elizabeth Rosa is majoring in biology with a concentration in cellular and molecular biosciences. Sustainability is one of the ways we can combat climate change. Global warming is one of the biggest challenges future generation that we face unless we start doing something about it. Elizabeth plans to become a physician and practice medicine at the Texas Medical Center.

Riley Hardwick's major is in safety management with a minor in sustainability. To her, sustainability means creating and maintaining systems which ensure the long-term access to resources for all communities. Her aspirations for her academic career are to obtain a masters degree and a doctorate related to safety management and environmental science. As for her professional career, she hopes to obtain a position related to Health, Safety, and Environmental Engineering and eventually work her way into a management position.

Alexay Lopez Herrera major is biology with a minor in math. His career goals are to be accepted into medical school then graduate medical school as to make his parents and the rest of his family happy. Sustainability is important to his career because it would help him reflect and improve on his own point of view in societys’ needs.

An Huynh is a junior who is major in Business Management. As an Eco-Rep, she would like to educate herself about sustainability and raise awareness among her community. In the future, she would like to focus mainly in waste industry and find out some alternatives for the low capacity landfill situation

Christina Sterna is an Environmental Geoscience major at the University of Houston-Downtown. Her passion for caring for the environment led to her interest in the field of sustainability. She believes that we are part of nature, so taking care of the environment means taking care of ourselves and future generations. Besides studying geology, she also enjoys painting and rock climbing.

Elwin Jaime is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in Data Analytics. In his program his learning about data visualization, statistics and machine learning. In the future he wishes to build on these subjects in a professional setting, grow and build upon them. Speaking in a technical standpoint, sustainability will be critical in the coming years because of climate change. Therefore, data and data collection will be imperative for professionals in data.

Indira Zaldiva is pursuing a master’s degree in technical communication because her career goal is to spread helpful information as efficiently as possible. Sustainability is a balance-centered strategy that‘s conscious of non-renewable resources, reduces waste, and strives to give back to the Earth for all that we gain from it. It can be as simple as relearning the appropriate way to dispose of kitchen scraps to taking advantage of energy-efficient modes in our mobile devices. Learning and sharing with others about sustainability is both a career goal and a duty as a conscious habitant of this Earth. She will be a pleasure to share with others the value in incorporating sustainability

Yessenia Rincon is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Arts. Her career goal is to get her Masters of Arts in Art History to be a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. She believes sustainability relates to fine arts by allowing artists and designers to expand and rethink their approach on conveying the message of the importance of sustainability across all mediums.