Contact information: olivia.pawlyk@sjsu.edu
Olivia earned her B.S. in Biology from Providence College in 2020. While in undergrad she was in two research labs. She worked alongside Dr. Jay Pike, assessing flavor profiles of beer after brewing it with different yeasts and at different temperatures and Dr. Patrick Ewanchuk, assisting in salt marsh research in the Westport River. After graduating, she interned and worked in Dr. Brian Howes’ water quality lab at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (SMAST). Olivia joined MLML in Fall 2021.
Co-advised by Dr. Tom Connolly and Dr. Holly Bowers. While at MLML, Olivia will be working on an EPA grant alongside Holly Bowers: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/us-epa-awards-almost-1-million-san-jose-state-university-research-combating-harmful. This project will look into the effectiveness of agricultural runoff treatment systems and how well they are reducing the high nutrient concentrations that are discharging into the waterways around Monterey Bay. We will also be looking into the affects this agricultural runoff has on the growth of harmful algal blooms (HABs).
For her thesis, Olivia will be investigating the "Impacts of Agricultural Microplastics on the Growth of Marine Phytoplankton in Monterey Bay, CA."
When not at MLML, Olivia can be found taking pictures, trying new restaurants, and dogsitting.
